(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Father, for your gracious words, dear God, we thank you for this King James Bible, we thank you for this church, and our pastor, dear God, we ask that you please fill him with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your word tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, all right, we are in Acts chapter 16 this evening, and we are continuing with our Bible study on the book of Acts. And the title of this sermon this evening is Necromancy and the Day of the Dead. Necromancy and the Day of the Dead. Now, this chapter right here, there's a lot of interesting events and things that are taking place here in this chapter. Probably one of the most popular things or stories that we see here in Acts chapter 16 is the latter end. And if you have gone sowing for any length of time, you probably have used this various times, right? Acts chapter 16, verse 30 through 31. What must I do to be saved? And they said and said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. It's a great portion of scripture to use while you're out there preaching the gospel. But there's a lot of other stories that we see within this chapter that are very valuable and things that we can learn from. And in particular, we see the story of the damsel that is possessed with the divine spirit. Now, I'm just going to say this real quick is that I don't believe that there are coincidences in the Bible, obviously, but specifically when dealing with today's day, right? With the events that are taking place today. And what I mean by that is this, I don't think it's a coincidence that, you know, we're preaching through Acts chapter 16 tonight. And then on November 1st, which is this Sunday and Monday, you have this pagan holiday that's going to be celebrated called the Day of the Dead. You know, Acts chapter 16 is where you find the damsel who's possessed with the divining spirit, which the Bible also refers to as necromancy, you know, speaking with the dead. And that's exactly what the Day of the Dead is. Or as they would call it in Spanish, Dia de los Muertos. It's when they invoke the spirits of the dead, so-called, and they begin to commune with them and communicate with them. They build altars unto them. They give them offerings. I mean, just this wickedness that's taking place on these two days here. And you know what? So it's no coincidence that we're studying through Acts chapter 16. I believe God wants us to talk about this and wants us to expose this holiday for what it is. Now, a couple of years ago, I made a documentary called Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. And, you know, it's out there right now. And I try to promote it as much as possible every single year, because the reality is, this is actually gaining a lot of momentum. I mean, look, when you have Disney, you know, putting out a movie called Coco, you know it's gone, like, mainstream, okay? And people are accepting it. They're tolerating it. They're embracing it. They'll say to you if you talk against it, you know, hey, what's the problem with it? This is just how people comfort themselves when it comes to their dead loved ones. Why are you being so mean? You know, and all this manner of evil. But hold on a second. When you study it in light of the Bible, it just completely falls apart and you see how wicked it really is. And so listen to the sermon with an open mind towards the word of God. And look, if this offends you, or, you know, if you feel like I'm stepping on your toes, just make sure that you understand that what I'm showing you is from the Bible, right? We want to view everything in light of the Bible. See what God has to say about these things and not just blindly follow something, not just blindly participate in any activity because, you know, it's just what we've always done because it's traditional, because it's what my family did. You know, we ought to look at it in light of the Bible. Now, a lot of what we're going to talk about tonight, I'm going to actually reference the damsel that is possessed with the devil, but obviously we want to cover the entire chapter. And so I'm going to go over a lot of the other content that's found in Acts chapter 16 aside from that. And so let me give you a bit of a review from Acts chapter 15. If you remember at the latter end in verse 38, all the way to 41, you have the apostle Paul and Barnabas, they're basically planning to go on their second mission strip. What they want to do is go to the churches that they had established and kind of see how they're doing, you know, do some follow up kind of thing. They want to go to those churches and confirm the brethren, see how they're doing and just kind of confirm them, exhort them to continue in the faith. But there's a bit of contention between the two. And the contention is surrounded by a person by the name of John Mark. Now, if you remember earlier in the book of Acts, you have Paul and Barnabas going to Cyprus, right? On their first missionary journey. And we actually see that John Mark goes with them. They go to Cyprus, they accomplish the work there. But then when they start going to Pergo, you see that John Mark actually decides to go back home. And we don't know exactly why. We can speculate and surmise, maybe he got a little homesick and so he wanted to go back home. Or, you know, maybe he was just lazy. It was too much work for him. We don't know. But what we do know is this, is that it didn't sit well with Paul, okay? Because here in Acts chapter 15, we see that they're ready to take on their second missionary journey. And, you know, John Mark wants to tag along. Barnabas wants him to tag along, but Paul doesn't want that. And he is like, it's not good for him to come. You know, he departed when we're out there doing the first trip. I don't want him to come and I'm paraphrasing here. And of course the