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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
In this video 0:00 The Spiritual Battle
The Spiritual Battle 0:00 Welcome to a powerful message featuring pastor Adam Messa. Thanks for listening. Let's dive in to the transformational word of God.0:08 Can you open0:09 up your bibles and just hold your place right there to Acts chapter 19? We're gonna be there in a moment. That's where we're gonna park at, for the whole day today, and really uncover. If you were here just a couple0:21 weeks ago, I shared a message entitled regularly mentioned in help, what it means for the Christian life that as we pursue Jesus Christ, as we follow God, really ultimately what0:32 happens is is Satan is not a fan of a Christ following life. That is something that he totally even to the point that when, the apostle Peter was going to Jesus0:44 and Jesus was going to go to the cross and he said, Jesus do not die. What did Jesus respond with? He said, get behind me, Satan. He wasn't saying that Peter was actually Satan in that moment. What he was saying is at0:56 that moment, in that statement, their visions were aligned, Satan's and Peter's. Because Jesus knew that he needed to go to the cross to redeem you and I, to bring us into relationship with Jesus Christ.1:08 And and and Satan didn't like that. And so as a believer, when we begin to follow Jesus Christ, the Bible. Oftentimes in this Christian1:20 life, we think of it very naturally. In the Christian life, in our prayers, we pray very natural prayers. In our prayer life, we'll pray for our wife, we'll pray for our kids, you know, we'll pray for a1:31
1:43 this Christian life is both natural, but it's also supernatural. That's why Ephesians chapter 6 says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but spiritual
1:55 principalities and principalities of darkness. What they're teaching us in Ephesians, what Paul was teaching us is, though your Christian life is very natural in the day to day,
2:07 your trials and your difficulties you faith are supernatural. And you have a real enemy named Satan who does not want you to grow in a relationship with God.
2:19 He does not want the world around you to see that you have joy and peace in your life, and you have prosperity in your life. Because what that is is that is a testimony to God's goodness,
2:31 and Satan hates that. And so I remember I grew up, you know, in in the nineties and 2 thousands, and there was a really famous artist in the nineties and 2 thousands. His name was Carmen. If you grew up in the
2:42 Christian church, you knew Carmen's name. He he everyone listened to him. Well, in the early nineties, he had an album called Revival in the Land. And I remember as a young as a young man,
2:54 young, probably a little more child at that time, there was a music video that he had that portrayed a conversation between a demon and Satan, and their hate for Christians.
3:07 And it was talking about how as believers we need a call for revival. That means a refreshing of God's spirit. And in it you have the demon and you have Satan having a conversation on really their hate
3:19 and their distaste for a Christian. And it radically impacted my life as a child. When I saw this and I really at that time, this was before Kardashians and reality
3:31 TV and stuff like that. I mean, I thought this video was real. Like, I thought they really got a camera in hell for for to catch Satan having a conversation. Like, that's how real it felt in the nineties watching
3:43 this thing. But it just what Carmen did is he helped pull back a layer for us to kind of just see a glimpse of what a conversation in hell looks like. And then we're gonna really see what that looks like
3:55 biblically. But I just thought instead of me explaining it to you, we'd spend a couple minutes and we'd take a time machine back 20 years, and we'd watch this video. And if you want to shout hoot and holler, you could do
4:05 whatever you want during this video. Okay? But because I almost want to cry every time I watch it, because I just get amped. Like I'm like, man, I'm I'm a go after Satan. You know, every time I see this thing. So let's
4:15 watch it on the screen. Spend a couple minutes. Come on, Pomona Rancho. Let's watch it.
4:19 This is the story of that encounter.
4:27 You may enter.
4:29 My lord, Satan.
4:30 Stay your business and make it fast.
4:33 Sir, we're having problems of cataclysmic abortion. Where? In this sector, sir, the damage is vast.
4:39 Is there something wrong with my abortion clinics?
4:42 No, sir. That's all fine. We kill 4000 unborn a day through that. Shall we say surgical removal? Good. It's a late reading. We eliminate human life in the name of convenience, like the Nazis and the
4:54 Jews and with the government's approval.
4:56 Is there a problem with black and projecting television violence?
5:00 Sir, it's covered from videos to cartoons. By the time a child graduates high school, he's seen 70000 murders. Is this effective enough? Sir, just watch the news.
5:12 Is there a disturbance in my false religion?
5:15 Oh, no, sir. Business is booming. Over 40000000 are into new agents and move. Over 45000000 believe in astrology.
5:23 Looks like we are catching up.
5:25 Yes, sir. Only 50000000 claim to be born again.
5:29 Is there a problem with
5:31 business in general? Sir, we're showing tremendous progress. Yeah. Teenage runaways, each year, a million or more. There's a teen suicide every 90 minutes, and your specialty drunk
5:42 driving will claim more lives this year than the whole Vietnam War.
5:47 Well, is there a disturbance? What was that?
5:52 Sir, that's the reason all these demons are unconscious and wobbling. What's it called? Sir, that's what I've been trying to tell you. What is this? Sir, that is our problem.
6:06 Only 1 thing causes our affair on this magnitude.
6:09 Then, sir, you know what we are dealing with up there. Yes. It's some of those sanctified. A dry blood, saints
6:33 the son of God. And sir,
6:34 if you don't intervene, we all might wind up in a bunch of pigs. Sir, that's the good news. The bad news is the subject of their prayers. The trends are survival. And what they're
7:12 Yes, sir. And when the charismatic movement hit, sir, we were jumping out of windows
7:18 with all of that. Untie my bow tie. Who stole my hand? This stuff.
7:24 Then I'll come in like a flood.
7:26 But they'll say the spirit
7:48 And that's very dangerous, sir, especially for me.
8:02 But, sir, you know what will happen if you remind the saints of their past. And what is that? Sir, they'll just
8:18 Alright. Imagine me being 7 years old watching that thing, like, oh my gosh. Well today's we're gonna jump in. It's just gonna be just that.
8:30 We're gonna see really how conversations like that are are in the Bible. And and even though you don't know it or you don't think it, hell is talking about you. And hell is not a fan
8:42 of you following Jesus Christ. There's only 1 thing in this world that can offer salvation, freedom,
8:49 peace,
8:49 and hope, and his name is Jesus. And Satan knows that as Jesus' name is recognized, as he's pursued, he tries to create all of these distractions in the world. As we watch the news today,
9:01 we see suicide and depression is on a rise. As we see the news, we see more school shootings happen more than ever. As we look on television, we see that sex and pornography
9:14 are propagated. Parting and alcoholism and addictions and opioids are everywhere that you see. And so Satan is in an effort to distract and delude our lives.
