Healing Handkerchiefs
Courageous Faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsIn today’s message we will look at several things that can be confusing and see how God operates in ways we cannot comprehend to lead people toward Him.
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July 9th 2023
Series: Courageous Faith
Sermon Title: Healing Handkerchiefs
Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.
Key Passages: Acts 19: 1-20
Sermon Blurb: In today’s message we will look at several things that can be confusing and see how God operates in ways we cannot comprehend to lead people toward Him.
Sermon:
Hello Family Church!
Family Moment
Celebrate One Family Service again
GC – Celebrate Dan coming on the team & how well he did last weekend.
PAUSE
Now I think you are all going to LOVE our sermon title today….
The title for today’s message is Healing Handkerchiefs….
Yes…you heard that right…. Healing Handkerchiefs…..
Now let me see a show of hands…who thinks that sounds weird…
Anyone out there ever heard about TV preachers offering to sell a prayer cloth….that if you buy this prayer cloth….and you touch it you will be healed….
Anyone????
Does anyone want to admit when you hear that kind of stuff it makes your SUPER skeptical about church????
I will admit….
It makes me cringe….
It makes me think the person is a crook….
Anyone heard of preachers casting demons out of people?
What about a person speaking prophecy?
What about a person being healed when someone just walked by a person….
PAUSE
Some of you right now are thinking……
Why did we come to this church….
What is this guy talking about!
Where is the exit…..
PAUSE
Before you leave or check out….
Let me just say….
There are a LOT of crazy preachers out there that do weird stuff….
We are NOT one of those churches….
BUT we are a church that teaches the Bible….
And anyone ever wonder where crazy stuff like that comes from?
Yes, some of it comes from the Bible….
It comes from the Bible and people taking things out of context…
PAUSE
See two weeks ago we had our big church festival, and it was amazing and we ended that service at Acts 19:11
And Acts 19:11 says this…..
Acts 19:11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
We ended there….
Because I did not want to have to explain verse 12 at the celebration service!
And last week….
Since Pastor Dan (ADD EB NAME) was here…I didn’t think it would be kind of me to start his preaching at our church with verse 12 which says this:
Acts 19:12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
So next time you see Pastor Dan(ADD EB NAME) ……let him know how kind I am that I didn’t have him to preach and explain all this!
And I will say this also….
This is where preaching like we do at Family Church can be harder for the preacher….
See the majority of the year we preach line by line verse by verse through the Bible….
While most pastors cherry-pick what they want to preach about and skip the harder stuff like this…..and we don’t get that luxury!
Here at Family Church we believe it is all God’s Word and ALL good…so we teach all of it…
PAUSE
But in all seriousness church…..
Here is what I want to do today….
There is a LOT of stuff in the Bible that seems crazy at times.
There is a LOT in the Bible that can seem odd.
There is stuff in the Bible that because of what we have seen TV preachers do….has jaded us….
And so today…..
We are going to just look at some things in the part of the book of Acts that can seem odd….and I am going to do my best to explain it for all of us….
So let’s start back at the beginning of this chapter and walk forward and let’s talk about some of the things in here that seem odd or are controversial in the church…
Acts 19: 1-22 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
Now pause there for just a second…
We talked about the Holy Spirit and what that means a few weeks ago….so we will not spend time there…
If you want to learn more about that go back and listen to that message…
But long story short that means did God’s Spirit fill you when you believed or not….
This will play out shortly in something else…..
Let’s keep reading….
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Ok…. Let’s stop here for a few….
Let’s make sure we are all on the same page…because at Family Church we do not like people feeling like outsiders…
This word, “baptism” means these men went to a guy named John…who was a GREAT man of God…
And they admitted they were NOT following God’s ways and said they were going to repent of their ways…
Repent means changing their ways…
Then they walked out in the Jordan river…..
And John dunked them under the water and brought them back up.
They did that to symbolize their old self and their old ways dying.
And coming out of the water symbolizes them coming to a new life.
PAUSE
That is what verse 2,3 & 4 are all about…..
Then you also see in verse 4 that Paul says….
That is great you did that….BUT Jesus changed everything!
He says…remember how John said one would come after him…
And I can see those 12 men…nodding….
Yes…we remember John saying that….
And as you see Paul then says….that person John was talking about was Jesus….
And when they realize that….and realize that Jesus changed the purpose of Baptism they got baptized a second time.
PAUSE
So, 12 men are baptized for a second time….…
Why?
They are baptized again because they were not baptized for the purpose of submission to Jesus and asking Jesus to fill them with His Spirit and change them.
