Passage of the Day - January 14, 2011

Acts 19:13-17

¹³But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."

 ¹⁴Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

 ¹⁵And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

 ¹⁶And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

 ¹⁷This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

This passage shows that merely knowing about Christ is not the same as faith.  Jesus is King and don’t try to invoke the King’s authority when you are not a subject of His kingdom.  If we are not connected to the vine, we are completely useless.  In addition, it was through the Holy Spirit, not merely the name of Jesus, that God performed these miracles.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)