Acts: God’s Power Over Counterfeits

Good morning. It's good to see you all this morning.

It's good to be back with you. If you have

your Bible, it's turning with me. The Acts, Chapter nineteen,

Acts Chapter nineteen, This morning will be in verse eight

in just a minute, Acts Chapter eighteen. If you ever

put your hope in something, thought, hey, this is gonna

be a really good idea, this is really gonna work out,

This is gonna really be good for me, and it

could be a I don't know. It could be something

you bought and you thought, man, this is gonna be

a great car and it turned out to be a lemon, right,

Or maybe you thought this was gonna be a really

good meal and you go eat at Angelo's and you

think it's gonna be great and it's really terrible, and

you go. You have your hope and something that's supposed

to be really good, and it turns out it just wasn't.

It just didn't turn out. It just wasn't as good

as you thought it was going to be. It really

didn't provide for you what you thought it was going

to provide. You're and you kind of maybe salt you

see things too, like maybe crumbled pieces. There was a

man in Pennsylvania. It's Pittsburgh. And there's a story about

him and how he put his own in something and

it really just felled right in front of his eyes.

He really was desperate. He was desperate for money. We're

not really sure why. He Maybe he had some credit

card debt, maybe he owed money through some addictions, or

maybe he had a gambling problem, who knows. But he

hit a money problem. So he decided that he had

an idea. He thought he would go into a grocery

store and he would hand the cash resher, the lady

at the cash thresher, a bill, and she would give

him money back in return for that bill. And here's

the thing. It was a counterfeit bill. He made it himself.

He says, you know, I'll go in and I'll give

her this counterfeit bill and she I said, I'll need change,

and she'll give me change back, and then I'll have

some money in return. So he started thinking about you know,

he really needed a lot of money. He said, you know,

I think I may maybe I won't do a ten

dollar bill, maybe I won't do one hundred dollar bill.

Maybe I'll won't do a thousand dollar bill. I tell

you what, maybe I'll do a million dollar bill. See

he made a counterfeit million dollar bill. He walked in,

and you got to think about it. You know, if

you think about his thought process, it kind of falls

apart if you start thinking through it. You know, one,

no average grocery store clerk has a million dollars worth

of cash in her cash register. Number two, you know,

there's no such thing as a million dollar bill, right.

The largest bill that we have in our curtcy is

one hundred dollar bill. And you also have to think, lastly,

if he goes in and offers a million dollar bill

to the lady at the cash treasure, it's probably gonna

get a little bit of attention, if you imagine. And

so he walks in and he he comes up and

his hands are all sweaty, and he goes into the

little supermarket I don't know what it was, what kind

of grocery store, and he has all his hopes and

he thinks, man, this is going to be it. This

is my payday, this is what's gonna get me all

out of try whatever trouble he was in. He walks

in and he hands her the million dollar bill. When

he bought a pack of gum or whatever it was

that he bought, and he thought, man, this is it.

I'm gonna be able to pay off that debt. I'm

gonna be able to get all that I need. Maybe

I'll pail my debts and I can buy me a

nice house or car, whatever it may. The checkout clerk

saw the counterfeit check. What does she do? She called

the manager over. The manager confiscated his counterfeit bill and

told him this a fake. He got angry. I mean,

all these hopes were dashing me. He thought this was it,

This was the way I was going to get out

of trouble. And he got mad. He grabbed the cash

resting machine and slammed it. The next thing you know,

the police were there and arrested him and put him

into custody. You know, it's a sad store, isn't it.

Someone who puts so much hope into something that turned

out to be a counterfeit turned out to be a fake,

and as a result, everything that he had hope for,

all his dreams that he had were gone. Today, as

we go to this passage of scripture, we look at

a passage where we see people. In this passage of scripture,

are putting their hope and putting their trust into something

that's not real. And in this passage we see that

God wants us to put our hope, put our trust

and the one who has true power, and that's God

the Father. As we come to acts, it's been a

few weeks since we've been here, and so just to

remind you kind of where we are, Paul has finished

his second missionary journey. And after we finished his second

ministry minute his second missionary journey, he kind of goes

back and he visits all the church in Galatia and Phrygia.

