The Power of the Spirit

Good morning, everyone. Happy New Year.

Those of you who, like Sonny, came up to me this morning asking for red pockets.

! I grew up in England, so very westernized, so please do not come to me.

My kids, however, grew up in Hong Kong, so you can give them all the red pockets that you want to.

We're going to actually have the ladies pass the Bibles around.

Just put up your hand if you would like one.

If you don't want one, you still need to take one.

So it is the only way to be saved.

We had a great baptism this morning. It was really good.

I'm not going to lie. Someone asked, were they properly dunked?

They were well and truly dunked.

In fact, I think I either overestimated my own strength or underestimated my weakness.

I think we may have dropped Jasper into the ocean first, and then we had to pick him back up afterwards.

So he got well and truly dunked. All the sin was removed. It was good.

I want to invite the three of them up in a bit to do the scripture reading for us, actually.

So I'll just give you a warning now. Acts chapter 19, if you want to do it.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

But before then, this week has been a fun week, right?

You've been going to all these family gatherings.

You've been celebrating with people who actually, I'm guessing, many who do not know Christ yet.

And Gabe, last week, shared how Christ really confronts some of these things within our Chinese culture.

He gave us the three Fs. Does anyone remember what they were?

Does anyone remember?

This proves to me that, as I always knew anyway, that people don't really remember what we teach.

Oh, oh, there we go. Sunny. Family is one.

The Chinese culture just values family so much.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing.

But yet, actually, when it becomes an idol, when it becomes your God, when it becomes the only thing, that's when the problem is.

Brayden, you put your hand up. Are you going to give us another one?

Brayden?

Huh?

Fortune.

It's all about money.

It's all about wanting more and more blessings onto us.

And then the final F. Does anyone remember?

It was actually fears.

But actually, your one is probably, I think, the most important.

I think, actually, so fears is the one that he talked about.

How we are actually all afraid of something.

And I've joked many times before how the Chinese culture always uses fear as the thing to drive any kind of behavior.

I mean, it's part of the honor-shame culture that we're in as well.

And what we're most afraid of, maybe, face.

How we perceive to other people.

Andy, you prayed earlier this morning.

And that was the thing that was in my heart.

I said, wow, we are really afraid of how the people around us perceive us.

How they actually look at us, especially our families.

And many of us dread going to these family gatherings.

And we get asked those same questions.

What do you do?

Have you moved on to the next life stage yet?

It's all about faith.

It's all about fears.

It's all about fortune.

It's all about family.

When Christianity comes into a culture, what it does is it confronts the idols of that culture.

And it doesn't force that culture to conform to a perceived Western religion kind of stereotype.

We were with my family all the way in Yulong.

No word of English spoken in our family gatherings.

But they would often say, oh, it's really good that you guys do that.

But we didn't grow up in the West.

And it's a white man's religion.

It's a Western religion.

But if you look around the world, and that's why I'm particularly encouraged every time I gather,

is on a Sunday morning, around the world, every country, every culture, every race,

there are people who are worshipping.

You look at the book of Revelation, towards the end in Revelation 7,

where every tribe and tongue and every language is worshipping.

This is not just a Western religion that speaks English.

This is way more than that.

This transcends culture.

But the problem is, sometimes when Christianity comes into our culture,

we don't actually let it confront every part of the culture.

What we do instead is we hold on to some of the parts of the culture that we have found very comforting.

Family, fortunes, face.

And then we say, Christ, can you move in as well?

But not fully.

Just only to the surface level, because I still need to keep these other ones.

And yet Christianity has never just let us stay in that space.

In fact, Jesus, if we invite him into our hearts, he goes into every single room.

He goes into every single part of our culture and goes,

which of this is of me?

Family is of me.

I was the OG.

But which is actually not?

What have you turned a good thing into, and now has turned into God itself?

It's really what Christianity is doing.

And we're going to keep going back into the book of Acts now.

And Acts chapter 19 is where we're going to go.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

But just to recap at the end, Acts 17 is where Gabe finished last week with us.

When the gospel is preached, actually a few different responses happened.

And this was back then.

So this is greatly encouraging for me.

So even in a room like this, I know there will be people who fall into these three separate categories.

One is you believe.

You're like, I'm agreeing.

I'm nodding.

I'm amening.

And there's another group which is like, tell me more.

I'm not quite sure.

Well, I kind of understand, but I kind of don't.

But I would like to find out more.

And then there's the third group just mocks and just says, well, this is stupid.

Why would you believe that?

This doesn't make sense.

But then to those, I would ask, well, what do you believe?

Do you believe that billions of years ago, we came from nothing and we'll go back to nothing?

And that's it.

