Mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed
January 29, 2026
Take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19.
The theme of it would be revival at Ephesus. Paul is on his third missionary journey. When he got to Ephesus, he found 12 disciples there. They seemed like very yielded and somewhat godly men, but they lacked knowledge. They really just knew of John the Baptist. John the Baptist had said, “The Messiah is coming.” Twice he’d say, “The Lamb of God,” but it wasn’t always clear with John the Baptist. He made clear the way of the Lord, but only twice that we know of did he say, “That’s the Lamb. He’s the one, Jesus, particularly is the one,” and the Lord has said the one was baptized and whatnot. But it wasn’t always clear. In fact, even at the end, John the Baptist said, “Are you the one? Should we look for another?”
So Paul comes to these 12 disciples, and he really teaches them that Jesus is the one that John the Baptist was speaking of, and He is the Messiah. They got baptized in the name of Jesus. By the way, it doesn’t mean you’re just supposed to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Jesus said, “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” Sometimes that kind of gets a conflict there.
He went to the synagogue, most of the Jewish people there, for about three months, giving the gospel out. That was typical for Paul when he went to a city. Some of the Jews were just hardened and they didn’t want to hear it. So he went to the school of Tyrannus for two years, every day, daily. He was there just every day. I mean, just wow. So much to the point that everybody—Jews and Greeks—heard the gospel in Asia.
God was just blessing. Then there’s a little section here on revival, just amazing here. We’re going to look at it. We’re just going to read one verse to get us started off, verse number 20. It will be the conclusion, really, of the revival. Then we’ll pray, and we’ll go back up and kind of go up leading to verse number 20. That’s the conclusion of it.
Acts 19, verse number 20. If you’re there, would you please stand tonight?
Here we go. The Bible says, “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.” Anybody out there like that? Man, I like that. It just didn’t grow; it mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.
What a revival! This is wonderful. “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.” Wouldn’t you like the Word of God to prevail in our day and time? It will be wonderful, mightily grow and prevail. That’s what happened.
Let’s pray, and we’ll go up a couple of verses and go down until we get to that. Father, I pray it should encourage your people, bring life like only you can. Lord, I can’t do that, and Lord, would you bring life? Maybe through it, but you do it. You just bring life to us. Father, would you give us a little fight, if you will, in us—a fight against the devil and his workings, Lord. Father, prepare us for missions conference. Lord, I pray that people would come, even though the weather is cold, let them come. Lord, reassure them—no snow and ice—let them just come and use and work in that to reach people around the globe. Lord, bless tonight, Father, in Jesus’ name we ask, amen.
Let’s jump back up, if you would, to verse number 11, and we’re going to work down to verse number 20 where the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed. But let’s start up here, verse number 11 of Acts 19.
Verse number 11, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons; and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”
Can I just say a word there? Paul didn’t charge $29.95 for that handkerchief. He was just giving them out. But I do want you to notice there: notice he says special miracles. If God does a miracle, that’s above the norm. That’s not the rule; that’s the exception to the rule. But then if you get special miracles, it’s not like above the norm—it is above the norm. It’s special miracles. I think some of this was sign gifts, but God was just doing amazing things, just incredible things. And yes, it is true: these handkerchiefs or aprons from Paul would heal people. God was just doing amazing things.
It was some of the sign gifts God used in that special time. But it was a wonderful, wonderful thing that God did. By the way, don’t you like it when God decides to work? Can I just say this? It’s an honor when God decides to work and He lets us have a part of it.
Don’t get the attitude, “Pity me, I got to work for the Lord.” Man, it’s an honor to get to work for the Lord! If God’s doing something and He lets me have a part in it, praise the Lord for it! Don’t get, “Oh, woe is me, I’m so tired, and I got to do all this.” Hey, praise the Lord, I get to work for God! Or should I correct it and say I get to work with God? That’s the wonderful thing about it. God’s doing something here. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. Never get tired of God working.