And so after that who visits all the churches once again,

he goes back to Ephesus and in Ephesis he spends

three years in ministry in Ephesis. And so as we

come to this passage of scripture, Luke is showing us

what happens in Ephesus. And one of the things that

Luke wants us in God's work, wants us to see

in this morning's passage is the power of God that's

at work in Ephesus. God's power is at work. God

is moving in great power through Paul. But also God

is working in great power in the lives of individuals

and as a result, listen to this. This is very

important when people encounter listen the real thing. When they

encounter the real power of God, it changes their life.

And we see lives individually transformed by the power of

God in their life. And this morning, I hope that

you will look today as we look today, and we

see the transformational power of God in the lives of

Paul and the laws and lives of individual I want

you to think about today, what are you trusting in?

And today? Are you trusting in a counterfeit that has

no power like the man at the grocery store, or

are you trusting in the power, the true power of

God that's found in Jesus. Let's stand together and let's

read God's word and today's the title of my sermon

is God's power over the counterfeits. Today on the sea,

walk us through and look through how God has power

over the counterfeits verse chapter nineteen. Starting in verse eight,

he says, and he entered the sin of God. And

for three months he spoke both boldly, reasoning and persuading

them about the Kingdom of God. But when some became

stubborn and continued in unbeliefs, speaking evil of the way

before the congregation. He withdrew from them, and he took

in disciples with them and reasoned daily in the high

hall of Tyrannius. This continued for two years, so that

all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord,

both Jews and Greeds versus lab it says. And God

was doing extra extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.

So even the handkerchiefs and aprons that were touched his

skin were carried away to the sick, and their disease

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

Then some of that Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the

name of the Lord Jesus over the evil spirit, saying,

I adjourn you by Jesus, and whom Paul proclaims seven

sons of Skeeva, I mean seven sons of Jewish high

priests named Skiva. Sorry we're doing this. But the evil

spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize,

But who are you? And the man in whom was

the evil spirit leaped on them and mastered them all,

mastered all of them and overpowered them, so they fled

out of the house naked and wounded. And this became

known to all the residents in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks,

and fear fell upon them all, and the name of

the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also, many of those who

were now believers came confessing, invulging their practices. And a

number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together,

and they burned them the sight of all, and they

counted the value of them, and found that they came

to find fifty thousand pieces of silver. So that the

word of the Lord continued and increase and prevailed mightily.

Let's pray together, Father, we thank you Lord for your word. Today. God,

we thank you Lord, that true power rest in you. God.

And Lord, I pray that as we look at to

your word today and we hear your word, Lord, may

we see Lord your power. Lord, may we hear the

power of your word. And God, I pray today we

would rest and we were trust in that power. Lord.

I pray Lord for this message. Lord, I pray that

you would anoint me with not my words but yours. God.

I am a desperate man and desperate need of your spirit.

And so Lord, I pray that you would feel me,

that you might pour me out. And Lord, the words

that I would declare would be yours their Lord. Today,

they don't need a message from me, They need a

message from you. Lords. So I pray God, feel me,

use me Lord today, may you meet with us, and

may we know today as we leave this place, surely

you've been in this place. Lord, We love you. We

thank you Lord for today in your name, we pray

Amen you maybe see the first we must recognize the power.

God's power over counterfeits. Verse eight begins Paul. It tells

us as Paul started his ministry in Ephesis. He begins

it as he always does his pattern as he goes

into every city. His pattern has to start his ministry

with the Jews, and so he goes into the Jewish

s and of God, and in verse eleven tells us

that not only was he doing mighty work in Ephesus,

but who was doing the mighty work. Verse eleven starts

off by telling this is God. I think it's very

important as we see later on Paul doing God doing

miraculous things through Paul, and even his handkerchiefs are being carried.

Luke wants you to see. God wants you to see

from the very beginning, it wasn't Paul that had the power.

It was God that had the power. It was God

that was that work. And God was a working in Ephesus,

and verse eleven tells us, and God was doing extra

ordinary miracles by the hens of Paul. In verse twelve,

it says, so even oh, I'm skipping down in verse eleven.

Go back to verse nine. In verse nine, it tells

us that Paul begins his ministry. He begins it, and

this ind of God. And he spent there for three months,

tells us. Tells the scripture tells us he he boldly

reasons there he persuading them about the Kingdom of God.

