Extraordinary Miracles

carrying on this morning then with our
series of studies in the book of Acts
Acts chapter 19 want to talk with you
this morning about extra extraordinary
miracles from Ephesians chapter 19 we're
going to read from verse 11 the first 20
the background is Paul has come to
Ephesus found the disciples who were
only baptized in the name of John the
Baptist he baptized them into the name
of jesus prayed over them they received
the Holy Spirit we've talked about that
whole topic fairly extensively and now
we pick up the narration beginning of
verse 11 god did extraordinary miracles
through Paul so that even handkerchiefs
and aprons that he had touched were
taken to the sick and their illnesses
were cured and the evil spirits left
them 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 who Paul preaches I
command you to come out seven sons of
sceva a Jewish chief priests we're doing
this one day the evil spirit answer them
Jesus I know and I know about Paul but
who are you then the man I have the evil
spirit jumped on them overpowered them
all gave them such a beating that they
ran out of the house naked and bleeding
what a sight that would have been well
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 many of those who
believe now came and openly confessed
their evil deeds a number who had
practiced sorcery brought their Scrolls
together
and burn them publicly when they
calculated the value of the scrolls the
total came to 50,000 drachmas a drachma
is a day's wage for your mind drifts
this morning you can calculate how many
dollars that was in this way the word of
the Lord spread widely and grew in power
extraordinary miracles let's talk about
it in a moment but first join me in
prayer father we live in a world where
periodically we have these power
encounters the power of God versus the
power of evil and Lord we are so
accustomed in many instances to being
overcome by evil but sometimes we lose
sight of the fact that Jesus by his
death and resurrection has been crowned
Lord of lords and king of kings and we
pray this morning which you give us a
new and a fresh revelation of the
authority of the Lord Jesus not only but
the authority that he is entrusted to us
his people because he has told us I'm
with you always even to the end of the
age as you go and make disciples of all
nations so lord help us in our own lives
and in our own experiences to know what
the values of the kingdom are what it is
that you have entrusted to us and then
help us to stand firm until we see
Satan's power destroyed wherever it
might be made manifest and your kingdom
come and people be freed from the power
of evil we pray that Lord first of all
for our own community in the places
where sometimes we're still held in
bondage that you will break those chains
and then you will give us boldness to
proclaim to all the nations that there
is no higher name but the name of Jesus
and that before him every knee must one
day bow so bless our time together give
me the words that I need to talk about
this buying up the forces of evil
release the power of your lease
jared and may we in every way grow in
the grace and in the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ we ask it for your
glory and in the name of Jesus amen I've
always loved the way Luke who of course
is the author of the book of Acts
describes Paul's ongoing ministry in
Ephesus we read the verse together a
moment ago let's read it again verse 11
and verse 12 God did extraordinary
miracles through Paul so that even
handkerchiefs and aprons that he had
that had touched him were taken to the
sick and their illnesses were cured and
the evil spirits left them extraordinary
miracles Luke calls it and then he goes
on to describe what these miracles
consisted of in the rest of that verse
handkerchiefs and aprons that had
touched him were taken to the sick and
their illnesses were cured and they evil
spirits left them here's a question for
you what story earlier in the book of
Acts does this remind you of anybody
think of it you'd have to dig a little
bit the Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 5
the Bible says the power of God was so
heavily upon him that is he walked along
the street his shadow he manages his
shadow cured people and so people went
about laying the sick on the streets in
the hope that his shadow might heal them
there is a place in the kingdom of God
or the presence of God in a person's
life authorized by Jesus is so strong
that the energy of Jesus to
of Jesus taken from that person whether
by shadow or by hand kerchief or by
apron has the power t he almost sounds
magical doesn't that but this isn't
magic this is the power of God then Luke
goes on to give us a very practical
illustration of how this works out in
the real world by by describing what
happened to the seven sons of sceva who
was high priest at the time the Bible
describes the sons as itinerant
exorcists the word in greek is vagabond
that is to say they wandered from city
to city offering their services so that
people could be delivered from the power
of evil spirits they would charge for
that obviously and they would use a
variety of charms and incantations to
try to drive these evil spirits out of
people's lives Josephus the very famous
Jewish historian claims that that
tradition and that skill went back all
the way to Solomon who imparted this
knowledge to subsequent generations we
don't know of course if that is true or