I never forget years and years ago in this building, it was invitation time. Nowadays, most people are going to get saved here or there yonder. We still have some of the invitation, but mostly they’re going to get saved here or there yonder. But it was one of those invitations where God was working; you could tell. I don’t know if people got saved that morning or not, but God was working the invitation. People kept coming, one after another. It was one of those times where you say, “This is the Lord.”
I remember a lady over here in the back—she’s in heaven now. She was a good lady, but she could be cranky every once in a while, just being honest here. She heard me up there.
But the invitation kept going a little bit longer, and I saw her get her watch out. It was so long, and it just seemed like, boom. It just seemed like—and I’m not always the feeling type person—but it seemed like the Holy Spirit said, “All right. Nobody else came forward.” It just seemed like the Holy Spirit said, “All right. You’re not real happy to me being around.” I just kind of shut it down for a bit. Never forget that.
If God’s working, He was doing special things here. If God’s working, man, let’s don’t complain about it. Let’s say, “Praise the Lord.” It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing when God is working.
Let’s keep going here. Verse number 12: “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons; and the diseases departed from them, and the…” What’s the next two words? “Evil spirits.” Often the Bible calls them devils, demons, the fallen angels. By the way, 48 times the Bible calls them devils. They’re the ones that followed the devil in his revolt, one-third of the angels. Demons are real for him.
We did a study on demonology years ago, and the big thing I learned from that is there are billions, literally billions, of angels and demons. Someone said, “Well, you believe there are demons behind every tree?” No, I don’t believe that. I believe there are two behind every tree, and they’re working. They might be camouflaged a little bit in America, but they’re working in America just as well as they are in Haiti. These evil spirits—the Bible here is talking about these demons or evil spirits. It’s wonderful, just the power of God, and these evil spirits went out of them.
Notice at the bottom of verse 12: “the evil spirits went out.” Praise the Lord for an evil spirit being cast out! I love it. I love it. And it’s real in our day and time.
Let us keep looking at verse number 13. We’re leading up to this revival, verse number 20. Verse number 13: “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”
Time out for a second here: not just Jews, but vagabond Jews. “Vagabond” has to do with a kind of migrant traveling from city to city. They weren’t the cleanest people, immoral people.
And look at the next thing he says: “Exorcist.” This is the only time the Bible uses that word, “exorcist,” right here. By the way, they weren’t successful. The Bible talks about casting out 21 times in reference to demons, but you won’t find it successful anywhere in the Bible—exorcism or exorcist. If you look in Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word means one that binds by an oath or a spell. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says this about exorcism: “The expulsion of evil spirits from persons or places by certain adjurations or ceremonies.” We can perform ceremonies all day long, but if the hand of God and the anointing of God is not in that ceremony, it’s empty and won’t accomplish anything.
They knew all the rituals, they knew all the spells, they had all that down, but friend, watch what happens to them. Can I just say something here while we’re talking about this? These spells and ways to get rid of demons and these enchantments kind of remind me a little bit of some of this literature in our day and time called Harry Potter or Twilight, or one of these latest, “Wicked for Good.” Line that up and see if it goes to the Bible, friend. That’s kind of like, “Let me go out here and get a demon inside of me to help somebody.” That’s about how much sense it makes. I don’t want Hollywood trying to glorify being wicked.
These exorcists tried to cast out these demons, and let’s see how it goes for them. Let’s keep reading here. Verse number 13: “…took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”
Whom Paul preached. That kind of reminds me of this—the Catholic Church that performs exorcisms. They’ll use the name of Jesus, like these people used the name of Jesus. Speaking of salvation in particular, it’s Jesus plus. Actually, He said you’ve got to believe with all your heart. I remember witnessing to a Hindu or a Buddhist. He said, “Well, do I have to put all my belief on Jesus?” I said, “As far as salvation, you’ve got to put every single bit of it on Jesus.” Some people have Jesus in the formula, but it’s not all Jesus. Friend, when it comes to your salvation, and when it comes to power, if you want real power, it comes through the way of the cross.
They took it upon themselves. They used the name of Jesus. Just because someone uses the name of Jesus doesn’t mean everything’s hunky-dory, friend.
