Sceva

I'm reminded of my own story, how that I went through all kinds of oppressions, even as a man of God, and I shouted, "Jesus, Jesus, help me," and nothing happened.

You know, the sons of Sceva shouted, "Jesus," too.

So it was not just about chanting the name.

They said, "We adjure you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches." And the demon said, "No, it doesn't work that way.

You can manage, you can use, with all due respect, therapy, you can use all kinds of medical help, you can use drugs, you can use psychology, but I'm telling you, no man can experience lasting freedom, breaking free from the dominion of sin, of Satan, of the flesh, are we together, of demonic forces legitimately, and that Satan obeys you.

Ask the sons of Sceva.

They wanted to cast out that demon, and he said, "No, no, no, Jesus we know.

Paul we know.

During this time, all of the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia had heard the word of the Lord.

One of the chief priests of Ephesus was a man named Sceva.

He had toiled for many years, abiding by both God's holy law and Jewish traditions.

He was an honest man and diligently strove to honor God.

Over the years, the Lord had blessed the man with seven sons, who Sceva hoped would follow in his footsteps in service to the Lord.

However, as word of Paul's magnificent work spread throughout Ephesus, the seven sons wanted to join him on his road to notoriety.

They were not followers of Jesus or had ties to the people of the way.

I've tried to avoid him since I saw him enter my city.

... who are you? Because that's gonna show up.

Are you gonna be like the apostles? Are you gonna be like the sons of Sceva?

Mm.

When you spend time with God, I can literally walk in a room-

Okay, so whenever God is at work, the devil will be there to oppose.

So the devil effectively enters the scene through a group of guys identified as the seven sons of Sceva.

So this man Sceva has seven sons, and they fancy themselves to be exorcists.

They think they can cast demons out of people, but they were not the magnificent seven.

They were the foolish seven, as we see now in the story, because they thought the name of Jesus was like some kind of an incantation or magic words, if uttered, would heal people.

And the third thing is the best defense is a good offense.

The Bible says, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

You see, the problem with the sons of Sceva is they had no relationship with God.

You see what I'm saying? The real version of Christianity, not the compromised version, not the version that somebody's trying to make it look like something or whatever.

No, this is the sons of Sceva.

Come on.

Do you know that story? There's a bunch of frauds out there.