9:25 And the closer that we become with Jesus, the more he begins talking about us. Because the closer you get to Jesus, the more you affect people around you. And he's not a fan of what that
9:37 is. So let's look at acts chapter 19 today, and we're going to see exactly a conversation that happens. And really 1 of the strongest points as we read the entire new new testament, you see countless times
9:49 Satan and demons mentioned, both in the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles. We see these conversations happening. They even spoke to Jesus. They would ask him, please don't destroy us. Send us
10:01 into those pigs. We would see these things in scripture. And today in acts 19, we see, a same conversation happening, with the apostle Paul. So today as we jump in in verse 11, it says, and God
10:13 was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had been touched by his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left
10:25 them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,
10:37 I adjure you by the by Jesus whom Paul proclaims. 7 sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, the
10:48 demon. The evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom the
11:00 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
11:11 Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of Lord Jesus was extolled. Also, many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had
11:23 practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it to be 50000 pieces of silver, which in today's terms is
11:35 5500000.0 dollars. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Let's pray today. Dear God, as we come before you, Father, we just pray
11:47 that the Holy Spirit speak to us as your word is shared, Father God. I pray, Lord, that it impact us, that it radically illuminate us to your love and your affections for us. And God, may we
11:58 understand the authority that we have by the power of the Holy Spirit, father God. May you fill us today, Lord, and may you be with pastor Diego as he travels back home from Mexico, father God. I pray that as he comes
12:10 and shares next week, that we continue to have a word that brings us into the holidays, that brings us closer and closer to you. In Jesus mighty name, amen. Amen. You know, I grew up with a terminology
12:22 called, someone being hell bent. When someone would reference someone, they'd say that person's hell bent. In other words, what they would mean was they were into all types of practices, and they knew that they were
12:34 sinning. They knew that they were kind of headed to hell, but they could care less. They were gonna live in their ways. And someone would say, that person is hell bent. Well, the reality is when it comes to Satan, he's
12:45 not concerned or he does not even think about a hell bent person. What he thinks about is a heaven sent person. That's what gives him fear in his life, and that's really what gives demons
12:57 their fear. You know, I don't know if you've ever worked in a workplace before that it seems like work workplace gossip gets gets around really quick. Someone may come in with something, and by the lunch hour, everyone
13:08 knows each other's business of what happened that weekend, or what argument that's going on, or maybe there's an argument or a tiff or drama between employees, and it just seems like people in the 3 departments over know
13:20 about it. And it just seems to get around the water cooler really fast. Well, you know, demons seem to gossip and rumor themselves. You know, believe it or not, demons probably, I don't know where it's at,
13:32 but they have a water cooler. And they talk about things, and they talk about people. The question would be what kind of things and what kind of people do they talk
13:44 about? Well, we see in acts chapter 19, what they seem to be talking about is people who are intimately following Jesus Christ. Because here's what happens, these 7
13:56 men of Skiba who are itinerant Jewish exorcists, in other words, they're doing kind of fake and phony practices just to make some money, and so then they begin to see Paul, what he's doing. He is preaching the name of
14:08 Jesus. His people are seeing people delivered. People are seeing people set free. People are seeing diseases and healing in their bodies and in their lives, and so these guys go, man, maybe if we
14:19 try using the name Jesus, we we could get these demons out. We could make some extra money. That'd be nice. Paul's got a crowd around him. Let's try to get a crowd around us. So they go to a demon possessed
14:31 man, and they say, in the name of Lord Jesus, who Paul Paul proclaims, it's not even who they proclaim. They say, in the name of Jesus who Paul proclaims, come out. And
14:43 here's what the demon says. He says, Jesus I know, and the Greek word for that is an intimate knowledge. It'd be like someone, it'd be like a sibling to you. That's what you would say, like I know
14:55 them. If I were to say, do you know this person? And they were a sibling, you'd say, of course I know them. It's a deep intimate knowledge, because in other words, we know according to the book of Isaiah, Satan rebelled
15:06 against God in heaven. Satan was God's worship leader in heaven. And he thought, I could do what God does. I could be God as well. And so he rebels against God, and what does God do?
15:18 He casts him down to earth, and it just so happens that Satan took 1 third of the angels with him. They were team Satan all the way. And so now what begins to happen
15:29 is Satan has a mission for his life. The same way he rebelled and was rejected by God, he said, I'm gonna get all of humanity to do the same to God. I'm gonna spit in God's face
15:41 by pulling humanity away from him, because God desires a deep deep intimate relationship with you and I. Satan desires a deep deep distance
15:53 between God and us. So he begins to set a mission on what he can do to separate us. So what happens is is as the
16:05 demons come, here's the reality about Satan and his demons. They're not omnipotent. They're not all powerful. They're not omnipresent. They're not like God. God God is everywhere. He's omnipresent.