Look at verse number 14: “There were seven sons of one Sceva a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.” That’s a whole lot of boys right there!
So these seven brothers called over this person that was demon-possessed, and the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
A couple of things there. First of all, the evil spirit answered. Ever notice when Jesus cast out demons, such as the maniac of Gerasenes, He talks directly to the demons? The demons answered Him. By the way, He was looking past Peter and said, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” because Satan was using Peter at the time. But He spoke directly. And right here, we’re seeing this demon just spoke; it answered out.
I never forget when I was a brave little boy. My dad had knocked on the door of a lady, and she had said, “I’m sorry, but I got a demon.” He said, “Well, ma’am, you need to come to church, and we can, if you let us, through the power of God, cast a demon out.” So we picked her up, brought her to church. I was sitting in the back seat with her. This lady started talking—excuse me, the demon inside that lady started talking in a man’s voice, a deep man’s voice—and your brave pastor started crying his eyes out. I said, before seatbelts and car seats and all that, I said, “I’m going to sit in the front seat with my mommy,” amen. That’s true. Eventually, men of the church went over there, and they did cast a demon out. She got saved after that and became a good, godly lady. But that demon was talking through that lady, and this boy said, “I don’t want anything to do with that right there.”
That’s what’s happening here. The evil spirit answered. This is interesting. The evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” They know their enemies. So let me ask you just a quick question here: Do they know you? Do they say, “That person, I know they’re on the Lord’s side. I know where they stand. They’re a formidable enemy.” Do the demons know us? Or would they have to say, “I don’t know them. Jesus, I know; Paul, I know. I don’t know them. I’ve never heard that much”? That’s what’s going on.
Let’s keep going. Look in verse number 16: “And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
Demon-possessed people can have supernatural power—not from God, but from the devil. Seven against one! This demon-possessed man—sometimes police videos and whatnot show this; yes, sometimes drugs are involved, which is sorcery in the Bible, but demons can be very involved in all that.
Notice what the demon-possessed man did. He stripped them and beat the tar out of them, which means he stripped them of their clothes. The devil always likes nakedness; God is for modesty. The Lord is for modesty.
And naked and wounded. I don’t know what all that means—maybe black eyes, some teeth missing, maybe a broken arm or two, a broken nose or two. But they were wounded. They said, “We’re getting out of here.” They took off. They were so wounded that it just made news all around.
Verse number 17: “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” Any time the false good or the fake good gets exposed and the name of Jesus gets magnified, praise the Lord for that! That’s a good thing. These exorcists who took it upon themselves to try to get this demon out didn’t have the power. The devils didn’t know them. They got exposed. They didn’t have any power. They ran out stripped and wounded. And then the name of Jesus got magnified. Praise the Lord for that. Jesus gets magnified. That’s what’s going on here.
Let’s keep reading. This is pretty amazing leading up to verse 20, where the Word of God grew greatly and prevailed. Look at verse number 18: “And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.”
You know the Bible says, “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy.” He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy. I think about a young man—he was battling pornography. We would meet once a week, and he didn’t win always, but he was always, as far as I know, honest, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. He was trying to overcome it. I believe God had mercy on him. He’s married today and has kids, as far as I know, doing very well. But he didn’t hide it. He got it out in the open. “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy.” That’s why accountability partners are a good thing. These folks believed, and they confessed and showed their deeds.
Watch this, verse number 19: “Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men.”
“Curious arts.” The Scofield reference has “curious arts” with a little ‘g’, and over in that center reference, that little ‘g’ is “magical.” Boy, don’t they use magical things to promote sinful things in our day and time? We don’t teach people spells and enchantments and wizardry and witchery.
“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together.” And burned them before all men. That would include their Ouija boards and their witchcraft movies, these demonic movies. I don’t want to watch all about the demons and their killing and their murder and Satan’s agenda to steal, kill, and destroy. There is a lot of demonic activity in America, friend, and Hollywood is good at pumping it out, too.