Or you believe in yourself?

Or you believe in your career?

Or you believe in your achievements?

Or you believe in what you can attain in this life, in this world?

Is that what you believe?

Is that how you get true contentment?

And how's that working for you?

And I'm not asking in a sarcastic, condescending, petty kind of way.

I'm just genuinely asking, how is that working for you?

As you look at society out there and you look at all the things people are pursuing out there,

do we see people who are genuinely free?

People who declare and proclaim to be free, that they can do what they want.

Do they actually feel free to you?

When actually the things that we say we are in control of, so often, so often, so quickly, they turn around and end up controlling us.

Because the moment we lose them, our lives, our worlds just come crashing down.

And yet what we believe, what we hang our hats on, is that 2,000 years ago, someone came, the Son of God came.

He died and then he rose again.

And there has been no evidence to refute that.

And that fact changed everything.

The fact that we're in 2026 is because we're counting since that man lived.

There's got to be something to this.

And I want to ask you whether you are in the mock camp or whether you're in the believe camp or whether you're in the just inquiring camp.

To just be willing.

To be willing to open your heart and go, well, what if there was something true about this?

What if there was something to this that is worth looking into?

Now, do we have all the answers?

Absolutely no.

In fact, many of us who are following and believing now, we actually still have a lot of these questions.

And yet, I'll be honest with you, I'll be frank with you.

The alternative is quite dire.

The alternative is quite bleak.

So I'd encourage you, if you're just on that fence and you're just wondering, or you're actually, you're quite defiant and you say, no, I don't believe this kind of stuff.

Well, why don't you just give it a chance?

And actually, test.

And see.

And my hope is that as you step into a place like this, filled with these people here who are hungry, that actually, you go, oh, there is something to this.

Christianity confronts the culture that we're in.

Exposes the idols that we're often holding on to.

And it shows us a better way.

And we see that now as we move into Acts chapter 19.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

And we're just going to invite them up.

Janice, Moses, Jasper, would you mind coming up?

Let me embarrass you for a little bit and have you do the scripture reading for us.

Is that okay?

Can we give them a round of applause?

I can tell you the water was cold.

The water was cold.

So I'm looking forward to the next one, which will be in the summer, where we will have some warm water to go into.

All right.

Acts chapter 19.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

What should we do?

Why don't you do this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Moses, you do this.

Acts 19 verse 1 to 10.

Acts 19:1–10

Janice, then you do 11 to 20.

And then Jasper, you do 21 to 27.

Is that good?

Can I invite you to stand for the word of the Lord?

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples.

And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

And he said, into what then were you baptized?

They said, into John's baptism.

And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him.

That is Jesus.

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

There were about 12 men in all.

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took disciples with him.

Reasoning daily, the hall of tyrannous, this continued for two years so that all residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them.

And the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some of the in itinerants, Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,

I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.

Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

But the evil spirit answered, then Jesus, them, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I recognize.

But who are you?

And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

And this became known to all the residents of 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 professing and divulging their practices.

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burdened them in the sight of all.

And they counted the value of them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Now, after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem saying,

After I've been here, I must also see Rome.

And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Eurystice, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way.

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and said,

Men, you know that from this business, we have our wealth.

And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people,

saying that gods made with hands are not gods.

And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute,

but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing,

and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence.

She whom all Asia and the world worship.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thank you, Jasper, Moses, and Janice.

Thank you very much.

Hopefully you were able to follow along.

Acts chapter 19, if you've got your Bible, do follow along.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

I'm going to be going through this at a fairly quick speed.

But the premise is this.

Jesus is Lord of all or not at all.

Jesus is Lord of all or not at all.

You see when Christianity goes into the city of Ephesus,

which is actually a very important city back in the ancient world,

just like Antioch, just like Rome, just like Alexandria,

this was a place that actually was a hub for sea and land transportation.

It was a capital business center.

This was an important city.

This was an important city.

And then Paul goes into this city, and then he brings the gospel.

And what's really interesting here is that he meets 12 guys.

He meets 12 guys, and this is the start of the church in Ephesus.

So this is how it begins.

And again, I can just imagine Paul walking into this city,

overwhelmed, just like he was in Athens,

just deeply provoked, distressed about the idols that were going on here.

And he meets 12 guys, and he has this fascinating interaction

that actually theologians and scholars to this day

are still debating what it truly means here.

So he meets these 12 guys who say they've been baptized,

but then they don't truly understand the gospel,

which is interesting because I wonder whether actually

if Paul walked into here and he would ask us,

do you truly understand what the gospel is?

I wonder how many of us would truly be able to articulate to him

and tell him what the gospel is.