For three months. Paul goes into every Sabbath, every Saturday.

He preached the word of God, just as his pattern

is in every city. But scripture tells us in verse nine,

how the Jews responded. But look at verse nine. But

when some of this, but some became stubborn, it continued

in unbelief. So Paul goes his pattern. He goes into Ephesus.

He's only been there one time before, but a very

short time. So he comes back. He promises me. He

comes back. He comes back to Ephesus, and he does

what he just said. Hey, I'm going to come back,

and I want to share the Word of God. And

he does that for three months and three months he preaches,

he proclaims the gospel for three months, and for three

months they were rejecting him. He's persistent in sharing the gospel.

They were persistent in rejecting him. The Bible says, not

only they become stubborn and they continue in unbelieve, but

I also begins speaking evil of the way. It's interesting

this term way is used and acts only, I think,

maybe only in acts, maybe elsewhere to describe Christians. It's

the idea that Christians are identified in the New Testament

at times as the way, and it's built upon the

idea that they understood the way to salvation. Jesus says,

I am the way truth in the life. No one

comes the Father but by Me. And so these Christians

are identify the ones who believe that Jesus is the way,

so they call them the way. They also believe that

they are the way to the right relationship with God,

so they're described that way. And the passage tells us

that they reject Paul, but they also reject the Christians

that are there. They speak evil of them. In Verse

nine tells us that as was old, after continuing some

time sharing the Gospel, Paul whidraws from them, and he

draws of them when he takes disciples, and he goes

into this hall called Tyrannius. Tyrannus was a Greek hall

in that city. From every day from eleven to four o'clock,

they would have open kind of public forums where guest

speakers could come in and speak. So Paul goes in

this this hall in the middle of the city, and

he preaches the Gospel to everyone, Jews and Greeks. The

scripture is showing that Paul is making a transition from

sharing the gospel to the Jews. Now he's going to

the Jews in the Greeks. He's trying to reach everybody

in the city. And so he's speaking there daily in

that and look what the Bible says, and he does,

this scripture says in verse ten, for two years, and

as a result of preaching the Gospel for two years

in that city, everybody in the city, here's the Word

of God. And not only they hear the word of God,

but they see the power of God. And that's where

I jumped up too far a minute ago. But in

verse eleven, they see the power of God. The Bible

says in verse eleven, and God was doing extraordinary miracles

by the hands of Paul. So God was doing work.

It wasn't like I said earlier. It wasn't Paul that

was the power. Was not when Paul the power of

God was. It was God who had the power. It

was God who was giving power to Paul so much

so that God was doing such an extra nernory work

in Paul. That scripture tells us here that Paul had handkerchiefs,

and people would get the handkerchiefs of Paul, and they

would take the handkerchiefs to those who were sick and

they would be healed. Some people would just Scripture describes

aprons there. Aprons would touch Paul and they would be healed.

People were seeing the power of God demonstrated in and

through Paul. What's the purpose of miracles? We talked about this.

Devin talked about this a few weeks ago. Miracles and

signs and wonders and scripture are always used. What to

authenticate someone or something is from God. And so as God,

as Paul is proclaiming the Gospel to a unbelieving, unrech

people group who do not know about Jesus. It's the

miracles were showing that this man is truly sent by

God and his messages from God. So it's leading people

to believe and to be drawn to salvation in Jesus.

And so we see the power of God. But I

want you to see something else happens in this past

of scripture. For every time God demonstrates his power, listen,

Satan wants to create a counterfeit in this time Ephesis.

I think something you need to know about Ephesus. Ephesus

was the center of the occault at the time, and

as a result, in the middle of this town they

would there was a statue in a card Artemis was

the statue, and then this in this statue in the city,

these people would would would take spells and they would

make spells and magic spells, and they would take symbols

of the statue and make spells from that statue. They

had books where they would have spells and incantations where

they would offer these. There's magicians all over the city

that would offer cures or blessings or spells to help

heal people. You paid them money and they will give

you spell or they would give you some type of

ointment or whatever to help cure you of your diseases.

And that's the middle of where Paul is at this time.

