A Powerful Story

ACTS 19: 13-41 (June 29)

The recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas has been at the forefront of many minds lately. The loss of young life, the grief and disbelief, the questions... an unthinkable act that has caused so much heartache. It has also caused fear. Children feel fear when they go to school, parents feel fear when they drop their kids off at school, and there is a basic sense of fear, wondering who, where, and what is next.

It didn't take long for this story to spread across the nation, once the shooting was reported. Thanks to the media, and social media, spectators were able to follow the story across the world. It's that way with every powerful story that happens today... we get almost instantaneous access to the information.

In the days of Paul, there was no social media. Facebook didn't share posts with friends, the media didn't report on the 5:00 news, Emails weren't sent at the click of a button.

But a powerful story could still make "headlines". Word would spread the old-fashioned way... from one person to another. We get a good glimpse of a powerful story spreading across the land in today's Scriptures.

Sceva was a Jew who had seven sons. Together, they were trekking from town to town, casting out evil spirits, using the name of the Lord Jesus. They spoke, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!"

They met up with one demonic spirit that gave them a run for their money. When they spoke those words over this particular spirit, the spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?" Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and violently attacked them. They ran away from that house, beaten and naked.

We must always remember that whenever God's power is at work (as it was through Paul and his companions), you can bet Satan is working to stop it (as he was through Sceva and his sons).

Did you notice that the evil spirit didn't even recognize them? He spoke of knowing Jesus and of knowing Paul...because of course, he recognized the power of God. But interestingly, he didn't recognize them because they were not working for God.

It makes me wonder... would the evil spirit recognize me? Would he recognize you? Are we doing work through the power of God that would cause him to take notice? I hope so!

Well, the story of this incident was a powerful one. And it spread like wildfire through Ephesus. Both Jews and Greeks spoke of this incident and the city became fearful. The name of the Lord Jesus rose in honor.

Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. Some had been practicing sorcery. They brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. Now these were valuable books, totaling to several million dollars (and you thought Barnes & Noble was expensive!).

To witness the burning of such valuable books had a powerful effect on the people and on the message about the Lord. The message continued to spread... not via social media or television news, not by email, but by word of mouth from those who had witnessed or heard this powerful story.

One person who heard the story was Demetrius. He was a silversmith and made most of his money creating silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He called all his fellow craftsman together and reminded them that their personal wealth came from making these shrines, and since Paul and his companions were persuading people to change their beliefs, they were losing money.

In order to be persuasive, he added that he was concerned about the temple of Artemis, that it would lose its influence and this great goddess would lose her prestige. This made them angry. "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (See how he used a political issue for his own personal gain?)

With so many hearing the powerful story of the evil spirit, followed by those getting angry over Artemis, you can imagine the city got confused and there was chaos. Everyone rushed into the amphitheater, dragging Paul's traveling companions with them. Paul wanted to go with them, but the believers wouldn't let him, fearing he would be killed.

The mayor was finally able to quiet the confused crowd and dismissed them, saying that the accused men had done nothing to harm the temple or the goddess.

The confusion began when Demetrius started spreading his own powerful story. It went against what the citizens were hearing from the previous story, causing confusion. There is a good lesson in this: talk spreads, opposing talk creates confusion, confusion leads to chaos.

This happens today more than ever. We need to take the information we receive, gather the facts, ponder and pray on it, and make decisions based on what we know to be right in the eyes of God.

And amidst all the stories saturating our world today, we need to continue to share the story of Jesus... the most powerful story of all.