16:17 He's all powerful. Demons aren't. They can only be in 1 place at 1 time. And so as Satan tries to build his efforts against believers,
16:29 they actually have to have conversations on who's doing the most effect against their goal. They need to talk about who's making the
16:41 most force in the kingdom of God, so that they can get them off track. So that's why he responds and he says, Jesus I know because the these angels, once angels are now
16:52 demons, they were with Jesus in heaven. They know who Jesus is. Say, Jesus I know, and then they say, Paul I recognize. In other words,
17:04 they say, Paul, what they're saying is, Jesus, we know. We knew him in heaven. We we know he gonna wreck all of us. Paul, we recognize because this dude, he's out here like, he's doing things. I
17:16 mean, he's preaching Jesus. We've heard about his name. When the demons come together for our annual, coffee and lunch break, and we wanna we wanna start putting names on lists, Paul Paul's up there
17:28 like number 1. We we've been trying to get at Paul for for, like, ever. We recognize him. We know him. We he he goes into places and he lays hands on people, and people are healed. We don't like that. That's
17:40 not good for our business. He steps into places and he speaks the name of Jesus, and he gives people the gospel and people get saved. They get radically delivered. That means that hell is getting
17:51 smaller and heaven's getting bigger. We don't like that. So they're talking about Paul. They're at the water cooler like, do you hear what Paul did yesterday? There was like
18:03 12 of us in this community and he came through and we like, we're not we're not allowed there anymore. Because the city got delivered. You hear about that home, you hear about pastor Kenny's home, he'd be there. We're
18:15 not allowed in the door no more. We were not allowed. You hear about Lester, man. With Lester in his workplace, he prays over his business. When we try to shoot an attack at him, we ain't allowed there no more.
18:27 You hear about that marriage of that couple, remember we were like getting them to the point of divorce? Well, they've dedicated their life to Jesus and they're healthier than ever. We're not allowed there no more.
18:39 That's what it says when he says, Paul, I recognize. And then he says, then they say what? They say, but who are you? They look at those 7 guys and they say, ain't no 1 at the demonic water cooler
18:51 talking about you. Well who are you? So the question today is who in hell knows you?
19:06 Yeah. Oh man. Hopefully, they got your name on the board. It's a good thing to have Satan know your name.
19:16 It's a
19:17 good thing that when you step on a map in a household, in a life, in your workplace, that demons know you stepped on a map. Acts chapter 19 gives
19:29 this accurately, that demons talk about people that follow Jesus. That's who they talk about. They're not talking about rappers. They're not talking about movies. Like that's what we think. All day over here talking
19:40 about this rapper, that No. They talking about you. Not talking about no rapper. They wanna get you. They already got the rapper. They already got the movies. They already got the television. They're
19:52 not worried about something they already own. They don't own you. You're blood bought believer by Jesus Christ. That's who they want. How do I know? Because first
20:04 Peter chapter 5 verse 8 and 9 says this, be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
20:16 Peter's talking to Christians. He's not just talking to anybody. He says, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the
20:28 world. I believe Charles Spurgeon, known as the prince of preachers in the 18 hundreds, 1 of the greatest preachers to ever walk this earth, I think he said it best by saying this. He says, do not
20:40 become self sufficient. Self sufficiency is Satan's net where he catches men like poor silly fish and destroys them. Be not self sufficient. The way to grow in Christ
20:52 is to become weak in yourself. God pours no power into man's heart till man's power is all poured out. Live then daily a life of dependence on the grace
21:03 of God. You you know, see, we have very common and specifically for ladies is there are all types of makeups and coverups.
21:15 You know, you could go to any makeup store and you could tell them a potential defect or a fault in your appearance, and they can recommend something. You say, oh, well my my eyes are too dark. And they say, oh, okay.