They say something interesting here.

And his question is, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

And then John says, well, until what then were you baptized?

They said, into John's baptism.

And then Paul explains to them, John's baptism was one of repentance.

So basically what that is, is if you look back into the book of John,

in chapter one, John the Baptist is calling people into repentance.

He's saying, hey, turn away from your life of sin.

What you're doing is damaging how you're living

and it will end up in death.

Turn around, repent is what the word repents means.

Turn around and go the other way.

And so then these people would be baptized,

basically filled with guilt and shame

of what they'd done in their lives.

And they're saying, okay, fine.

I want to turn away from that.

But what they didn't understand

and what Paul was trying to get out here was,

hey, do you know who the Holy Spirit is?

Or do you even know who Jesus is?

What they had gotten was this feeling of guilt and shame,

baptized into repentance saying,

I don't want to live that life anymore.

But they didn't really know where to go.

They knew they had to turn around from this,

but they didn't know that they had to go this way.

So instead of just turning around and then following Jesus,

they turned around and then were kind of just stuck in this place there.

And so John goes, hey, do you know that you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Now, this is a rare occurrence here.

Because now if you're here having been baptized,

you actually don't need to doubt on the most part

that you haven't been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Our life group was talking about this only a couple of weeks ago.

There are two baptisms.

One is of water and one is of spirit.

And often they actually happen at the same time.

So when you get,

actually the moment you decide to follow Christ,

that is proof in itself that the Holy Spirit is inside you.

So you don't have to worry.

If you are a follower of Jesus,

if you are a believer of Jesus,

you don't have to worry.

Wait, actually, do I have the Holy Spirit inside me?

Have I been baptized by the Spirit?

You don't have to worry about that

because Paul actually explains more in 1 Corinthians 12.

He says, actually, the fact that you can say Jesus is Lord,

the fact that you can utter those three words

proves that the Holy Spirit is inside you.

The fact that you're aware of your sin,

that you're aware of what righteousness is,

John chapter 16, verse 8,

John 16:8

is what is the Holy Spirit revealing that to you.

But what he's talking to these guys about,

this very specific group about is,

hey, I think you don't really understand the gift of grace.

I don't think you really understand.

You know that you have to turn away from this life,

but actually you don't know who you're following.

You just know that you shouldn't be there.

And so he says, actually,

what you do need to do is follow.

And he says this is verse four,

John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one

who was to come after him, that is Jesus.

And then verse five, on hearing this,

they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

So what he's saying there is,

okay, you understood the first part,

but maybe you missed the part where John says,

hey, I can only baptize with water,

but there's one coming after me

who is going to baptize in the spirit

and you have to follow him.

So he's saying, you must know about Jesus.

You have to know about Jesus

because actually not only do you need to repent of your sins,

you then need to know where you get forgiveness from.

It's not free.

It's free for you, but because someone paid a price.

And so you need to understand that

because if you don't understand that,

you don't understand grace.

You need to understand that actually you're forgiven.

You're not dead anymore,

but you're alive because someone died for you.

And now that person lives.

It's this concept of grace.

Sometimes I wonder,

actually I'm worried when I walk into a church setting,

I wonder how many of us here truly grasp the concept of grace,

that the Holy Spirit lives inside us,

that Jesus sacrificed his life for us,

but now he lives inside us.

To understand that actually we don't deserve to be here.

We are far worse than we imagined,

but far more loved than we ever dare dream,

is what Tim Keller says.

And that's what Paul is trying to confront here.

And the moment he talks to them about that,

boom, they receive the Holy Spirit.

And then they start speaking in tongues.

Remember, this group has never heard of the Holy Spirit before.

Now, it doesn't really matter

which realm of Christianity you're from.

One that we all have to agree on

is the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead.

It is part of the Trinity.

But I know, as we joke,

there are some churches that don't.

They have the Holy Father, Holy Son,

and then they have the Holy Bible,

and they replaced the Holy Spirit.

But the truth is,

the Holy Spirit is so alive and well and active.

This whole book is inspired by him.

All the events of Acts are done by him.

But it gets controversial

because what happens here

and what we see here

is that the moment he prays for them

and when he laid hands on them,

the Holy Spirit came on them

and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

And this is the part that divides the church

because they're like,

wait, does the Holy Spirit still do that?

Or was it only in this time?

And actually, let me tell you one thing.

This isn't the key theme.

This isn't the main reason why Luke writes this here.

The focus of the book of Luke and Acts

is not to talk about tongues.

And yet actually,

just because we are who we are,

we are humans,

we sometimes chase after those extraordinary things.

Some people downplay them.

Some people discourage them.

Some people dismiss them.

