Coffeeville First Baptist Church By Craig Baker, Pastor 7/2/26

By Marie | June 30, 2026 |

My question for you this week is, “Does Evil Know You?” To understand that question, we will consider the events recorded in Acts 19:11-20. At the time of these events, the city of Ephesus was a very important trade city in the Roman Empire. It is said that only Rome, Athens, and Alexandria were more important cities. Ephesus was a gateway city. A modern example for us would be New York City. People from all over the world come into our country through New York City, and in New Testament times Ephesus was the gateway city for people from the east traveling to Rome or into the heart of the Roman Empire. Like most all gateway cities, Ephesus was a melting pot of strange beliefs and religious practices, so when the Apostle Paul showed up preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for salvation that teaching would not have seemed all that radical to the Ephesians. The problem was the people already worshipped so many gods and goddesses that something had to set the gospel of Jesus apart from what everyone else was teaching. The true power and nature of God had to be demonstrated to the people. We are told in Acts 19:11-12, “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul., so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out from them.” God was doing a great work through Paul. Many people were being healed and many more were professing faith in Jesus. Scripture says that all who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of The Lord. This is not very different than the society we live in today. Just do an internet search for weird or strange religions in the U.S., and you will see that people believe and practice all sorts of foolishness. If we as Christians are going to make any impact on the people around us, something must set our message apart. We have seen in our study the past two weeks that we are set apart by light (truth) and love.

While God’s work through Paul led to many hearing the gospel and believing, other people began to take an interest in Paul’s message for a very different reason. As with anything good, there are always people who will try to take advantage of the situation, so hearing what the Apostle Paul was doing and the response his work was getting from the people some unscrupulous Jews began to travel around claiming to perform rituals and spells to heal people for a price of course. People believed that the more mysterious and awkward the chant or incantation was the more powerful it was, and therefore, it cost more money to perform. The Jews ability to speak the Hebrew language which was not widely known or used by that time allowed them to make a good living doing this. There were some Jews who saw the miracles Paul was doing and how the people were flocking to him, so they decided they would get in on the action so to speak. They began trying to take advantage of the name of Jesus for their own personal gain. Many people are guilty of this today, taking advantage of the name of The Lord. We can all probably think of at least one person, probably more, that we know of who have used the name of Jesus to their own personal gain. Some have become very wealthy and famous using the name of Jesus, but most of us are not so blatant when we take advantage of the name of Jesus. The fact is that all of us are probably guilty of at one point or another using his name for our own personal gain. Have you ever said the words “I just feel The Lord is leading me to do _______?” Or “The Lord laid it on my heart to ________?” If we are honest those phases are often just our way of getting what we want, especially in the church, because who is going to say, “No. The Lord is not leading you or burdening your heart.” When we say those things without a real sense of divine guidance that comes through prayer and laying aside our own agenda we are taking advantage of the name of The Lord.

In Acts 19:13-15, we are told these itinerant Jewish exorcists, specifically the seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva, began to perform exorcisms in the name of Jesus saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” This group of Jews was trying to invoke the name of Jesus without any authority to do so. Therefore, they had no power to speak against or conquer true evil. The evil spirit answered them saying, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” For evil to know us there has to be something different about us. For us as believers that difference is our relationship with Jesus. These Jews did not say in the name of the Jesus whom we preach. They said in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches. There was no Jesus in them. They had no relationship, no personal belief in Jesus. They had no authority to use His name. Again, the question is, “Does evil know you?” These Jews did not know Jesus, and looked what happened to them (Acts 19:16). They were overpowered, stripped naked, wounded, and sent running from the house. Evil devoured them, humiliated them, made a wreck of their lives.

Like all of you, I am a long way from where I want to be in my Christian life, and there are questions I have and things I struggle with, and I fail miserably at times. But I want evil to say I know Jesus and I know Craig, not because of some deed or work that I have done, but because of what Jesus has done in me. Does evil know you?

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