21:26 Well, here's some complexion things. We can even out. We could get rid of those dark spots. They also have blemish removers and cover ups where, you know, you just put a little bit of this on, you could cover this, or
21:37 you got a pimple, we can wash that away. I know, hopefully none of the men know about that. But the girls, ladies, you know what I'm talking about. And men, if you're married, your bank account knows what I'm talking
21:47 about. See, there's all types of makeups and things that you could put on to try to cover up imperfections. And you see, in this natural world, we try to do that all
21:59 the time. We try to make ourselves. We put on makeup every single day, whether it's naturally, but also just kind of metaphysically. We try to put make ourselves put together, try to make people think that we're
22:10 perfect, and we have it all together, and and and I'm this and I'm that. And we go to social media, and it looks like all these these people are influencers. They have perfect lives and perfect this and perfect that. And
22:21 what they're doing is they're putting on makeup every single day. But here's the thing, you can fool me. I have no idea. You can fool your neighbors. You can fool your
22:33 family and your friends, but who you can't fool is the spiritual world. You see, demons, they got these. They got these.
22:46 They can see right through that mask that you're putting on. God can see right through, but so can they. And so as much as we try to fake the funk and we put this mask on of
22:57 perfection. Oh, first Peter says that Satan is looking whom he may devour. And he's following you. When you go home and no 1 else is with you, oh, he around.
23:10 He's around through what you're watching, through what you're listening to, through what you're putting in yourself, and he's looking. And he's waiting for the moment that he could prowl and he can devour and he can get
23:19 you up. He wants to separate you and I from God. So we have to be mindful that they have another type of vision. And so you need to elevate your vision.
23:32 You need to put on some God spectacles. Start looking at things the way that God sees you. Start believing for things the way that God is believing for you. Start saying prayers that you believe
23:44 God would want you to pray. Start covering your spouse the way that you believe God would want you to cover your spouse. We have to get to a place where we elevate our vision. It's not just natural. You think it's
23:55 just natural. You think this life is just natural, but it's not. It's spiritual, and you have a real enemy. And in the same way that every professional athlete, whenever they play an opposing
24:07 team, they watch film. So that they can see the weaknesses of the other team. That's what we have the word of God for. The word of God is your film that you watch.
24:19 To understand what Satan's tactics are against you. Because he's gonna try to rip you away. He's gonna try to get you to a point where you feel like you're alone, where you feel like you say 1 of the biggest words
24:31 that Satan would love you to say. I wonder if God is real. That's what he wants you to say. When you're pursuing a new job, when you and your spouse is going through it,
24:43 when you're at your wits end with your kids, when you're single and wondering if you're ever gonna get a spouse or get remarried, Satan would love for you to get to a point where you say, I wonder if God is real.
24:56 So when I understand his tactics, I know what I can fight against. I know what I could do. And so today, what we're gonna look at just really briefly today, just a few moments that we have, is 3
25:08 points that God does in your life, because all of this is is this is God's desire for your life, of what he wants to do. What God can do in your life that gets hell's attention.
25:20 Because God wants to do some things in mine and yours life that gets hell's attention. And so here's the first point we're gonna we're gonna talk about today that we see in Acts 19. The first thing is is what
25:32 God does in your life. When you and I accept Jesus Christ into our life, when we find salvation in Jesus, the first thing that he does is he makes us recognizable. He gives you and I
25:44 an identity. We go from a place where demons and Satan would say who you are, to now they know whose you are. You become identifiable
25:57 by God and also by Satan. He gives you an identity. The Bible says that when you give your life to Jesus, your name is written in the lamb's book of life for all eternity.