So listen, understand, for every demonstration of God's power, Satan

creates a counterfeit. So in this past of scripture we

see Satan tries to create a counterfeit from what God

was doing in Paul loqu at what says here and

then verse thirteen. And then some of the itinerant Jewish

exorcists understood and invoke the name of the Lord Jesus

to those who had evil spirits. We understand that we

have history would tell us that they would take these

spells and they would make these incantations or something, and

we know there's priests who would be responsible for casting

out demons. Was believed that if you would declare something

that had power, that gave you power over what you

were speaking against. Because the Jews saw the power that

was then Paul, they said, you know what, we may

need a little bit of that power. You know, this

is really bad demon in this man. And you know

we've asked to done a few exorcism in and what

we've done in the past that work. So you know what,

Paul's many in the city. I hear about this Paul

and they're taking his handkerchiefs and people are being healed.

Maybe I should maybe, and he does in the name

of Jesus, and maybe and when I do my spell,

I'll add a little Jesus to the spell. I'll add

a little Paul to the spell, and then maybe that

gives me a little bit more power that my spell

might work. And so that's what happens. These Jewish priests

go in and again it's a counterfeit is a demon

possessed man, and they would declare the name of Paul

or Jesus to maybe help their spell. We understand this.

We actually have writings that were found in Paris in

Rome from this time, and in these papers that we

have or these magic spells of that we have collections

we found in Rome. You hear these terms that they

would do this and their spells they would say Abraham.

They would use the term of Abraham when spell reads

I adjourned thee by Jesus. The God of the Hebrews,

and the other one says held God of Abraham, held

God of Isaac, held God of Jacob, health Jesus, the

Holy Spirit, God the Father. So people would use these spells,

and these high priests were using that, and that added

in the name of Jesus. Listen with every time you

see the power of God, you see Satan tries to

create a counterfeit. Can I understand? Can I lead you

today as we look at the word of God today? Listen,

God wants you to recognize the day that true power

comes only from Him. There's nothing in this world today. Listen,

there's nothing in this world today. This this world tries

to offer you. That's the imitation of the real thing

that there and there's no power in it. Let me

give you an example of that, of the one thing

that our world has done today that's made a counterfeit

of something that God's created. Once you turned with me

to Genesis Genesis chapter nine, Genesis chapter nine, verse eight.

In Genesis chapter nine, verse eight, God speaks to a

man and his name's Noah. You know what he says

to no I want you to read that. I want

to read this with you. Love hearing the turning of

the pages of scripture Genesis, chapter nine, verse eight, it says,

then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, behold,

I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,

with every living creature that's within you, the birds, the livestock,

every beast of the earth with you, as many as

many as came out of the arc. For every beast

of the earth, I established my covenant with you that

never again shall I shall all flesh be cut off

by the waters of flood. Never again shall there be

a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, listen this.

This is a sign of the covenant that I make

between me and you and every living creature that is

with you. For listen to this for all future generations.

I set my bow in the clouds, that it shall

be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds of the earth and a bow

is seen in the clouds, I remember my covenant that

is between me and you and every living creature of

all flesh, and the water shall never become a flood

to destroy the earth. And when the bow is in

the clouds, and when I see it I remember the

everlasting covenant between God and every living creature that is

on the flesh of the earth. Listen, the Bible says,

as we look upon the rainbow today on our backdrop,

the Bible says, every time that God puts the rainbow

in the sky, you should see it and you should

recognize the power of God. You should see the power

of God to judge every living creature on this earth.

You know, when God brought the flood upon the earth,

every living creature, man and creature was killed except those

were on the mark on the ark. Not only when

we see the rainbow we should see God's power over

all creation to judge, but we also should be reminded

of God's power to save. You see God providing an

arc that man and woman might be saved from the

judgment of God. So when God puts this the rainbow

into the sky, we should see rememember the power of

God to judge all creature. We all should see God's

power to save all mankind. All those who trust in

Him can be saved. Right, and we also should remember

every time we see the sign of the rainbow, we

should remember that God made a covenant with man. God

made a covenant with man, and yet our world, world

has taken the rainbow and has made it a counterfeit.