Some people try to duplicate them.

But I want to say,

that's not the topic of today's message,

but the point is,

we just hunger for God.

We just ask him to come.

And actually,

whatever experiences come our way,

whatever he decides to give to us,

he gives to us.

We just have to approach with humility.

We just have to approach with openness.

And so,

what happens then is,

they receive,

and then he moves on,

and then he starts teaching.

But again,

some people don't like it.

Maybe some of you don't like my teaching here.

And so,

some people don't like it,

and so he has to move to another place to keep teaching.

And he ends up teaching there for two years,

which is actually the longest place that he's been in.

And so you see,

Ephesus is built on that foundation.

And then,

something really funny happens.

As he's teaching,

what happens is that he starts doing miracles.

And you see here,

verse 11,

and God was,

actually,

let me just re-correct myself.

Because I just said,

Paul did miracles,

but that's not the case.

That's not what scripture says.

Scripture says,

and God was doing extraordinary miracles

by the hands of Paul.

So the point where even his handkerchief

was filled with power.

Can you imagine the hype that was building

around that time?

Well,

actually,

you may have been a part of the church circles,

but definitely you will know someone who's ill,

and who's unwell,

and who's sick.

And then you start hearing something.

Hey,

have you heard about that guy

who's hanging out in the hall of Tyranus?

He can heal people.

Hey,

you've had that eczema for a very long time.

You should go.

You should go touch him.

And maybe not him,

just touch a part of him.

Or maybe even just a cloth or a towel.

Maybe that power will be the thing that heals you.

Hey,

what about that cancer?

Why don't we,

why don't we take them?

Can you imagine the hype of that

that was starting to build?

People were starting to hear about the miracles

that were happening,

and they couldn't,

they couldn't resist going to find out,

can this person really heal?

And it's of that time

where there's another group of people

who were in the similar kind of work,

and they were there,

thank you,

Janice,

for trying to read that,

itinerant Jewish exorcists.

Let's just,

because it's a mouthful,

let's just call them the Ghostbusters.

Okay?

So these were a group of guys

that would go around

invoking all the names

of all the different gods

to try and heal people.

And guess what?

It worked.

Why?

Because the world we live in

is a supernatural world.

There is a spirit realm

that we cannot see.

Whether you're a follower of Christ,

a believer in God or not,

you will,

you'll have to acknowledge and admit

there's something beyond

what we can see here.

You have to,

because there's oxygen in this room

and you can't see it.

And we all know there's oxygen in this room.

But beyond that,

there's also a spiritual realm.

And of course,

the enemy is a work,

and the enemy is actually powerful.

So therefore,

these Ghostbusters

were actually invoking

all the different names

and actually causing healings to happen.

And so what do they do?

They hear about this Paul,

and they hear about this name Jesus,

and they say,

well, why don't we add him

to our catalog?

Maybe Jesus is the most powerful Pokemon

we can invoke.

Let's go and catch him,

and then let's use him,

is what they're doing.

If you think back in Acts 17,

when Paul walks through Athens,

he sees this shrine

for an unknown God.

Why is that unknown God there?

It's because they worshiped

so many gods,

but they were very worried

that they would offend

and miss out some gods.

So they would just put one,

there's all these gods,

fertility,

wealth,

and prosperity,

but there's one God

called the God unknown God.

Why?

Just in case.

Just in case,

because what we do not want to do,

we do not want to offend

the God that we did not name.

So let's just call it

the unknown God.

It's really ironic

because they create these gods,

they try to worship these gods,

but what they're actually

really trying to do

is control these gods.

Can you imagine a God

that you control

that will bless you

with fertility,

prosperity,

and all these things?

What kind of God is that?

And so what they're trying

to do here is

they hear about this Jesus.

So they said,

this name of Jesus

sounds powerful.

So let's try it.

So the sons of Sceva,

seven sons of a Jewish

high priest named Sceva

were doing this,

but the evil spirit

answered them,

Jesus I know,

and Paul I recognize,

but who are you?

I mean,

that would have just been

a terrifying encounter

to have.

And then,

and the man in whom

was the evil spirit

leaped on them,

mastered all of them,

and overpowered them

so that they fled out

of that house

naked and wounded.

I don't know if you've ever

been in a fight before,

but if you enter into a fight

and you come out naked,

it didn't win well for you.

It was,

it was not a good experience.

And so it would have been

a hilarious scene

to these seven guys

try to invoke

and conjure up

the name of Jesus,

end up in a fist fight

with one person

and they all walk out

of there naked.

Fascinatingly,

and this became known

to all the residents

that these seven guys

got into a fight

and lost their underwear

and they walked out.