26:09 Means your salvation is secure in the hands of God, and your actual name, you're given a name, a recognizable name by God. And so the question would be,
26:21 well, here's the thing. I don't wanna be recognized by Satan. What are some things I can do that don't make me recognizable? I'll tell you real quick. The first thing you do is you
26:32 definitely don't wanna have passionate prayers. Stop praying. You don't want hell to recognize you? Quit praying. You don't want hell to recognize you? Stop praising and worshiping. Just listen
26:44 to everything that everyone else listens to in the world. You don't wanna be recognized? Keep the radio station where it's at. You don't wanna be recognized? Do that. Next thing is, you don't wanna be
26:56 recognized by hell? Stop telling your testimony. Don't be a living testimony of what God's done in your life. Just keep that a secret between you and God. Don't tell anybody. Next 1 is don't be loud
27:08 confessions. Don't don't start proclaiming things over your household, and your kids, and your marriage, and your job. Just stop confessing things. Stop believing God for things that that
27:20 hell won't be talking about you no more. And then also the last 1, last 1 is is don't have radical faith. Don't be a messenger of Jesus no more. Don't tell anyone about Jesus.
27:32 That person that's at work that's hurting and hopeless and you know that they need Jesus, just keep that a little secret between you and God. But if you wanna get hell's attention, oh man, then start
27:44 praying some fervent prayers. Start praying heaven down. Start believing God for some things. You wanna get hell's attention? Start being a witness to your community and your neighbors. Start telling people about
27:55 Jesus. You wanna get hell's attention? Start inviting people to church. You wanna get hell's attention? Start laying hands on people. When someone says, hey, I'm going through something, don't be afraid that when
28:06 someone's going through something, this is what I tell people when I'm out out in public and they don't know Jesus. I say, hey, I don't wanna be weird. Okay? So if it's weird, tell me. But could I lay hands on you and
28:16 can I pray for you in the name of Jesus? Almost every single time a person says, yes. That'd be okay. Start getting bold in your faith to believe God for some things. I'll tell you
28:28 this, the first time you ever see God move isn't gonna be the last time. Because you may be scared to pray for someone right now, but the first time you do it and that person come back to you and say, hey,
28:40 I got the job, or I got the doctor's report. They couldn't find nothing. You're gonna be like, woah. What? That thing worked? That thing that we did, that worked? Oh, shoot. Who's
28:52 next? Come on. Start rubbing your hands, getting them warm. Who next? Just walking up to your kids? Just blast them. Just let them know. Satan doesn't like a
29:03 Christian that walks in a room that knows the holy spirit Satan wants us to fear praying somebody. Well what if it doesn't answer? That's not up to you and I.
29:16 That that's God's job. Our job is to use faith, dangerous, radical, crazy faith that believes God for things and people. Hebrews 11 says faith is the substance of things hoped
29:28 for, but not yet seen. Which means it will be seen. That's what faith is. It's a hope for a reality of what's to come. We gotta start believing and using some faith.
29:41 It's often been said by many preachers, it's often been quoted, but it's been said this. The devil knows your name and calls you by your sin, but God knows your sin, and he calls you by your
29:55 God gives you an identity, and God intimately knows you when you follow Jesus. I want you to think about that for a moment. Right now in heaven, as you sit here, God literally
30:06 knows your name. Your name is on his lips. Your prayers are in his desires. Your belief, your faith is something that God wants.
30:19 And in the same way, Satan knows your name too. And he don't want you to realize the relationship you have in God. That's why you find it. That's why people say, why is
30:31 it so hard to pray? Because Satan don't want you to do that. Why it's so hard to read my bible? Because Satan don't want you to do it. Why is it so hard to believe in faith? Why is it so hard to come to church? Because
30:42 Satan don't want. It just seems like every time I wanna go to church, there's a game on. There's an event. There's a this because he's pulling and he's tugging. He does not want you to grow with Jesus. And so there are
30:54 times that you have to look dead Satan dead in the face, and you have to say, Satan, it's not who are you. I know exactly who I am. Hello, Satan. My name is Adam. Nice to meet you.