And when you see the rainbow today, maybe even when

you came in the room, you saw the rainbow and

you said, oh, there's a rainbow in the church. What

have we done as a church? Went crazy? And it's

sad that we've come to that place when something that

God created to be a sign of his power and

his power to judge and his power to save our

world is taken to make a counterfeit to where we

think about something that is a simple practice of homosexuality

that's totally against what God's words created a husband and

a man and a woman for marriage, for life, and

a world's twisted the rainbow and made it a sign

of the evil practice of homosexuality. God creates, and God

is powerful, and we should be reminded of God's power,

but we should recognize that the enemy. And listen, I

don't put that forgive me, I said some thing rolling again,

I said, our world has made it into Let me

put let me put the emphasis on the emphasis. Who

should get the credit from making the rainbow what it

is today? It's not just our world it is the

prince of our world, and that Satan himself has made

it into a counterfeit. So listen today we should recognize

every time we see the power of God demonstrated, Satan

will create a counterfeit, and there is a temptation. Listen

your naive to think about today. It won't happen to me, preacher. No, no, no, no,

I believe in the power of God. I'll never fall

from the counterfeit. No, you shouldn't be that naive. Listen,

Satan creates this counterfeit to draw you away from God.

Listen to this. Bible says in Deuteronomy, I'm skipping ahead,

but I want you to see this a Deuteronomy thirteen,

verse one. Listen to this. Oh, this is so good.

If a prophet or a dreamer dreams among you, it

gives you a sign of wonder or a sign of wonder.

He tells you will come to pass. He says, let

us go after other gods which you have not known,

and let's serve them. You should not listen to words

of the prophet of their dreamer of dreams. For Lord,

your God is testing you to know the whether you

love God with all your heart with all your soul,

or with all your strength, and with all your heart,

with all your soul, listen. The Bible says that God

brings up the dreamers and the people who will give

a counterfeit, why to test you, to see whether you'll

trust in the truth God, or whether you're going to

trust in the counterfeit. We must recognize today, listen, that

God has power over all counterfeits. Secondly, I want you

to understand. We must see today that we must recognize

the danger of the counterfeits. The Bible says in this

passage of scripture, verse thirteen, that some of the itinerant

Jewish exorcists undertook the name of the Lord Jesus over

those who had evil spirits, and they said, I adjourn

you by Jesus, and whom Paul proclaims seven sons of

seven sons of Jewish high priests named Skiva. We're doing this.

But the evil spirit answered them and says, I know, Jesus,

I know, and Paul, I recognize, But who are you?

And the man in whom was the evil spirit lead

on them and mastered them all and overpowered them. So

they fled out of the house naked and wounded Scriptures

tells us that this was a practice that was happening

among Ephesus, that there are people all over the city

that we're using this practices doing magic spells, and they

were had in Jesus and Paul and different priests were

doing that. And sevenly there's these seven sons of the

High Priests, high priests, by the way, we're seeing us

having more power than anybody in the community, because they

were the high priests of the Jews. So here's this man.

He has a demon possessed, a demon possessed man. And

some said, well, we need to get we need to

heal this man from demon possession. So they call these

seven sons of schemers, seven sons of the High Priests. We'll

bring them men. They're mighty men of God, and surely

they'll be able to cast out this demon. And they

go in there, and they've heard the other priests that

we're using the name of Jesus and using the name

of Paul. So they go in and the demon possessed

man's there, and they try to cast it out, and

they say by the name of Jesus, by the name

of Paul, and the demon speaks says to them, Jesus,

I know, Paul, I've heard of who are you? So

here's the thing. They come across as what we've got

the power of God. We have God. But what we

reality see is there's no power in them. They're empty,

They're a fake. And as a result, the Bible says,

the demon jumps on them. Say listen. They wanted to

use the power of Jesus name. They wanted to use

that evil counterfeit to what have power over something, And

they realized in that moment they had no power. But

listen to this. The evil is what had power over them.

The demon jumped upon them, beat them, all seven of them.

That was a bad demon. They fled out of the

house naked. Being naked, there was a sound of humiliation.

They were physically and emotionally humiliated. Why because they were

trusting in the counterfeit. They were trying to find hope

in the counterfeit. They're like the man at the grocery store. Man,

I think this is really hope here, This is really

what made me happy. This will really make me fulfilled

in my life if I really trusting this counterfeit. Only

to realize leaving that day, they were humiliated and they

were hopeless because there was no power in the counterfeit.

We must recognize today that brothers and sisters, we must

recognize the dangers of the counterfeits. Number one, counterfeits have

no power. You know, this world will try to tease

you and lead you. Satan will try to tease you

and lead you to put your hope in something of

this world, and to that it will bring you happiness,

It'll give you some power, It'll bring you some type

of fulfillment. Reality is, there is no power in it.

Never forget. One time Brandy and I were in a

suny school class, a young couple's sons school class, and

there was a man in there and he said, I'll

tell you what, I'd be a better man of God

if I wanted a lottery. Yes, I would be. I'd

love God more if I wanted a lottery. I was

like what he said, Yeah, if I want a lottery,

I would have to go to work so I could

just sit at home and read my Bible all day long.

And we laugh at that, But what is he thinking.

He's thinking the counterfeit of winning the lottery is what's

going to make me happy. There's power in money. There's

fulfillment and money, and if I get money, then I'll

have more of God and said, God, I've got you

and that's all I need in this world. But we

believe that and we'll follow into that. You say, not, well,

you brought a lot of ar tickut lately someby said no, no, no,

you have it. But there's some of you have. What

are you thinking? What are you trusting in? Well? This,

if I win this, this scratch off, it's sure gonna

make me happy. It's sure gonna help me with this. Now,

there's no power in the counterfeits. There's no power in

the counterfeits. Secondly, counterfeits do nothing but cause harm. You know,

here's this, these these priests and they come and they

think they have power in this, that come to find

out that the evil has power over them and the

evil is harming them. Not only do many times we

realize there's danger in counterfeits that have no power, but

we also must realize there's danger in the counterfeits, that

what they're doing to us is really harming us. They're

not helping us. All right, Tell you of a church

in northern California. They have church services they have church signed,

they have a cross in their church, they read the Bible,

have Sunday morning service. They look like the church. They

sound like the church. They have a name of a church.

You want the name of the church is United Cannabis Ministry.

It's the marijuana Church. Yep. God made the grass and

blessed it a man. So they believe in smoking and

in church and that's going to make them happy. And

we laugh at that, right, we think that's crazy. Okay,

can you believe a church it's a cannabis church and

they're having Sunday morning service and maybe they're rolling up.

I don't know what they're doing in there, but I

can tell you today it's a counterfeit. It's a fake

and there's people who can you imagine? Can you imagine

being a member of that? And you're thinking, man, this

is great, we're happy. Everybody's happy. But only to realize

there's no power. Only even realize one day there's no hope.

There's no hope. And I tell you that and we

laugh and we have a good time about that. But

in reality, and many times we do the same thing.

Now we don't have a cannabis church here, but that's

a praise the Lord. But we'll read a horoscope and said,

Oh God, maybe this will be it for me, Maybe

this will be a good week for me. Or God,

I'm gonna watch that movie. And God, I know that

doesn't honor you, but maybe it just gives me a

temporary It'll make me feel good a little bit. I'll

enjoy what I get to watch for a little bit.

Or maybe I'll look at something on the internet I

shouldn't watch, and I'll give me a temporary satisfaction. And

I know, God, you designed marriage between the men and woman,

and pornography is not the answer to section reality, I mean,

not the answer for my needs that God gave me.

But it'll give me a temporary satisfaction. And then later on, God,

Oh bless me come to church and God, I'll give

you praise. And God, I'm gonna do that little scratch

off today. Lord, and you know where I need finances

and you know my struggling right now. God, I know

you're not really happy that. God. Maybe just maybe maybe

this one time I'll win and I'll get a little bit.

Or God, I I know I'm not really given you

an honor by going to partying on Saturday night night

or Friday night, and then come on Sunday morning, I

lift up my hands and praise you like I love you,

and sir you, Oh God, I need you to bless

my life. But God, this little pet sin I have

in my life, it's really not that bad of a problem.

It's really not hurting me. It's really just give me

a little temporary satisfaction. And listen when we're doing that,

we're no different than the Cannabis Church. We're coming here

on Sunday morning and we're at and like we love God.

And on Monday through Friday, we've got our little, our

little counterfeit that we're nurturing, trying to find hope in

something that has no power, and really it is tearing

us apart. What you see. Lastly, as we finish up

this morning, we must recognize the cost of repentance. I

want you to see this. I think it's so so

important to see in this passage Scripture again, Scripture wants

you to see the power of God. And when people

experience the power of God, it transforms their life. People

see the power of God. Satan creates a counterfeit, and

when people see the power of God, and how there's

no power in the counterfeit, and how it's doing nothing

but harming them. What do they do? They repent? The

Bible says in this pastor of Scripture, look at look

with me, and the man in whom was evil spirits

leaped on them and mastered them all and overpowered them,

so they flat out of the house, naked and wounded.

What happened? Everybody hears about that in the city. It

scares them, It really does. Scripture tells us that in

verse seventeen, and this became known to all the residents

and Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and listened to this,

and fear fell upon them all. You know what happened? Man,

They heard about what the demons did to those guys,

and there were some Listen, look what happens in the

next verse. I'm about to get ahead of myself. I'm

getting excited. Verse eighteen says also many of those were

now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. You know

what happened. People start hearing about it. Here's people in

the church that had magic books in the house. They

were doing some of the same stuff that other people

were doing. They were worshiped cheese upon Sunday and had

their little counterfeit at home. They started realizing, you know what,

there's no power in this, and this is actually hurting me.

And the Bible says, listen, look what happens those believers

in the church they were pent. Look what happens. Verse

eighteen says, and verse seventeens that became known all the residents,

Virtues and Greece, and fear fell upon them all, and

the name of the Lord was extold. And me of

those are believers now came confessing their vulging their practices.

And listen verse nineteen, and the number of those who

practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them

in the sight of all. Listen, there's repentance. There's confession too.

Some came up and says, you know what I need

to confess. You not know it. People in the church

didn't know it. But I've got my magic books at home,

I got my counterfeit at home. Enough's enough. I'm tired

of what it's doing in my life, and there's no

power in it. I want the power of God. I

don't want the counterfeit anymore. And that came in the

Confessor's sins before one another. Some took their magic books

and they brought them to the church, and together the

Bible says they burned the books together. These are church

members who were holding on to the counterfeits. Listen, we

must recognize the costs of repentance. There's times that word

for us. Listen, we need to be honest with ourselves

that the pet sins need to go away. The things

that we're hiding from everyone, maybe in this room, or

hiding from your family members that you know that are

our counterfeit, are not honoring God and are doing nothing

about hurting you and hurting your family. Let's not be

on it. Let's not be naive people. Many times we

think that my sin is only hurting me. No, it's not.

It's hurting you. It's hurting your family. And listen, it's

hurting this church. And you need to say, there's no

power in it. It's doing nothing but harm. And there's

come to a place that I need to confess and

I need to repent. So it clues confessing. I tell

you one of the most powerful services I have ever

remembered my entire life. Sunday evening that first Baptist Indian Trail,

we had a Sunday evening service, about a thousand people there.

We had a normal church service that had music and

the pastor spoke. And then suddenly something happened I'd never

seen before. A woman comes up to the pulpit and

she has a prepaired piece of paper and she begins reading,

and then that she begins confessing. She comes telling everybody

that unknowing to all of them, unknown to me, she's

been having an affair. She tells about how she thought

that the affair would be better than her marriage. She

confessed how she believed to lie. She confessed how she'd

been going to church and acting like everything was okay.

And there before that church that day she asked the

Lord to forgive her, and she asked the church to

forgive her. I tell you it was one of the

most powerful things I've ever seen in my life of

the spirit of God moving in that place. When people

just said, Hey, I no longer wanting to play the games,

I'm honestly saying, I need to confess with this, this

needs to get out of my life. I think. Secondly,

here we see that their sacrifice when you when you

recognize your need for repentance. When we recognize our need

for repentance, it only costs us confession, but it also

cost us sacrifice. The Bible says that they took their

books and they brought them together, and they burned them,

and they burned them for this would be thousands upon

thousands of dollars today. It would have been like thirty

five thousand dollars in today's value. It cost them something.

I remember one time we had some friends in high

school and we were, you know, listening to some music

we shouldn't listen to, and and God was really working

on our hearts about you know, just really like saying,

you know, there's some there's some things that are just

not good for me, and music is one of those.

And we were in the car one day and he

had a little suv and back then we had tapes.

I know, y'all don't know what tapes are, but they're

about this big. And he had tapes and he had

hitten them in his back like different places in his

car because he didn't want us to find them. We were

going down the road and he looked at him and

he found one of I forgot what it was some taping.