Well, at least the imagery

that I have,

they were completely naked

and wounded.

And you would have thought

people would be terrified

and in some ways they were,

but then response

is actually quite a natural one.

And fear fell upon them all

and the name of the Lord Jesus

was extolled.

It means worshipped

and held in high regard

and honoured.

So because of that incident,

people were like,

did you see that?

Did you see that

those seven guys

just get beat up?

Those seven ghostbusters

get beat up by that ghost?

Maybe Jesus is the only one.

But just a word

about those seven guys.

I wonder whether you and I

are sometimes those seven guys

where we try and conjure up

the name of Jesus

and the power of Jesus

so we can get the blessings

from Jesus,

but we don't actually

know Jesus at all.

Imagine

if we,

in our pursuits

for the things of this world,

and we keep going to God

and asking for these things

and actually God says,

I don't actually know you.

How dangerous is that?

Do we sometimes do that?

What are these guys doing?

What are these ghostbusters

even trying to do?

They're trying to make money.

They're trying to gain a name

for themselves.

If you strip it down,

isn't that what we're trying to do

half the time?

Trying to invoke the name of Jesus

without the relationship of Jesus.

I'm reminded of

the book of Mark.

There's this scene

in Mark chapter nine,

the transfiguration.

Jesus takes his three guys

up into a mountain

and they see

this just incredible scene.

Elijah and Moses show up

and Peter's like,

let's stay here forever,

but they can't.

So they have to go back

down the mountain.

And when they go down

the mountain,

there is chaos.

There is absolute chaos.

Why?

Because there's this boy

with an evil spirit inside them.

And the other disciples,

the ones who were left behind

and all the other followers

of Jesus were trying

to cast out this demon,

but they couldn't do it.

This boy kept getting seizures.

And then Jesus stops them

when he comes

and of course he casts out.

And then he says this,

what does he say?

He says,

this kind can only be

cast out by prayer.

What does he mean?

He says,

this kind of,

you can only exercise

any kind of power

on behalf of me

if you actually know me,

if you have a connection

with me,

if you're able to speak

to me yourself.

If you and I have a connection,

that's when you have the power.

You can't invoke my name

and not know me at all.

You can't invoke my name

for selfish gain.

My name is that powerful,

but only in connection

and in relationship with you.

I wonder whether

when we go into our pursuits,

you know,

this all sounds quite extreme.

It sounds like demons

and it sounds like exorcists,

but often we approach life

in a very similar way.

Jesus,

can you give me that job?

Jesus,

can you give me that girl?

Jesus,

can you give me what I want?

And Jesus is like,

but you don't actually

want connection with me.

Relationship with me

is the most important thing.

Even when the crazy things happen

that we do for God,

it happened with the disciples.

They went out

and they actually ended up

casting out demons.

They ended up doing

all these miracles

and they go back to Jesus

and they're so excited.

They're so hyped up.

They said,

do you know what we did?

We did this.

We healed that person.

And then Jesus says,

don't rejoice

because you could do those things.

Rejoice that your names

are written

in heaven,

in my heart,

that you have a connection

with me.

That's what he's trying

to confront here.

That is,

in some ways,

the irony

that they tried to do this.

It didn't work.

They left the fight naked,

but yet the name of Jesus

was extolled.

And something,

again,

this story just keeps going.

And verse 18,

and also many of those

who are now believers

came confessing

and divulging their practices.

And a number of those books,

those who had practiced magic arts,

brought their books together

and burned them

in the sight of all.

So the other people,

not the seven sons,

they look and they see,

okay,

there's something special

about this Jesus.

We should follow him

and only him.

No one else.

So they come

and they bring all their books

and they burn all their books

and they say,

we're not going to follow

these other gods.

We're not going to try

and invoke

all these other names.

We're only going to go

with the name of Jesus.

We have found the one,

the only one.

And they go and burn

all their books.

And it says here,

they burn all their books

and they counted the value

of them and found it

and came to 50,000 pieces

of silver.

In modern day terms,

that's 35,000 US dollars

worth of books.

Textbooks of the defense

against the dark arts.

They threw them all.

They burned them all.

That's a lot of money.

Of course,

I don't know if you have

a book like that

at home on your shelf,

but maybe you do have

some books on self-help.

Maybe you do have

different books

that you have read,

investment gurus

to help you make money quick.

Maybe there are other things

that you are relying on.

Maybe there are

Instagram accounts

that you are following,

thinking,

okay,

I will follow Jesus,

but I also need

this guy's help.

I do believe

that Jesus provides for me,

but I better go

and do this

in order,

otherwise I won't get

what I need.