See after Jesus’ baptism became about submission to Jesus….living for Jesus….following Jesus…..and having Jesus’ Spirit fill us to help us….
Live for Jesus.
Follow Jesus…
And so on….
PAUSE
Now let me point out two more things here….
And this first one some of you are not going to like…
Let me ask a question…..
How many times were these guys baptized?
Yes…two times….
Here is where it will get interesting for some of you who grew up in church…..
Our lead Pastor, Pastor Adam, was baptized as a baby in the CRC denomination.
Are any other amazing CRC folks out there!!!!
Now let me ask a follow up question….
Remember Paul just said John’s baptism was about a person admitting sin in their life and committing to change that….then they got baptized…
Can a baby do that church?
No…
Paul also said Jesus changed the purpose of Baptism….
And again, that was to have a person give their life to Jesus…commit to following Jesus and living for Jesus….
Can a baby do that church?
No…
So, a good question to ask…is why do churches baptize babies?
And that is a WHOLE sermon in itself….
But long story short let me explain briefly…..
When Pastor Adam was baptized as a baby…or when we as a church baptize a baby….
It has nothing to do with salvation for that child.
It has nothing to do with that child making a decision for Jesus.
It has nothing to do with that child making a decision to live like Jesus.
In the context of the RCA, CRC, Lutheran Church, Catholic Church and other churches that baptize babies…
Infant baptism is about the parents wanting to stand before God, their church family, and earthly father and commit to raising their child to become a follower of Jesus to the best of their ability.
AND to ask God to help them do that.
AND to ask their church family to help them do that.
AND to ask their earthly family to help them do that.
PAUSE
Which leads to why Pastor Adam was re-baptized, just like in this passage, when he was in high school and he was re-baptized again when he was in Isreal where Jesus got baptized.
Because when a baby….or person makes a decision or Jesus there is NOTHING wrong with getting baptized again…
PAUSE
Now the second thing to point out is what came after the re-baptism of these 12 men….
Again, look at your Bible what happened…
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
They were baptized and then Jesus’ Spirit came on them and they did two things.
1. They spoke in tongues.
2. They prophesied.
Let’s talk about what that means…..
This is also a topic of MUCH debate in the church.
There are denominations that teach if you accept Jesus and do NOT have the evidence of the Holy Spirit show up at that moment that you are NOT really saved….
Yes….there are lots of followers of Jesus who would say if you have never spoken in tongues, which we will explain what that means shortly….
Or you have not prophesied…. which we will explain what that means shortly….
Then you are NOT a real follower of Jesus and you are still going to Hell…..
PAUSE
So a good question about now would be….
Is that true?
Is that what the Bible teaches us?
Is that what we see in EVERY case in the Bible….
And the answer is 100% no.
There are only 3 times in the whole book of Acts where people are filled with the Holy Spirit and then speak in tongues for example.
You can see that in Acts 2, 10 and 19 if you want to study later.
You can see in Acts 8 a baptism happened and nothing like tongues or prophecy happen afterward….
PAUSE
So what is speaking in tongues?
What is speaking prophecy….
Speaking in tongues is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
It was first mentioned in the Book of Acts Chapter 2 verses 4-6.
And the context of Acts two was the Holy Spirit giving people the gift of speaking other languages..
That is what tongues is…speaking other languages…
Could be other human languages..
Could be the language of angels…
And not everyone can speak tongues because not everyone is given the gift by God!
In fact, not everyone who speaks in tongues can interpret what they're saying.
This is actually another gift of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12 gives us all kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12: Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, teaching, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning spirits, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues.
Not every Christian will have the gift of healing others.
Not everyone has incredible faith.
Not everyone can discern if things are God or the Devil.
Not everyone who asks for the gift of tongues will get it.
The gift of tongues is in no way a sign of how faithful or devoted a Christian is and any feelings of inadequacy or lack of faith are completely unfounded if based on whether someone prays in tongues or does not.
PAUSE
Now what is prophecy?
Prophecy at its most basic definition is “a message from God.”
So, to prophesy is to proclaim a message from God.
Although foretelling the future is often associated with prophecy, revealing the future is not a necessary element of prophecy….
However, since only God knows the future, any true word about the future must of necessity be a prophecy or a message from God.
We see examples of this all over the Bible…
People share what God has called them to share….
That is why sometimes you will also see prophecy called teaching…it is teaching people things God has revealed to us.
PAUSE
So there is a little more depth on some things that can be confusing…hope that helps!