not but that is Josephus is claimed but
what happens in this story is that when
the seven sons of sceva see the
authority that Paul has using the name
of Jesus they decide that this is that
this is a tool to add to their toolkit
for doing exorcisms and so they go
around saying in the name of Jesus whom
Paul preaches come out the results as we
read in the story were disastrous
because the name of Jesus is not a charm
or a formula to
to your coup toolkit of exorcisms it
depends on relationship that's why the
demon says Jesus I know and I know about
Paul the word there is I am acquainted
with Pau but who are you and of course
as the story goes on the man overpowers
the seven sons of sceva beats them up
strips them naked they run bleeding out
of the house and the net result is that
the name of Jesus is honored in Ephesus
and many many people come to faith in
the time that remains to us this morning
want to share with you three lessons I
think that we learned from this
particular story the first lesson is
this emphasis was a powerful spiritual
stronghold she read on in the chapter
you discover that emphasis is home to
the Temple of Artemis Artemis was a
fertility goddess one of the primary
goddesses of Greek culture in the Roman
world she was known as Diana she was the
goddess of virginity fertility and the
protector of young girls and women she
would be the one they turn to for
childbirth and if life was really
difficult she was also the one they
would turn to to help them to die now
her temple in Ephesus is one of the
seven wonders of the world and there you
see an image of Artemis over here this
was the common way that she was
represented and here is the temple which
was huge it was 400 in 50 feet long it
was 225 feet wide the columns that you
see there there were
hundred and twenty seven of them they
were 60 feet high and it took supposedly
a hundred and twenty years to build one
of the ancients had this common to make
file on Yvette's of the Simba centium in
250 BC he said I have seen the walls and
the Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon
the Statue of olympian zeus the colossus
of rhodes the mighty work of the high
pyramids and the tomb of muscle asst but
when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising
to the clouds all these other wonders
these are the other seven wonders of the
world some of them all these other
wonders were put in the shade that was
the religious life of Ephesus and this
worship of Artemis not only dominated
the religious life of Ephesus but also
its commercial life it brought huge
crowds to Ephesus they would have
parades and festive occasions and and
and thousands and thousands of people
would come to the city and they would
spend of course all kinds of money and
all that kind of thing but furthermore
as the story goes on to relate later on
and we'll look at that lord willing in
more detail later there was a whole
contingent of silversmiths in Ephesus
and they had as their trade to
manufacture a little miniature temples
of Artemis that they would inscribe with
charms that people would buy and that
brought huge amounts of money into the
city and just to give you a flavor of
how Artemis dominated this city we read
about believers coming forward burning
their sorcery scroll
rules 50,000 drachmas what is it in
dollars did you do your calculations
yeah you know a day's wage let's say
that you're making 15 bucks an hour's
that fair eight hours a day 120 bucks
120 times 50,000 sex six million dollars
if my math is correct that's a lot of
money to throw in the bonfire and that
shows you how Artemis had invaded every
aspect of life in this particular city
and that's where Paul is now preaching
the gospel a stronghold of almost
infinite proportions but of course the
story doesn't end there because second
thing that we learned in this particular
passage is that let me back up and show
you just one other picture here this is
all that is left if you go to Turkey
today in the neighborhood of Ephesus
close to another city you will find this
is the remnant of the Temple of Artemis
that's all that's left one of the
pillars and all these foundation stones
the glory of Artemis has long gone
because guess what who's bigger the name
of Jesus and that's the second thing
that I want us to notice here then is
that Jesus demonstrates his superior
power Jesus demonstrates his superior
power if it is true as the Bible teaches
that because of sin the whole human race
has come under Satan's power and if it
is true that jesus is our deliverer then
he must demonstrate that power by
destroying Satan's power and already in
the Gospels you find Jesus disco
driving his ministry in terms of that
power and counter listen to these words
Matthew 12 29 jesus speaking how can
anyone enter a strong man's house carry
off his possessions unless he does what
ties up the strongman then he can rob
his house you can't rob somebody's house
if somebody bigger than you is guarding
it so if you want to rob his house that
person is to be tied up and Jesus is
talking about himself and he's talking
about binding up Satan's power now we
know from Scripture but the way Jesus
defeated Satan's power was very
counterintuitive because he defeated
Satan's power by dying on the cross and
being raised from the dead I think all
hell rejoiced mightily on Good Friday
when Jesus breathe his last and gave up
his spirit is this annoying Messiah who
was impacting Satan's Kingdom negatively
was finally out of the way and how
traumatized they must have been on
Easter Sunday morning when up from the
grave he arose with a mighty triumphs or
his holy see they didn't clue in that
the power of death is seen and the power
of sin lies in the power of the law Paul
says this in 1 Corinthians 15 towards
the end of that great chapter on the
resurrection and what he means by that
is that death is the result of sin and
therefore sinful people cannot rise from
the dead we talked about that last of
the morning head but guess what who had
no sin Jesus
had no sin therefore death could not
hold him Peter talks about that in his
grade Pentecost sermon Acts chapter 2
verse 24 God raised him that is Jesus
from the dead freeing him from the agony
of death because why say it with me it
was impossible for death to keep its
hold on here and that's the significance
as we saw last Sunday of the
Resurrection sin and death in hell were
defeated by Jesus and therefore sin sin
and death and he'll our Satan's ultimate
strongholds Satan himself was defeated
by Jesus and that is why when Jesus
introduces the Great Commission at the
end of Matthew chapter 28 he says all
authority say it with me all authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to
me Jesus is king of kings and Lord of
lords he reigns in heaven at the right
hand of God the Father that authority he
delegates to the church right that
authority he delegates to the Apostle
Paul who is now in the midst of all this
pagan idolatry and this tremendous
spiritual stronghold and what you have
happening here is one of these many
power encounters that you find
periodically in Scripture at critical
moments in the history of salvation
thing back to Moses and the magician's
of Egypt or to Elijah and the prophets
of veil on Mount Carmel if you remember
those stories or Daniel and the
astrologers of Egypt or the wise men at
Egypt and of course
Jesus himself in the Gospels in each of
these you have a face-to-face encounter
of the power of hell and the power of
God we easily think that these magicians
these astrologers these wise man these
idol worshippers were just superstitious
people who thought that don't ever fall
for that lie Satan has got tremendous
power he gives tremendous power to those
who are in union with him and throughout
scripture at these critical moments of
salvation history these two powers rise
up against each other it is like they
face off and they face off and the
battle intensifies it's like in movies
have you ever noticed in a lot of movies
to hold your attention you get the good
guys and you get the bad guys and you
got a whole bunch of people with the
good guys and you get a whole bunch of
people of the bad guys and then they
engage each other and one after the
other the good guys die in the bed guys
die until at last you have the two
opponents left ever notice that in
movies and then they slug it out every
other movie one knock to the head knocks
you dead but not of these moments they
like fight forever and they keep on
going and you think the good guys going
to lose than you think the bad guys
going to lose and it goes on and on and
on but in a good movie the good guy
always inside willing right well that is
what happened with Jesus on the cross in
his resurrection and that's what's
happening in this story where the
Apostle Paul goes toe-to-toe and head to
head with the power of evil and the net
result of that in this story focused as
it is in the seven sons of sceva and how
the evil spirit overpowered the the
itinerant exorcists because
it's about relationship with God it's
not just about using incantations or
using a formula it's it's the power lies
in a relationship of the Living God
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and that's why the text tells us then in
verse 17 of chapter 19 when this whole
story became known to the use in the
Gentiles living in Ephesus they were all
seized with fear and the name of Jesus
was held in high honor and that little
group of 12 disciples that he first
found remember now multiplies my delay
because people are experiencing
firsthand that Jesus is bigger bigger
bigger than Artemis and the chains that
she has put on the whole community so
emphasis is a huge spiritual stronghold
Jesus demonstrates his power in taking
Artemis on face to face in tow to tow
then there's a third principle here I
think that we need to understand and
that is this the power that Jesus
demonstrates and stories like this is
always in proportion to the need let me
say it again the power that Jesus
demonstrates is always in proportion to
the need let me explain what I mean by
that sometimes we in the Western world
read stories such as the story that we
have just described here or we hear of
modern miracles in faraway countries and
and sometimes we say I wish I could see
a miracle myself don't you ever kind of
wish for a miracle or two would not make
faith a lot easier and the fact remains
that most of the time in the Western
world we don't see the kind of miracles
that we here being described
in other places why do you suppose that
is but it give you three quick reasons
why I believe a lot of the miracles
happen on the mission field they happen
to people who are a deeply involved in
to Satan's power and and most of us we
may never see that kind of miracle in
our lifetime and it's not necessarily a
bad thing but we need to understand what
the principles are first principle are
the first reason why sometimes in the