And yet these people,

the beginning of this church

happened

at a bonfire

where they each came

and took all the books

that they'd relied on

and they burned them.

And the value

of them,

35,000 US dollars

worth of books

and magical things

because they saw

the power of Jesus.

Jesus is either

Lord of all

or not

at all.

Imagine that kind

of community.

Imagine if you and I

all came here

and had to sacrifice

an incredible amount

to be here.

Because if I'm honest

with you,

we didn't have to sacrifice

that much to sit here.

There is no danger

that we're in

other than the danger

of falling asleep.

There is no danger

imminent here.

There are no authorities

outside.

This did not cost us

anything

unless you came from

Kowloon

and you had to pay

for the harbor

transport.

Yeah,

it's a real thing.

It's a very real thing.

But when there's no cost

that we've paid,

I wonder how much

it's worth to us.

When there's no cost

that we've paid

to follow Jesus,

I wonder how much

Jesus is actually

worth to us.

What's your

magic

that you've been

relying on?

What's the thing

that you've been

holding on to?

What's the thing

where you say,

Jesus,

you can be Lord

but only of these parts

because I have to

look after these parts?

I don't think

that's how this church

was started.

Do we hold on

to those things?

And this happens

the most during

Chinese New Year,

I think.

It's exposed

when we sit

around the table

with our friends

and family

and the question

that I asked myself

was,

how am I going

to do this?

How am I going

to bring up

my faith

to my family members?

How am I going

to be different

to them?

Not just for

different sake,

but if I really

believe what I

truly believe,

that actually

this is the path

that leads to life

and this is the path

that leads to death,

how do I share

with them that?

How do I tell

them that?

How did you do it?

Do we pray

for our families

that they would

overcome the idols

of family,

fortune,

face,

and fears?

Do we pray

for ourselves

that we can be

a light when we

head into those

spaces?

Not to judge

those spaces.

Remember,

the gospel is

that we are also

in that space

but then God

came to find us.

He came to save

us.

He came to preach

peace to us.

Do we recognize

our need for a

savior and do we

recognize their need

for a savior?

Christianity continues

to grow and continues

to confront culture.

So after that

happens,

the word of the

Lord continued to

increase and prevail

mightily.

Verse 21,

now after these

events,

Paul resolved in

the spirit to

pass through

Macedonia and

Achaia and go to

Jerusalem and then

afterwards he must

go to Rome.

Why?

Because every city

he goes to,

he sees the

fingerprints of Rome.

He sees that

Rome is the place

that you have to

hit.

This is why I

think you are

in Hong Kong.

And this is why

I am in Hong Kong.

Because when you

reach a city,

you can reach a

culture.

When Jesus says,

go and make

disciples of all

nations,

well how good

and how beautiful

is it that all

the nations gather

into the cities?

And it's when you

can move the city,

that's when you

can move the

culture.

And everything

that we need to

reach the city

is in the city

so long as we

are open to it,

so long as we

are obedient to it.

And that's why

Paul is saying,

I must go to

Rome.

I must tackle,

Christianity must

confront the head

of this beast.

And so he said,

that's exactly what

he says there.

But afterwards,

in Ephesus,

something else

happens.

There's a guy

called Demetrius,

wealthy man,

businessman,

okay?

Silversmith,

who made silver

shrines of Artemis.

Now Artemis is the

god of Ephesus,

is the local god

of Ephesus,

and she had this

incredible temple,

four times the size

of the Parthenon,

bigger than a

football field.

People would use it

as a bank and store

their riches in this

temple.

It was the centerpiece

of the whole city

of Ephesus.

And so this guy

makes his living,

got rich by building

little statues of

Artemis,

and saying,

hey,

we're going to sell

these,

and everyone put

them in their

houses,

and he would make

a lot of money

for them.

Of course,

when Paul comes,

and even his

handkerchief has

more power than

these seven

Ghostbusters,

suddenly people

start buying those

statues,

and they start just

following Jesus.

And that gets

Demetrius upset.

He actually riles up

a whole group.

These he gathered

together with the

workmen in similar

trades,

and he says,

men,

you know that from

this business we

have our wealth.

We got rich by this.

This is our livelihood.

I am a third

generation silversmith

because of this.

We need this to

survive.

Yet Paul,

yet Jesus,

is ruining that,

and you see in here

that not only in

Ephesus,

but in almost all

of Asia,

this Paul,

one guy,

God uses as the

chosen instrument

to spread throughout

all of Asia,

the good news of

Jesus.

But in almost all

of Asia,

this Paul has

persuaded and

turned away a

great many people

saying that God's

made with hands

are not God's.

Just freeze there

for a second,

just that line,

that God's made

with hands are not

God's.