31:06 You know, in your envelopes, in your giving envelopes, you have these. And I encourage you that you take them out and you put your name on here. And you remind yourself when you're discouraged, when you're beaten up,
31:17 when you're going through trials and tribulations, you pull this out and you say, hello, my name is blank. You start speaking in faith, and you remind the enemy that God has given you an
31:29 identity. That God has given you a place at the table, a seat in heaven, and he's not going to make you feel anonymous. You've ever felt anonymous? You've ever felt ignored
31:41 before? You ever felt alone before? That's all Satan's trying to do. He's trying to rip your identity out from under you, and you need to respond in such a way that says, hello, My
31:52 name is Adam. I'm a child of God. I'm a blood bought Christian. I have a relationship with Jesus. You're not gonna make me feel like I don't have a name, Satan. Because that's
32:04 what he's gonna try to do. He's gonna try to say, who are you? And you should respond back, oh, you're gonna know my name by the end of this year. 20 20, my name is gonna be on your
32:16 lips, Satan, as much as possible. You better put my name on the number 1 watch list in hell because I'm coming for you next year, Satan. You're not going to have my marriage. You won't have my kids. You won't have my
32:28 joy. You're not going to have my peace. You're not going to have my, deliverance. You're not going to have my relationship. You're not going to win in this next year. Because I got a name. More than I
32:40 got a name, God knows my name. He knows my name. He knows your name. Heaven knows your name. It ought to be something you remember every single
32:52 week that heaven knows your name. The second thing that God does to get hell's attention is he restores us. First, he makes us recognizable. The second thing is he restores us
33:04 back to him. He brings us into relationship. That's God's desire for our life, is that he brings us into relationship with him. Every miracle that we see in the bible,
33:16 specifically the new testament, the miracles are meant to point people back to a relationship with God. When you and I experienced a miracle, just like yesterday, we fed over a
33:28 thousand families. And with the help of this church, these people, and this ministry, you and I, we gave towards this. And a thousand people who would not have a meal this Thursday to
33:39 celebrate with family, all of a sudden had an 8 course spread that we were able to bless them with. To then, that's a miracle of what they weren't gonna have on Thursday.
33:52 To them, that's an answered prayer that they were hoping for that God did through you and I. And what was that miracle meant to do? We did not say, oh, this is on behalf of
34:04 us. When we gave that blessing, we said this is on behalf of God's love for you. So that it draws them to Jesus.
34:15 It's a miracle. That's what miracles do. When you and I are believing for miracles, the end result is meant to be to draw us into a deeper intimate relationship with our
34:27 father. That is why he wants to do a miracle in our life. Because he wants to prove to us and show us, even though he doesn't have to, but his desire for us is so great
34:39 that he does miracles to bring us closer to him, to restore us back to him. And we see it in verse 18 in acts 19. It said, also, many of those who are now believers came confessing and
34:51 divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they continued the value of them and it was
35:03 50000 pieces of silver equaling they gave up their past which equaled 5500000.0 dollars. You see what happens is when God restores us back into
35:14 relationship with him, there are some fat and things that you have to trim off of you that you gotta walk away from. That's what restoration means when it comes to God. It means there are some
35:26 demonic things whether we recognize it or not. But we all at some point have been in something that Satan is influencing. And when we come to Jesus, we're to throw those things away.
35:38 And you
35:39 see, just to stop for a moment, it says, they gave up their books that were magical arts. Yeah. That's not the same magic that we would use today in English terms, because sometimes we get Christians that get funny about
35:50 that. Like like making a quarter disappear, or turning a queen of hearts into a jack of hearts, or bringing someone up on stage and sawing a woman in half, that's entertainment. That that's not that's not magic,
36:02 like according to the Bible. When the bible uses the word magic, they're talking about demonic actions that are placed to get Satan's attention. Those are
36:13 things like tarot cards, Ouija boards, making incense and sacrifices. Those are crystals. Those are actual things that are meant to communicate with the demonic spiritual
36:25 world. And they were doing those things in Ephesus. They were do they were lighting the incenses to other gods. They were worshiping things. They were worshiping earth. They were worshiping the sun, and they allShow more
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