Western world we don't see more miracles
is simply and this is never a pleasant
but we lack faith we lack faith Matthew
17 mark 9 Luke 9 all have the story of
the Transfiguration of Jesus Jesus takes
Peter James and John up on the mountain
he's transfigured before them while they
are up there the rest of the disciples
have been approached by a man who has a
demon-possessed boy they had earlier
been sent out to cast out demons so they
were pretty confident that they could do
it it was another failure Jesus and the
rest of the disciples come down from the
mountain and the first question the
disciples asked him after Jesus cast out
the demon why couldn't we do it remember
that story I always have great sympathy
for the disciples where they can't do
something because I know how human that
is well here's the response that Jesus
gave them and you'll recall it he said
he was always a pastor all with his day
I cannot tell you how many times he
rebukes them for their lack of faith I
mean if our pastors treated you that way
Church would be empty but Jesus gets
away with it because he's the boss
here's what he says because you have so
little faith I tell you the truth if you
are faith as small as a mustard seed you
can say to this mountain move from here
to there and it will move
move any mountains lately see obviously
there are realms of authority there are
realms of power in the kingdom of God
that that typically we don't experience
and I for one believe that there are a
lot more mighty acts of God that we
would include see if God increased our
level of faith and one of the reasons
that it happens more in the mission
field that it is here one of the reasons
that it happens more in situations where
people are more desperate than we often
are is be God God gives them the extra
gift of faith quick illustration I've
been reading a book that Bill Mackintosh
and Helen brought back from China called
Christian China and the light of the
world and it's subtitled miraculous
stories from China's Great Awakening and
there's tons of stories in there of
amazing things that God has done in
China to bring multitudes of people
raised under communism into the kingdom
of God the number of believers in China
today is far greater than the number of
people that are members of the Communist
Party which is like periodically the
authorities crackdown tearing down
particularly in recent years church
buildings and crosses on churches
because they're sprouting up all over
the place and the cross of Jesus
continues to be very offensive to a lot
of people but what are the stories
that's told in the book is the story of
a woman where the name of ruth really
has a heart for cross-cultural
communication and there is in china a
movement called the back to jerusalem
movement fascinating movement because
their passion and their burden is to
complete the circumnavigation of the
gospel around the world the gospel began
in jerusalem and you recall from the
book of acts at a very decisive moment
in history the apostle paul by the law
was called to go to Macedonia instead of
going east that defined the direction of
the gospel and the gospel went from the
Middle East to Europe to North America
went to China and to the Asiatic
countries and came to China China
believers of the back to Jerusalem Luba
feel called Oh God to complete the
movement of the gospel and evangelize
the nation's between China and Jerusalem
that's what's called as the 1040 window
I believe and the 1040 window n
compasses the most intensely Muslim
nations of the world and so China has
been sending missionaries through these
countries to take the gospel all the way
back to Jerusalem and that's been very
difficult and they've been trying to
learn how better to do this and so Ruth
and 14 other companions who were leaders
of this whole movement decided to make a
trip through these countries to try to
find out firsthand what are the
obstacles so that they could do a better
job of training their missionaries and
most of their missionaries would be by
vocational they would be B Chinese
laborers working in these countries
trying to communicate the gospel and she
tells the story of how as they were
traveling her SUV had an accident that
left the axle bent and the left front
wheel twisted outwards let me just read
it to you here because it's fascinating
the way that she described it it was out
in the middle of nowhere it's impossible
to call a tow truck or Tim's garage as
an experienced mechanic though Ruth knew
that the extent of the damage sustained
rendered the vehicle not worth fixing
anyway it would be better to scrap it
and that moment she says I heard the
Lord say trust me so she radioed the
rest
to the convoy to go ahead and to
continue and she and her passengers were
unharmed and would catch up with him now
listen to this this only happens in
China when you're really desperate after
laying hands on the hood of the SUV and
praying Ruth decided to drive the
vehicle amazingly it was able to
continue on for the rest of the journey
without further mechanical problems
ruthless convinced that an angel held up
to smashed area at the front especially
and I get this when locals along the way
kept pointing to it as they drove by and
others would warn them not to drive it
whenever they pause the rest but on they
went and Ruth said I just believed in
God I'll get this eventually they made
it all the way to Jerusalem with Ruth's
SUV racking up more than 3,500
kilometers after the accident she goes
