“But Who Are You?

Where does power come from? Who has power? And How can it be controlled?

We see a tussle going on, don’t we, between the powers of goodness and the powers of evil, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom Satan. We see this struggle going on throughout the book of Acts, in fact.

We’ve seen the power of God in bringing 3000 people to faith on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, as the Lord added day by day those who were being saved. We saw the power of God as the small embryonic church grows despite the opposition of the religious leaders. Peter and John were arrested in chapter 4, and the believers pray and are filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness. So we see God’s power there. We see it even in chapter 6 where the church has divisions within it, and we see that the Word of God continued to increase as they face their divisions. “And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and even a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)

So we see the power of God at work in many different ways, in growing the church, protesting the church, in empowering and enabling the church, and in each us of as members of it.

Where do we get this power? Where do we find it? Where can we look for the power that will make the church grow and be strong, and see the Gospel spread to our friends, our neighbours?

We see God’s power at work here in Ephesus, but it didn’t come from Paul. Notice that. It didn’t come from his ability to speak, or to convince people, even though that was what he aimed to do. As we look at verse 11, we see that the power came from God.

1. God Works Powerfully Through Believers (v11-12)
2. Imposters Have No Power (v13-17)
3. God Transforms His People Through His Word (v18-20)

Sunday 4th August 2019

Review questions:

• Miracles are __________ at work (v11)
• Miracles are “the _____________ of a true __________________” (2 Cor 12:12)
• The power is not in the ______________
• You can’t know Jesus _______________ -________________ (v15)
• Pretending to know Jesus is taking His name in __________ (v15, Ex 20:7)
• What do believers do when they fear God (v18)?
• Did anyone force the believers to burn their magic books (v19)? Yes/No
• Is being sorry repentance? Yes/No
• Repenting means:
• When does God’s word spread (v20)?
• A question I have:
• A truth to share:
• Something to pray about:
• How I should live: