Stephen N. Collins
Millville – 8/31/08
Being the Church
God’s Power to Change Your Life
Scripture: Acts 19:8-20
Icebreaker: I was browsing in a souvenir shop when the man next to me struck up a conversation. Just as he was telling me that his wife was getting carried away with her shopping, a brief power shortage caused the lights to flicker overhead. "That," he sighed, "must be her checking out now."
Received from Thomas Ellsworth.
Intro: Our power sources wane sometimes. But consider God’s power. With a wave of His hand, he can carve out a canyon, shift the tides, or fling a million stars into space. He can topple a mountain or slice an atom, rearrange the seasons or redesign a snowflake.
-So then why doesn’t He change the circumstances of our lives with the same “wave of His hand” kind of power? Let’s be honest, we all go through time in our lives when we wish God would just “fix things.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed that God would just snap his fingers and make everything right during certain periods of my life. But in my experience, that rarely happened. And the more I get to know people, the more I see that scenario play itself out.
-So what gives? If God has the power to change our circumstances, why doesn’t He? Does He not care? Is He punishing us? Is He weak?
-This morning, I’d like to suggest to you that every one of us who are followers of Jesus can experience God’s power in every area of our lives. The same God that we have seen powerfully working throughout our study in the book of Acts is the same God that you and I serve today.
-And this same God wants to give us a lives full of purpose and vigor. But how many people do you know that really live lives of full of purpose and vigor? If we’re truthful, not many. Most of us consider our day a success if find a good deal on gas somewhere. It will be a topic of conversation at the dinner. We’ll brag to our family on the phone. We’ll recommend the station to our co-workers. We may even testify at church that God helped us save 7 cents a gallon on gas!
-Maybe He did, but I can’t help but think that God wants so much more for our lives than cheap fuel. And I can’t help but believe that God wants to reveal His power in our lives in more ways than just 7 pennies per gallon.
-So why don’t we see His power revealed in our lives the way we feel it should be? That’s a good question. Let’s follow it up with two more: Could it be that your circumstances aren’t what needs to be changed? What if, instead of simply waving a magic wand and changes your circumstances, God changed you…from the inside, out?
-Imagine how things in your life would if you experienced that kind of power. The power of a new outlook. The power of a new mind. The power of a new heart. That’s the kind of power our God has. And that kind of power makes all the canyons and tides and mountains and stars pale in comparison.
-And that is what God wants to do for each of us. But there are forces at work against us…forces that keep us from tapping into that power. And until we allow God to fundamentally change us, we will never experience that kind of power. And the circumstances that we keep praying for God to change…will rarely get any better.
Quote
“If you could change on your own power, you would have already done so, but you can’t. That’s why you need a power source greater than yourself.”
-Rick Warren
-So this morning, we’re going to see in Acts 19 3 forces that keep us from experiencing God’s power, and how God overcomes them in our lives…if we will let Him.
(Read Acts 19:8-20 and Pray)
3 Forces that Keep Us From
Experiencing God’s Power
1. Fleshly Resistance (Vs. 19:8-9)
Illustration: (Getting in our own way) I was the last person in my kindergarten class to learn to tie my shoes. Not because I couldn’t, but because I refused to.
-I was like the little girl who had been trying for months to learn the art of tying her shoes. She finally grasped the knack and was able to do it by herself. Her parents expected her to be delighted, but were surprised by her disappointment. Her father asked why she was crying. She sobbed, “I just learned how to tie my shoes.” He told her, “That’s wonderful, honey, but why are you crying?” She told him, “Because now I’ll have to do it all by myself for the rest of my life.”
-That was me. I didn’t want to learn to tie them because it was too much work for me. It was out of my comfort zone.
Questions: Have you ever had a hard time getting out of your comfort zone? Imagine for a moment that you never resisted changed in your life. Imagine that you were always open to anything God wanted to do with you. What would your life look like? How would your life be different?
Main Point: Verse 8 tells us that Paul taught in the synagogue for only 3 months. Why not longer? Verses 9 gives us the reason.
Scripture: Acts 19:9
“But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.”
-During the 3 months he taught in the synagogue, Paul sense the angry walls that began building up around the hearts of the people there. Eventually their hearts became so hard that they started openly blasting the Gospel in front of all the people who were gathered there. When that happened, Paul wisely went somewhere else to teach.
