Acts 18:24-19:22 | You Don't Need to Know It Allনমুনা

The next section of Acts 19 is amazing. Talk about a supernatural smackdown.

Luke tells us some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits, started trying to invoke the name of Jesus over those having evil spirits.

Exorcists in the ancient world were not an uncommon thing.

Maybe they caught wind of what Paul was doing. Maybe they wanted a piece of that power. They probably started to think of the name of Jesus as some new incantation – the latest bit of technology for their craft. That by saying “in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches,” things would automatically happen. Like entering a bit of computer code. Or knowing a secret recipe.

What happens next is incredible. “Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then 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” (Acts 19:14-16, NIV).

It’s an example of power gone wrong.

The power of God is not some lucky charm. Jesus is not a formula. He is not some tool to be used for your own devices. You can’t reduce God to something like that. Try it, and you might find yourself getting a supernatural beating.

Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth. We owe him our allegiance. It’s his power, not our own, that’s at work in us and this world. And the powers of this world know it. When we get that backward, we can find ourselves like the seven sons of Sceva – completely missing it. Unlike magic, this power comes through submission to God, not manipulation of him. God is not something to add to our arsenal.

To repeat it again, “the word of the Lord increased and grew strong, according to [God’s] power” (Acts 19:20, NIV).

God’s power is at work. And he’ll work it through you. Just remember it’s not your power. Trust God’s power. Don’t forget that you don’t need to know it all. But you do need to know Jesus.