Let’s keep reading….
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.
So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Ok…let’s pause here….
Now we have some more odd things…
What does this all mean?
Does this mean we can do stuff like this today?
PAUSE
Now note the start of this….
Verse 11 says God did EXTRA-ordinary miracles through Paul….
Again….look at that list above…..
Gifts from the Holy Spirit…..
Do you see miraculous powers….
Paul was blessed by God to be able to do crazy things!
But it was NOT Paul doing this!
It was God!
God for whatever reason, choose to allow people to be healed by touching things that Paul had worn….
Why….
Because it brought people to see God’s power!
Weird…. Sure….. but still brought people to see God…
PAUSE
That is the same reason that I tell people all the time to not judge other pastors and churches….
We have NO IDEA what God is doing through them…
We have NO IDEA if God is doing something crazy or amazing through them….
And just because what they do might seem far-fetched does not mean it is NOT real….
PAUSE
Let me give you examples of all three of these things happening for the first time in my life…. Add some from your life or use mine….
The first time I experienced tongues was way before I was in ministry…
I was at a men’s conference one of my friends was leading…
And in the middle of if. Hundred or men are all talking…..
And out of nowhere a guy stands up and starts speaking in some language I have never heard….
And instantly the entire room goes quite….
I had NO Idea what was happening….
All the hair on my arms stood up…
I felt like a presence wash over the room….
And then another guy stood up….
And started translating what this guy was saying word for word in a voice that was not his own….
And then a few minutes later it was over….
And I was LIKE WHAT JUST HAPPENED…
I had NO IDEA!!!!
Until later that day my friend explained all this to me!
I has just seen tongues and the interpretation of tongues for the first time in my life….
PAUSE
Way before I was in ministry I remember a time when God spoke to my wife Jenny and told her about something coming in the future.
Many years ago we lived in Tennessee.
I was a builder and we were building our dream home.
About two months before our house was scheduled for final inspection my wife came to me and said, “God told me today we would never live in this house.”
And literally that week….
My corporate bosses came to town and let me know they wanted me to move again….
And guess what….we never stayed one night in that home!
PAUSE
The first time I saw a miracle was when I was a middle school kid…
Our church had a healing service when some guy came to town…
I had ZERO desire to be there a kid…
My parents made me go…
I was in the back of the room….not paying attention…blowing it off…
Just like a lot of you students do to me every week!
I see you guys!
But at one point my best friends mom went forward for prayer…
And then people started going crazy saying her leg was healed!
And I was like WHATEVER…no it wasn’t…..
Her leg was 2” shorter than her other leg…and legs do not grow when you are an adult….
I thought stop faking it people…..
And then the next day….i went to my friends house to see the reality of life….and was shocked to see his mom walking normally without her special shoes….
And I was blown away!!!!
PAUSE
Church all this stuff is real….
It does happen…
Even when we doubt…..
Just like I doubted all those things once upon a time!!!!
PAUSE
Let’s end our time today with something I find funny in the Bible!
Verse 13…
13 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 the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
14 Seven sons of Sceva (Ski-Va), a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
16 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.
Stop there….
Come on that is funny!!!
7 Boys of a Jewish priest try and fake doing what Paul was doing and it does not work….
And it leads to them getting a thumping that is so bad they somehow lose their closes and runway naked!!!
Ok….i guess you all do not have a sense of humor like me….
I think that is funny!
PAUSE
But the question today would be….
Do people still today get possessed by evil spirits?
To which I would say 100% yes!
I think a lot of the things we call mental health issues or evil spirits that have taken hold of people…
I mean you do not do the kinds of things mentally ill people do without something evil possessing you….
You do NOT go into a school and shoot kids unless something evil is ruling your life.
You do NOT kill your parents unless something evil is ruling your life.
You do NOT do so many things people do today unless something is majorly wrong inside you….
And I think that this is what is wrong with so many people…..
People are NOT filled with God’s Spirit….
They are filled with EVIL spirits!!!!
And those evil spirits drive them to do bad things….
Happened thousand of years ago….and still today….
PAUSE
But check out how all this ends….the point of God moving in all these crazy ways….
17 When 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. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done.
19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Do you see it church????
It happens to lead people to Jesus….
The word of the Lord spread…
The word of the Lord grew in power….
The church grew…
God’s movement grew….
This leads us to our Life Application today…
Life Application: God can move in ways that we struggle to understand. Reflect back on your life and see if something you may have written off as “odd” could have been God. As a result of today’s message, I will ______________________________.
Let’s Pray…..
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