-Leaving the synagogue to go elsewhere was all that Paul could do. God could have done great things among the people there and changed lives for ever, but the people refused to let Him change them.
-I want you to notice something here about these people. There is definite resistance to God moving, but there is no mention of Satan, or temptations, or spiritual forces at all. All that is mentioned is that “some” of them became “obstinate.” That’s kind of a big word, “obstinate.” You know what a simpler term for it is? “Stubborn.” Just plain, ol’ stubborn. God was unable to work in the hearts and lives of this small group of religious people in Ephesus because of their stubbornness.
-Truth was, that small group of people didn’t want God to do something new in their lives or in the midst of their fellowship. They themselves got in the way. Not Satan. Not evil spirits or demons. They did. There is some powerful truth here for us to learn. When it comes to our own lives, most of the time the only thing standing between us experiencing God’s power is us.
-This was the 1st force that challenged Paul and it is almost always the first force that keeps us from experiencing God’s presence and power in our lives today: the force of fleshly resistance.
-There other things that can hinder our walk with God, but we have got to get over ourselves first. I’ll say again: if you want God to change your life, if you want to experience Him in a fresh way, if you want to tap into His power for living, you must…you must...get over yourself. Take out the fleshly resistance at its source.
-You can do this by making your heart receptive to what God wants to do in your life. God overcomes fleshly resistance through receptive hearts
Scripture: Acts 19:11-12
“God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”
-Once Paul went to Tyrannus and started teaching to people who had receptive hearts, God did “extraordinary things.”
2. Demonic Involvement (Vs. 19:13-14)
Illustration: Erwin Mcmanus: One summer Aaron went to a youth camp. He was just a little guy, and I was kind of glad because it was a church camp. I figured he wasn’t going to hear all those ghost stories, because ghost stories can really cause a kid to have nightmares. But unfortunately, since it was a Christian camp and they didn’t tell ghost stories, because we don’t believe in ghosts, they told demon and Satan stories instead. And so when Aaron got home, he was terrified.
"Dad, don’t turn off the light!" he said before going to bed. "No, Daddy, could you stay here with me? Daddy, I’m afraid. They told all these stories about demons."
And I wanted to say, "They’re not real."
He goes, "Daddy, Daddy, would you pray for me that I would be safe?" I could feel it. I could feel warm-blanket Christianity beginning to wrap around him, a life of safety, safety, safety.
I said, "Aaron, I will not pray for you to be safe. I will pray that God will make you dangerous, so dangerous that demons will flee when you enter the room."
And he goes, "All right. But pray I would be really, really dangerous, Daddy."
Erwin McManus, "Seizing Your Divine Moment," Preaching Today, Issue 252
Questions: Have you come to that place in your own life where you stop asking God to give you a safe life, and make you a dangerous follower of Jesus Christ?
Main Point: A dangerous follower of Christ is someone who has a real faith…a faith that can overcome the force we find in verses 13 and 14 that works against us to keep us from experiencing God’s power in our lives.
Scripture: Acts 19:13-14
“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.”
-Notice what comes into play here? The force of fleshly resistance again.
-These sons of Sceva weren’t from God; they just wanted a piece of the action. They didn’t really know Jesus. They tried to bypass the Lord’s authentic power in their lives and they imitated Paul’s methods, caring only about their own popularity and the money the might make off of working miracles in the name of Jesus.
-They didn’t care about a real move of God in their lives or the lives of the people who asked them for help. They allowed themselves to get in the way…and then they ran up against the 2nd force that keeps us from experiencing God’s power, and for them, it was a doozy. That force is the force of demonic involvement.
-Now, I don’t want to scare you this morning, but we do need to have an awareness that there is more to our spiritual lives than just what we can see. And there are spiritual forces at work to keep us in spiritual chains. To keep us in spiritual darkness. We have a real enemy. And he and all his minions hate human beings. Know this: Satan hates you. He wants to destroy your life any way he can. Why? Because you are made in the image of God. When you experience God’s power in your life, you become a reflection of His glory and Satan can’t stand it!
-I don’t know about you, but you know what I have to say about that? Tough, Satan!