on to say they shipped the car back to
China mechanic from one of her shops
agreed with her assessment it wasn't
worth fixing he was absolutely astounded
she had driven it all that way given the
condition of the vehicle he said God was
lifting up that side of the car while
you were driving and the mechanic said
if that's not a miracle I don't know
what is God can do amazing things when
we are in situations of desperation and
when we need him the books got all kinds
of stories like that because our God is
a living God and one of the things he
wants to do in your life and in my life
is to help us grow in faith so that we
can speak to these mountains that are
obstacles to the coming of the kingdom
and we can command them by the authority
of Jesus to move so that God's will will
be done on earth as it is in heaven so
it's one reason why often we don't see
the kind of miracles that we would like
to see but the second reason and that
brings have probably closer to home and
that is this
we don't see the spiritual strongholds
in our own culture we don't see the
spiritual strongholds in our own culture
it's not hard looking back at biblical
history to look at the city of Ephesus
and to see that the whole city was in
the grips of Artemis and her worship the
problem is today we live in a secular
age and it's much harder to see in our
own society what is going on then to
look outside of ourselves and to see
what's going on it's like living in a
dysfunctional family normal is what you
grow up with and in the Western world we
now have a generation that probably for
the first time in history is known as a
truly secular generation and by secular
I mean a generation that doesn't
significantly believe in a higher being
than themselves you see throughout the
course of history people are confronted
by floods and by hurricanes and by
forces which they don't understand and
their worship of the gods if you will
was a way of trying to stay alive in a
very uncertain world right that's that
gave power to like like bail was a
fertility God and Artemis was a
fertility God because that's where you
turn to in order to stay alive and to
multiplying to make life work well today
we're a lot smarter than that when all
the Lightning is not caused by you know
the Gods fighting up in heaven or for
throwing his hammer today we know the
floods and earthquakes and natural
disasters are all part and parcel of
they can all be explained scientifically
right we're constantly busy in this day
and age
trying to explain that things just
happen because they happen naturally the
result is that by and large regardless
of what people profess we have the rise
of secularism that is to say there is no
one greater than myself so in that
scenario who do you think becomes God me
myself and online it's the completion of
what the serpent began in the garden
when she said God doesn't want you to
eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil because the day that you
eat that he's afraid that you're going
to be like God knowing good and evil
that is to say you don't need somebody
higher than yourself to define what your
values ought to be you define your
values yourself well that's the society
in which we live today the last couple
of years decades are seeing an enormous
slide downhill as we have rejected
biblical values whether it's with regard
to sexuality or marriage or any any of
the biblical values of right and wrong
and we have become as you know the poet
William Ernest Henley wrote so many
years ago in the poem Invictus I am the
master of my fate I am the captain of my
soul it's all about me I'm God and the
Bible says that's the spirit of
Antichrist that's a spirit that Satan is
feeding into the human race because it
appeals to our pride what better you
know I don't know if you've ever read
the poem Invictus but it is fascinating
listen to these verses out of the night
that covers me black as the pit from
pole to pole I thank whatever God's may
be for my unconquerable soul in the fell
clutch of circumstance I have not winced
nor cried aloud under the bludgeonings
of chance my head is bloody but unbowed
beyond this place of Wrath and tears
looms but the horror of the shade and
yet the Menace of the year's finds and
shall find me unafraid it matters not
how Strait the gate how charged with
punishments the scroll I am the master
of my fate I am the captain of my soul
one day that mindset is going to take
one worldwide significance when the
Antichrist arises who is the opposite of
everything that Jesus stands for and the
Bible says this concerning him in second
Thessalonians 24 I noticed carefully the
wording he will oppose and exalt himself
over everything that is called God or is
worshipped so that he sets himself up in
God's temple proclaiming himself to be
God that's where the human race is going
and that's the spirit of our culture as
it rejects biblical values and makes the
humankind the ultimate authority of
deciding who's right and wrong now of
course here's the problem you and I we
live in that kind of society and as
you've often heard me say normal is what
you grow up with and so even the church
is often permeated by that spirit how
many times do we not refuse to bend to
god's authority because it doesn't suit
our thinking how many times isn't it
about whether I'm happy or have my way
as opposed to God being happy and God
having his way how many times isn't it
about my needs being met in the way that