He lily says, what is this? You say you're a

man of God, you're listening to this mess he came

to He said, you need to get rid of you

need to purg yourself from evil. He said, I'll get

rid of it. He got excited, he k need got what.

He started throwing them out the window, you know, he said.

We just started handing him tapes, you know, and they

were just going out in the window. I tell you

all that because it cost him something. It cost them something.

And listen, when you confess your sins and when you

get rid of some things in your life, it's going

to cost you something. It may cost you shame. And

you confessing to someone that you know that doesn't know

what's happening in your life, it may cost you shame.

It also may cost you some time. It may cost

you saying, you know what, there's some things in my life.

There's some friends I'm like to separate because there's some

friends who are at tempting to me, leading me into

some things I don't. So there's gonna be some costs

from relationships. It's me cost I'm not going to go

to certain places I used to go to with some

of my friends, and they may look at me crazy,

like I got three heads. But listening God is more

valuable than anything that's going to cost me. See this

passage of scripture. We must recognize the cost of repentance.

I ask you today, we look at this passive scripture,

we see the power of God. You want that power?

Do you want it more than the counterfeit? Will you

say today, God? I want your power in me. Will

you say today, Lord, I'm tired of trusting in the fake.

I don't want to fac you anymore. God, I want

the real thing. I want you Jesus and Lord, that

means I'm willing to repent. I'm willing to capass there's

something in my life I need to I want to

need to confess of and I need to get rid of.

And I know it's going to cost me for for it.

My Lord, You're more, You're worthy, and I want more

of you. Jesus who asked the band to make their way.

You know, you ever met somebody and you say, you

know what that they just like they got it all together.

I remember we were I was pastoring a church or

at a church in rock Hill, and there was a

guy there, and I mean he just he looked like

he had it all together. Successful businessman. He was a

cook at a very upscale restaurant, and and that in Charlotte.

He was a deacon, served in our church very faithfully.

He had a godly wife. His wife for it. That's

Sara Merytrand's purse. That had children, very faithful to church,

that were there every time the doors were open. Looking

at them, you thought, man, he's got it all together.

Everything's going well for him. It's godly man, godly wife,

godly family. We got news one week that he was arrested. Arrested,

not such and such. I mean, he's a deacon, he's

faithful to the church, he's a coly wife, had his children,

seems to be a faithful man. He was arrested for

a child pornography. We realized that day. Listen, listen to me.

He was the counterfeit. I wonder today, as we've we

closed today, some of you are trusting in the counterfeit,

and then some of you are the counterfeit. You come

in here and you act like you really know the Lord.

You act like you've got it all together, but you

never put your faith in the Lord Jesus to forgive

you your sins and surrender your life to him. Today,

maybe it's a day say no more playing games with God,

no more acting like I'm one way and my heart's

not right with him. Today I want to have the

real thing and I want God to cleanse me, forgive

me and my sins, and make me new again. We

stand with me. Let's pray. Lord. I love you. I

thank you Lord for your word. God. I thank you

that today Lord, it was by your power, Lord that

you change lives. And God, I pray today as we

seek you in this time of invitation. Lord, is not

by my power, it's not by my might, it's not

by my words. God, it's by your power. It's by

your word that you transform lives. And Lord, I pray today, Lord,

for your transformational power to work in the lives of

your people there in this room. Today, Lord, I pray

that there would be those who would render Lord to

your work and their life. Today. I pray they'd be

those who would confess Lord to you their counterfeit practices,

things that they're trusting in that doesn't bring you honor

and glory in their lives. Secret sins. Lord, Today, I

pray they'd be those who would confess their sins before you.

I pray they'd be those that would repent and come

to you, Lord or today, may your power move in us. Oh,

I pray for someone who doesn't know you as Lord

and savior. And today they may have come here and

been coming here for a while, but they've never ever

put their trust in you. They are the counterfeit today, Lord,

May they know the true thing. May they know the

real power in you, Jesus, How you can forgive them

of their sins, save them today and have a relationship

with them starting today. I pray they'd be those who

would put their trust in you for salvation today. Lord,

however you lead us in this time, Lord, may we

surrender it to you in your name, we pray, Amen,

Jesus two