Bringing Down the Strongholds of Hell Acts 19:8-27 Part 3
[2Co 10:4 NIV] “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
Last time we looked at the open door of opportunity, placed in front of Paul. We saw the opposition Paul had to face in order to share the gospel. We looked at 3 types of religion that Paul had to deal with. If you remember, he dealt with insufficient religion, he dealt with artificial religion and he dealt with a religion of idolatry.
I said that as believers, we are the light of the world but the light cannot sit around waiting for the dark to come to it…
This morning I want to look at the final part of this message. I want us to understand that if we are to be successful. If we are to be victorious. If we are to be overcomers, tearing down the strongholds of hell then we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone.
1. Paul overcame and we can be overcomers. Verses 8-9, 23-26
Paul overcame because he was willing to step outside of his comfort zone, which was the Temple or the Synagogue. (His church)
It would have been much easier if Paul had just simply followed the program but he chose to be obedient to God, instead.
So now Paul is teaching in the school of Tyrannus, which is just down from the temple of Diana.
Imagine, if you will, two guys walking down this street and one says; “Do you see that little Baptist church over there? Some guy named Paul is the Pastor of that little church and word is that he’s going to be responsible for bringing down the religion of Diana.” (Remember from last time that Diana’s temple was magnificent and people everywhere worshipped her) The other guy would probably think the first guy was out of his mind and say, “that’ll never happen because one pastor and one little old church can’t do anything like that.” And you would be right. It will never happen, as long as that one pastor and that little old church is not willing to get out of their comfort zone.
But that’s just what Paul and that small group of believers did. They stepped out of their comfort zone and the mighty power of God moved in that wicked city.
Paul and this little group of believers overcame all the obstacles and began bringing people to Jesus. Notice I didn’t say bringing them to church. Unless we bring them to Jesus the church can’t help. They shared Jesus not church Membership, not baptism and those who had a life changing experience with Jesus didn’t need Diana anymore…
But understand that when we decide to move out of our comfort zone there will be struggles.
This guy named Demetrius and his associates had been making a fortune off of selling statues of Diana and other temple trinkets, but all of a sudden sales were falling and they were in danger of going bankrupt.
When I examined this passage I realized that they weren’t worried about losing their religion nor were they concerned about their convictions. They were worried more about losing their money…profits!
The other day, I read this letter from a father to his daughter’s ex-fiancé:
“Dear Tony, I have been unable to sleep since I broke off your engagement to my daughter. Will you forgive and forget?
I was much too sensitive about your Mohawk, tattoos, and pierced nose.
I now realize that motorcycles aren’t that dangerous, and I really shouldn’t have reacted the way I did to the fact that you have no job.
I’m sure that there are many very nice people who live under a bridge in the park.
Sure, she’s only 18, and could go to Harvard on a full scholarship, but she wants to marry you!
I finally realized that you can’t learn everything about life from books alone.
I sometimes forget how backward I can be and admit that I was wrong.
I have finally come to my senses, and you can marry my daughter, with my full blessing.
Sincerely, your future father-in-law.
What changed? What caused this father to surrender his convictions?
P.S.: (Ps is like the BUT WAIT in an infomercial…)
Congratulations on winning this week’s lottery!”
This father had some serious convictions and was willing to take a stand, even standing between his daughter and Tony, this guy who was clearly not right for his daughter, so what changed this Father’s convictions?
The same thing this world revolves around… This father sold out for the almighty dollar. He saw an opportunity to get a share of Tony’s new fortune and was willing to sell his daughter for a portion of the riches.
Before you condemn this father think about this. Someone said that everyone has a price, so let me ask you, what’s your price?
What would you do if I had $10mil to give away? What would you be willing to do?
In a survey that asked people what they’d do for 10 million dollars:
25% of men surveyed said they’d leave wife and children for $10 mil.
23% of women surveyed said they’d be a prostitute for a week for $10 mil.
3% of the people surveyed, that’s 3people out of 100 said they would put their children up for adoption for $10 mil! They would throw their children away for money!
The sad reality is that each of knows someone who might do this. There may even be someone in this room willing to do one of these. It’s not the price that worries me, it’s what people are willing to throw away for the almighty dollar… Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver. What would it take for you to sell out your relationship with Jesus?
Paul got out of his comfort zone and got busy winning lost souls and they stopped going to those places and stopped living ungodly lives! Those who truly met Jesus stopped living for the world and started living for Jesus and those who were making money from their insufficient, artificial and idolatrous religion got angry.