I think my needs ought to be met as
opposed to what can truly honor and
we don't see the kind of miracles that
we like to see because we're so much
part of our own culture and what the
Lord has to do is give us a revelation
through the person of Jesus so that we
can stand against the spirit of the age
and really embody and leave out
increasingly have as many of us try to
do by God's grace living by the values
of heaven as opposed to the values of
the world one more reason and then we'll
be done the deeper the darkness the
greater the light we often quote these
verses in connection with Christmas
there's a principle there that really
applies the people who have walked in
darkness have seen a great light those
who dwell in a land of deep darkness on
them has light shined notice the
contrast a great light in what context
in the context of deep darkness Paul
puts it this way where sin increased
grace increased all the more I
experience and I think the Scriptures
confer meant that the amount of power
that God releases to these people is in
direct proportion to their need if
you're the kind of person who was raised
essentially in a Christian home you have
no idea what kind of protection you have
experienced and how many things about
the dark side of life you know nothing
about and you've grown up knowing God
you've grown up having a relationship
with God and God's gave you the dirt has
given you the grace that you need to
live before his face and that's an
incredible gift because it means you've
been part of covenant with God but for
people who have not had that kind of
protection who in some instances have
been exposed to the raw forces of hell
because not only of their own sins
but the sins of their forebears you have
no idea how deep the darkness can run in
a human soul and because God loves his
people and wants us Eddie's people free
the greater the darkness the greater the
power that's why you hear marvelous
mission story stories off the mission
field because God is demonstrating his
power of the salvation that's why some
of the most powerful testimonies that
you hear will be that from people who
have been lost and lost and lost in deep
darkness and they've cried out to God
and God has heard their cry he has
opened their heavens the heavens and he
has changed them from the core of their
being you understand what I'm saying
where sin abounds grace abounds war it
was the right side to all of this
because our society as I said a moment
ago is rapidly throwing away its its
cultural values story in the news out of
Hamilton just this past week to foster
parents have had their kids taken away
from them and they have been
disqualified for being foster parents
because they refuse to teach their
foster children that the Easter Bunny is
real now there's more to the story than
that as you can imagine but this is
becoming a court case but it's where we
are as a society standing up for
biblical truth becomes increasingly
difficult there are two versions of what
people are saying how the world is going
to end some people think you're just
going to go from bad to worse so we may
as well give it all up and just you know
wait for Jesus to come and rescue us
there are other people to think oh no
it's just going to get better and better
and and the kingdom will come the
reality is both are probably true the
darkness is going to deeper
the more we turn our back on Jesus the
worse it's going to get but the worst
the darkness becomes the greater the
light begins to shine and the more
confidence God's people could have in
the presence and the power of Jesus and
that those forces are going to keep on
clashing until Jesus comes we have the
Battle of Armageddon and guess who wins
at the end but God's people need to know
it and they need to understand it and
the challenge for you and for me is to
know who Christ is who it is that we are
in him and to stand firm with his
authority proclaiming the name of Jesus
knowing that there are still many in the
world around us Jesus hasn't come back
because he doesn't wish for any to
perish but for all to reach repentance
only when the gospel goes to all the
nations will he come back so he wants us
to be faithful he wants us to trust him
and he wants us to stand firm no matter
what comes against us as we go forward
and as we stand for firm and represent
the Ministry of Jesus trouble will
abound but jesus said do not worry
because I have over come the world more
about that Lord willing next time
because guess what happens next in
Ephesus there's a big riot why because
the gospel is beginning to impact the
economy of the city stand with me as we
what a story Lord and how you've
demonstrated to the people of Ephesus
that Jesus is bigger than Artemis and
how you want to demonstrate to our
culture into our society today but Jesus
is bigger than the spirit of self-love
the spirit of Commerce the spirit of
power the spirit of self-preservation
thank you that you called us to belong
to you and thank you that Jesus is
stronger and help us in the moments of
doubt and questions and weakness to know
that reality that he's promised to be
with us always even to the end of the
age and that his power at work in us and
towards us is bigger than anything the
devil in hell in the world can offer
because he's been raised from the dead
he's been exalted at the right hand of
God he is Lord or all just thank you
thank you thank you help us to honor and
love you with everything that is within
you