Well,

well,

obviously.

When we're

talking about the

Holy Spirit,

when we're

talking about

God Almighty,

and then when

we're trying to

reduce him to a

little statue that

we can make with

our own hands,

or with our own

little minds,

we can understand

what's happening.

I think that's

where we go wrong.

So even when we're

talking about things

of the spiritual

realm,

like tongues,

like prophecy,

sometimes I just

approach all of

this with humility

going,

this is what I can

see in the Bible.

This is what I can

see sometimes in

experiences out there,

but I don't fully

know,

and anyone who says

they fully,

truly know,

I don't know if

we should believe

them.

Because we're

dealing with this

God that is so

much bigger than

us.

And I've shared

this example before,

if you've been to

my house,

you will meet an

incredibly vicious,

intimidating canine

called Walter.

Okay?

He's about this

size.

He's a toy poodle.

Never did I ever

dream that I would

grow up and own a

toy poodle,

but it is what it

is.

It is Hong Kong.

Imagine when we

left the house

this morning,

and Walter

then tries to

explain to some

of his other

canine friends as

he's outside

going for a

poop,

guys,

I've got the

humans down.

I know exactly

what they do.

I know exactly

how they're feeling.

I know their

culture.

I know the way

they think.

I know what

universities are.

Like,

no,

because he's a

dog.

He doesn't

understand.

Like,

if him and

his dogmates

sat together

and said,

hey,

let's just share

everything we

know about

humans,

they would not

be able to

tell you much

at all.

Dogs do not

understand humans.

Why do we

humans think we

can make gods

with our own

hands?

Impossible.

And so that

line,

Demetrius,

my boy Demetrius

here,

and I hope he

reflects on this,

is the irony

in that sentence.

Do you hear

about this,

Paul?

He said the

gods that we

made with our

own hands

aren't gods

at all.

And again,

it sounds stupid,

but then we

look at our

lives.

We look at the

things that we

hold on to,

the brand names

that we pursue,

the careers that

we obsess over,

and we wonder,

should we be

surprised at all

when they don't

really satisfy

us,

when they

don't truly

deliver us?

How often are

we actually

relying on

gods that we

make with our

own hands?

And anyway,

Demetrius is

trying to cause

a riot,

and he actually

succeeds,

and he's

saying,

hey,

we're losing

money from

this.

This guy,

we need to

get rid of

this guy,

otherwise I've

got a whole

pile of

statues in the

warehouse that

won't move,

and I've got

kids to pay

for.

And then he

also takes on

a bit of a

higher noble

ground,

and he says,

and there is

danger not only

that this trade

of ours may

come into

disrepute,

but also that

the temple of

the great

goddess Artemis

may be counted

as nothing,

and that she

may even be

deposed from

her magnificence,

she whom all

Asia and the

world worship.

The temple of

Artemis is

considered one of

the seven wonders

of the world.

He's saying,

hey,

if we don't get

rid of this

Paul,

Artemis will

lose her

magnificence,

to which I

would say,

well,

why does

Artemis need

us to defend

her magnificence?

Is she that

weak that she

needs us to

build statues

for her to

sell them so

that she would

be glorified?

Now,

people did

travel from

all over the

world to

Ephesus to

worship Artemis,

who was actually

mixed in with a

Roman god called

Diana,

which would grant

fertility.

But again,

so he's basically

saying, hey,

this is about me,

but it's also about

our great city and

our great culture,

which tells me

something else.

Religion.

Here is

practiced publicly

and it is also

never neutral.

You walk into

our streets of

Hong Kong and

you will see that

there is a

religion that is

not practiced

privately.

It is out

there public.

The worship of

money is one of

the biggest ones.

And you can see

it.

You walk through

any mall,

any MTR,

and you'll see

the shrines that

are up where

it will show you

what we worship.

And it is never

done in private

and it's always

in public and

it is never

neutral.

So when we

walk through

these places,

when we walk

through these

cities,

let's not think

that this is a

neutral ground.

Let's remember

that this is

actually a

battleground.

That there are

lives, there are

souls at stake

here.

And there is

only one God

that is alive.

Jesus is either

Lord of all or

not at all.

And it just

shows you how

fickle and

stupid humans

are.

Verse 28,

and when they

heard this,

they were

enraged and

were crying

out,

great is

Artemis of

the Ephesians.

They shouted

this for two

hours.

And they

were confused.

And again,

this feels

extreme and

if we were

in that spot,

it would have

felt pretty

intense.

But if you

look around,

think about

your family

gatherings,

think about

my family

gathering,

think about

the city

that we're

in,

the culture

that we're

in.

Aren't we

really just

as confused?