What can happen when we decide to get out of our comfort zone? Well history records that shortly after Paul’s departure from Ephesus the temple of Diana burned down and due to a lack of interest, was never rebuilt.
But the church of Jesus Christ lives on BECAUSE a group of people stopped hiding in the church and moved out of their comfort zone!
The power of the gospel will bring down the strongholds of hell…even in our area.
There is a battle going on in Washington over “Planned Parenthood” and many are fighting protesting and whatever they think it takes to stop abortions.
But did you know, there is a better way to prevent abortion?
Rather than protesting or bombing abortion clinics, why not step out of our comfort zone and actually try winning young ladies to the Lord and teaching them God’s perspective on life and family!
Then there will be no need for those places anymore…
I know a preacher who, because of alcoholism, refuses to do business with anyone who sells alcohol.
In our area that’s hard to do, since nearly everyone sells it. But there is a much more effective solution to the problem. If you want to get rid of alcoholism why not step out of your comfort zone and work at bringing the alcoholics to Jesus.
Why not help them surrender their addiction as well as their lives to Jesus as their Savior!
Suddenly they are getting high on Jesus and filled with the Spirit of God, instead of the spirits of a bottle then THEY will begin to bring others to Jesus, who will no longer desire the stuff!
We have a major drug problem in our town and some of our own families have been hit hard by this issue.
What is our solution to this terrible problem? I believe an awesome solution is to win the users to Jesus, and watch them win others. I’m not talking about some drug induced confession or a confession just to get someone off their back... You can give the invitation and someone who is still feeling the effects of last night’s party may come forward and pray some prayer BUT tomorrow they won’t remember it.
You’ll know when a person truly receives Jesus because they become willing to let go of the things of this world and latch on to the things of God. They step out of their comfort zone….the comfort zone created by the abuse of some substance…
They will seek help, on their own, to get clean, instead of just talking about it.
Understand that we will not win them all. Paul didn’t win all of Ephesus because some just didn’t want to change…
That still true today. Some don’t want to be set free…they are comfortable being controlled by something or someone. Being in bondage is all they know…
Dr. M. R. DeHaan, in his book “Broken Things, Why We Suffer” discusses the four men who brought the paralytic to Jesus. “They made an improvised ambulance, but as they came to the house they found so many folks crowded around the Lord Jesus that there was no room to bring a helpless sinner to Him.”
That’s the same issue we face today. So many crowding in to hear the teaching that there is no room for the sinner. We’re so comfortable with defending the Book that we have no time to be obedient to the Word.
But Jesus immediately stopped the teaching in order to apply Himself to what was most important and that was the salvation of the lost and the healing of the paralytic.
I like what DeHaan says. “God can make a bumper crop of wheat grow on the pavement of Fifth Avenue in New York City without any help from man, but HE has never done it and He never will.”
God works through men and women who are willing to step out of their personal comfort zones and get the job done. The farmer must get up from his comfortable recliner in order to break the ground and plow the field. He must be willing to get his hands dirty if he is to plant the seed and watch God give the increase.
The truth is that God could save every lost human being from their sin without any help from you or me BUT He doesn’t do it that way. God’s plan of salvation includes you and I getting out of our comfort zone…it will be done by our going and bringing. Jesus said “Go” and the Bible declares that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God but the Word is silent if you and I remain silent in our comfortable places. If your family and friends die lost, please understand that it is NOT God’s fault nor will it be my fault…IT IS YOURS
If EBC closes her doors it won’t be God closing the doors. If these doors close it will not be my fault for not doing enough. If these doors close it will be OUR fault for sitting back in our comfortable pews, doing nothing. You might say, “Pastor, I just don’t believe God will allow this church to die.” My answer to that statement is simply, “then just sit back and do nothing, give nothing, say nothing and watch.”
God has placed an open door of opportunity in front of you today.
Will you walk through it? Will you let go of the world and receive Jesus as the Lord of your life. That means giving up that which holds you captive…
Can I ask the believer’s in this room something?
Will you say to Jesus, today that obstacles or not you are ready to shine His Light in the dark places of your world? Are you willing to get a little uncomfortable in order to reach the masses with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
EBC has many opportunities and yes, there will be many obstacles, but we can bring down the strongholds of hell, IF and only IF we operate in the power and authority of Jesus!