These folks brought them together, burned them before all men. And here’s the amazing thing: “And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”
When you get into how much that is equivalent to in our day and time, you’re going to have about a thousand different opinions. It will go up as high as five and a half billion dollars worth. But they burned the books. These people said, “You know what? We don’t want any of this stuff. We’re going to get ready, but we’re going to burn it. Who cares how much it’s worth?” Let’s just do right before God.
Look over, if you will, in Deuteronomy 18. Paul and them were there preaching; they had the Law, the first five books of the Old Testament. Let’s look and see what he says over here about this witchcraft-type stuff.
Deuteronomy 18, look down, if you would please, in verse number nine. “And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.”
When you are coming to the land—that’s the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. That means ice cream, by the way.
“Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.” What abominations is this talking about? “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire… or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or the wizard, or the necromancer.”
That’s spells. All these movies teaching you how to do this spell and this enchantment—that’s what it’s talking about right there. Don’t even learn it. Or an observer of times. If a black cat runs in front of it, you’ll be all right. If you’re born on Friday the 13th, don’t live in fear; it’s all right. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Don’t worry about all that superstitious stuff. You can walk under a ladder as long as they don’t spill the paint on you while you walk under it. You’ll be all right. Don’t get caught up on all that. If the check ends up being $666, you don’t have to give them an extra dollar; you’re not worshipping the Antichrist and the beast. It’s all right. Don’t get caught up in all this observing, superstitious stuff. We’re a child of the King, friend.
He goes on, he says, “Or an enchanter”—that can mean several different things. “Or a witch”—that’s a lady that’s made a pact with Satan. “Or a charmer”—the power to charm people. “Or a consulter with familiar spirits”—these palm readers and all the rest of that. “Or a wizard”—that’s basically a male witch. “Or a necromancer”—talking to the dead. I remember a lady years and years ago—she’s in heaven now—but her dad died. She grieved over her dad to the point that she went to people that were trying to get them to talk to her dad. That’s what necromancers are. God said, “Don’t even learn that crazy job.”
Verse 12: “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” God says the reason why I’m kicking those people out of the promised land is because of all that demonic witchcraft junk going on. So when you get in that land, don’t you even learn about that stuff.
Put over here in Acts 19. They burned it—50,000 pieces of silver. They burned it. Praise the Lord for Christians that say, “I’m just going to sell out and give everything to the Lord. If God doesn’t want it, I don’t want it.”
This is the last thing, at verse number 20. Let me read it, and we’ll make a comment and we’ll pray. Verse number 20: “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.” When God’s people get right, the devil always loses. When God’s people got right, man, the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes just a minute tonight? Let’s get thoroughly right with the Lord. And let’s pray for the mission conference. It goes to mission people getting saved. Let’s just pray that the Word of God would grow mightily in our area and prevail.
Let’s stand if you would, please. We won’t be long. Let’s spend some time with the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the example over here in Acts 19. Help me, Lord, to be willing to give up what I need to give up. And oh, we sure want to see your Word grow mightily and prevail. Father, please put your hand on the mission conference. Use it madly. Let us be able to support many and see many souls saved. Thank you, Lord, for what you do. Jesus, and we pray. Amen.
Let’s spend some time just praying. Lord, would you bless the mission conference? Have it to be thoroughly right. When God’s people get thoroughly right, God works. 2026 doesn’t scare God. We get thoroughly right.
I’m so honored to see you out on a Wednesday night like this. Praise the Lord. Let’s pray. Let’s all pray the patterns get their power turned back on, and let’s pray for that. And pray that Michael McNeil will keep moving, not stop. Pray for his roof, get all that fixed. And then the mission conference—do that, pray for that, if you will. Thank you for being in church. Honored to see every single person. Praise the Lord. I like the flag by then; put the flags up, too. I appreciate that. It just gets our minds and our hearts going that way. And you be praying about faith, Lord, show me what I’m supposed to do, my part in it. Glad to see every single person here tonight and thrilled to see it.
Original File: 2026-01-29 - Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Mightily Grew the Word of God and Prevailed＂- Wednesday 1⧸26⧸2026