Aren't we

really just

as fearful?

Aren't we

really just

as selfish?

And so

Demetrius tries

to rile up

the crowd,

basically trying

to drive

Paul out.

Now,

later,

and we won't

focus too

much on

this,

there's a

town clerk

called

Alexander who

actually comes

and calms

down the

whole setting

and says,

well,

this isn't

the way

that you

do this.

If you

want to

get rid

of him,

then do

it through

the proper

way is

basically

what he's

saying.

And so

actually,

the crowd

calms

down,

and then

they leave.

But I

think it

leaves us

with the

same question.

Is Jesus

the Lord

of all

of our

lives,

or is

he only

Lord of

parts?

Because if

he's the

Lord of

parts,

then he's

actually not

at all.

That's the

difference.

the challenge

that we

have today

is can

we fight

actively

against these

other little

gods,

these books

that we

rely on,

this trade

that we

rely on?

I want to

finish by

sharing with

you,

we just

painted a

picture of

the beginning

of Ephesus,

the church

of Ephesus,

the gathering

at Ephesus.

Paul writes

them a

lot,

and he

loves this

church.

Actually,

in Ephesians,

if you just

go to

Ephesians

now,

we'll just

flick through

a little

bit,

just do

a mini

Bible study,

because

actually,

it will

suddenly,

you'll

basically

color in

this church

for us.

Ephesians,

the book

of Ephesians,

Ephesians 1:15

chapter 1,

verse 15.

Ephesians

Ephesians 1:15

chapter 1,

verse 15.

So,

Paul visits

Ephesus,

this is what

we see in

Acts chapter

Acts 19 · chapter mention

19,

and now

he writes

to the

church in

Ephesus

from prison.

And this

is many years

later,

and this is

what he

says.

For this

reason,

because I

have heard

of your

faith in

the Lord

Jesus,

and your

love toward

all the

saints,

I do

not cease

to give

thanks for

you,

remembering

you in

my prayers.

Because I

have heard

of your

faith in

the Lord

Jesus,

and your

love toward

all the

saints.

Later,

and that

the God of

our Lord

Jesus Christ,

the Father

of glory,

may give you

the spirit

of wisdom

and of

revelation

in the

knowledge of

him,

having the

eyes of

your hearts

enlightened,

that you may

know what is

the hope to

which he has

called you.

He's saying,

I've heard of

your faith,

I've heard of

your love,

I remember,

I personally

remember when

you burned all

those books,

I personally

remember when

you received

the gift of

the Holy Spirit

and you

encountered

and experienced

his love.

The only way

we even

experience

his love,

as Romans

5, 5

points out

to us,

is because

God pours

out his

love onto

us through

his Holy

Spirit.

So Paul's

saying,

can you see

now as we've

read the events

of Acts

Acts 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19,

you read what

he's saying

here and

suddenly it

adds more

context,

it adds

more color.

Guys,

I remember

your faith

and I remember

your love.

I remember

you know

how to

discern

against the

spirits.

You know

how to

discern

what is

right and

wrong

because you

saw those

seven guys

run out

but naked

and you

saw the

power of

Jesus

and I

remember

that and

I do

not cease

to give

thanks for

that and

the riches

of his

glorious

inheritance

in the

saints.

I remember

the immeasurable

greatness of

his power

towards us

who believe.

I remember

when you

saw and

you witnessed

the power

of Jesus

firsthand.

I remember

when you

were willing

to

sacrifice

35,000

US dollars

worth of

self-help

books

for this

Jesus

and now

you have

riches

of his

glorious

inheritance.

I remember

all that.

Stay strong

is what

he's saying.

And that

he worked

in Christ

when he

raised him

from the

dead

and seated

him at

his right

hand in

the heavenly

places.

Verse 21

far above

all rule

and authority

in power

and dominion.

Jesus

is Lord

of all

or not

at all.

You guys

chose

Jesus

in the

beginning.

Unfortunately,

the town

of Ephesus,

this great

town,

actually ends

up

gone.

Who's been

to Ephesus

by the way?

There we go.

What is

Ephesus?

What does

it look

like,

Flo?

Flo?

No.

Agnes?

Ruins.

A pile

of rocks

with a

temple

that was

one of

the seven

wonders

of the

ancient

world

is now

a pile

of rocks.

Do you

know why?

Do you

remember why?

Did your

tall guy

tell you

why?

Does anyone

remember?

The town

of Ephesus

was so

powerful

because it

was by a

river.

It was by

the mouth

of a river

and so

that's

where all

the sea

and all

the imports

and exports

would come

in.

But eventually

something happened

which was

interesting which

was called

silt.

Anyone remember

anything from