Because God can overcome any demonic involvement that Hell can throw at us. And you know how He does it? God it overcomes through a person of authentic faith.
-Look at what happened to the sons of Sceva:
Scripture: Acts 19:15-17
“(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.”
-See how these men were taught a painful lesson? You know, if their faith would have been real, if they really would have known Jesus, they would have been able to combat the demons that possessed that man. But because they didn’t, they were overpowered and embarrassed…and probably a little chilly, too.
- Notice verse 17. They wanted to overshadow Paul and show off their own power. Instead, these men ended up demonstrating the power of the name of Jesus.
-If your faith is real, if you’re not just faking it and giving into fleshly resistance, if you live under the authority of the name of Jesus, no demonic force will be able to keep God’s power from being evident in your life. Be a dangerous follower of Christ!
3. Worldly Attachment (Vs. 18-19)
Illustration: Jack Benny, that comedian who always acted the part of the miser, told of the time he was held up. The robber stuck a gun to his back and said, “Your money or your life.” After a long pause the robber repeated his threat, to which Benny replied, “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”
Questions: Have you ever known someone like that? Someone so attached to their stuff that their stuff became what they lived for? Here’s the question for us this morning, though: Do you feel the tug of materialism in your life?
Main Point: The victory that God won when authentic faith in Jesus was proven to have power over demonic forces became a turning point for many of the people in Ephesus. Look what happened in verses 18 and 19:
Scripture: Acts 19:18-19
“Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.”
-When they had a real experience with Jesus, these people in Ephesus were able to overcome the most sinister yet beloved force that keeps us from experiencing God’s power in our lives: the force of Worldly Attachment.
-I use the phrase “sinister yet beloved” for a reason. Becoming attached to worldly things is quite possibly the #1 reason we do not experience change in our lives. We become so engrossed in pursuing a life of comfort and pleasure and wealth (just like our culture tells us to)…that we become cold and callused to what God may be wanting to do with us. But man, we love our stuff, don’t we?
-But unless this force is overcome, we will continue to live in a sort of spiritual mediocrity. Can you imagine how dazzling the bonfire in Ephesus must have been? You know, when we become preoccupied with the material things in our lives to the point that it hinders our relationship with God, it may be time for a little bonfire of our own.
-Just as He did with the Ephesians, the Holy Spirit searches out and exposes our obsession with our stuff. And if we will yield our fixation on our stuff to Him, He will overcome our reliance on it. And you know how He does it?
God overcomes the force of worldly attachment through personal sacrifice.
-The worth of the books the people burned was 50,000 drachmas. You know how much that was worth? To put it in perspective, 1 drachma (one!) was worth a days wages. Talk about personal sacrifice. If you want to think about it by today’s terms: it would be the equivalent of about 5 million dollars worth of personal stuff….burned.
-And because of the personal sacrifice, look what happened:
Scripture: Acts 19:20
“In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”
-Can can overcome the force of worldly attachment in our lives, but only when we become willing to make the personal sacrifice that is necessary for Him to change us. My question to you today is this: are you willing? Do you want God to change your life? Do you want to experience His power in your daily walk with Him? Then you have to be willing to sacrifice your love of things to Him.
Conclusion/Invitation
2 Ways to Allow God More Room
to Work in Your Life:
1. Remember that the hardening of your heart happens slowly and silently.
-You heart didn’t become cold and calloused overnight. In fact, sinful patterns often have their roots in our younger years. And although the holy Spirit keeps reminding us of them, we sometimes ignore Him. And with each refusal, our hearts become harder and harder, so that eventually the Spirit’s convictions glance off our hearts like twigs sliding across a frozen lake. So, instead of turning a deaf ear, respond quickly to His prodding – deal with your sins promptly s o that your heart stays soft and sensitive.
2. Become more receptive to God’s power by being open to change!
-A soft heart stays soft only with the help of a willing attitude. God asks us merely to be open to his power. Even if all you can do is take a tiny step closer towards God, He will embrace you with greater power and hope than you’ve experienced up to this point in your life.
Scripture: Hebrews 3:7-8
“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”
-Don’t harden your heart today. God has the power to change your life…if you’ll let Him. Let’s stand and bow our heads.