contention was so sharp between Barnabas and Paul, that Barnabas basically departs to Cyprus with John Mark. And then Paul ends up taking Silas, going up north through Syria, Cilicia, visiting the churches there. And so we see that take place at the latter end of chapter 16. So this, chapter 15, excuse me. So chapter 16, we're actually looking at his second missionary journey. And really what we're gonna see here is that he begins to expand his territory, so to speak. Because if you remember, his first missionary journey goes to Cyprus, he goes to Perga, he goes to Antioch, right? And then he goes to Lystra and Derbe, and then he kind of circles back around. Basically, he goes back through the same steps that he took to get there, back home. This time, he's actually gonna go a little further. He's gonna go all the way to Macedonia. So the work begins to expand a little more from then on. Now, look at verse number one. It says here, we're gonna look at Timothy's introduction. It says in verse number one, Then came he to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed, but his father was a Greek. So he was only half of God's chosen people, apparently, right? I'm just kidding. Verse two, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium, him would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him, because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek. Now, a couple things that I want you to notice here. First and foremost, I want you to see that Paul, he messes up here, right? Because he's having Timothy get circumcised because of the Jews that were in those quarters, right? Now, obviously, we see that this is kind of like the beginning stages of Paul's ministry. Later on in his ministry, when he writes the book of Galatians, for example, I mean, he is ardently against circumcision, he's preaching against it, talking against it, I mean, he's taking a stand against it, but here in Acts chapter 16, we see that he takes one of his own disciples, his son in the faith, and he basically circumcises him because of the Jews. And it's not because he wants to reach the Jews, in my opinion, it's just because he's just capitulating to the pressure, okay? He's just like, oh man, they're just putting so much pressure on me, so I'm just gonna, we're just gonna have to circumcis, yeah, easy for you to say, Paul, you're not the one, you know, getting circumcised here. We don't really see Timothy having a say-so on the whole matter. Paul just tells him, you know, hey, you need to go do this because of the Jews. Now, what's the principle that we can learn from this? Well, again, like I mentioned last week, sometimes leaders make mistakes, right? And honestly, when I think about this story, I think about any pastor, myself included, how sometimes early on in our ministry, sometimes we believe things or do things that are kind of like not biblical, and then we grow as a leader, we grow as a pastor, we grow as a Christian, later on we get those things right, we understand and we recognize, okay, that was dumb, you know, and I think about myself, you know, early on in my ministry, I've been serving the Lord for about 13 years, but early on in my ministry, you know, I believe some really stupid doctrine. Now, I never believed damnable heresy, but I did believe the pre-tribulation rapture. I believe that the Jews were God's chosen people. There was a time when I didn't believe the reprobate doctrine, and I would say this was something that was early on in my ministry when I was still young in the Lord, but I was serving God, I was winning souls, and I was sincere in my service for God, but I was sincerely wrong in some areas. And what happened is that, well, I began to grow, I was reproved, I was corrected, I began to learn concepts in the Bible, you know, people taught me, and what happened is, I renewed my mind, so to speak, so that now in my ministry, you know, now I'm in the Galatians part of my ministry, so to speak, where now I'm ardently preaching against these things, even though maybe when I was younger in the Lord, I was wrong about it. And, you know, I say that to say that, you know, we need to make sure that we cut some slack sometimes if they're wrong on certain areas, and recognize that maybe it's just gonna take some time for them to come around to our way of thinking, or the Bible's way of thinking, you know? Because sometimes, if you're not careful, you can jump the gun, and, you know, you learn about these concepts right away, you knew about them, you know, right off the bat, this is, you're basically born again into the so-called movement, right? Well, a lot of people don't come in like that. People come in with false ideologies sometimes, whether that's about the pre-tribulation rapture, that's about the Jews, that's about the reprobate doctrine, or anything else. Just, how about just church practices, like no nurseries? Right? And if you're not careful, you can jump down someone's throat because they practice those things, or they believe those things, and what you have to understand is that maybe they're early, still early in their ministry, and they still need to learn those things, okay? But we see that with the apostle Paul, man, he's like compromising here, he's like, hey, we gotta capitulate to the Jews, you gotta get circumcised, Timothy, but then later on, we see him just fighting against it. I mean, he's writing a letter to the churches which are in Galatia, he's preaching against them, I mean, he's even going as far as to question their salvation, if that's what they believe they have to do in order to be saved. He's hardcore on this topic later on in his ministry. And by the way, that goes to say, not just for pastors, but how about just individuals just in general in our church? You know, you can't expect people who, they get saved to just catch everything right off the bat. Now, there's certain things that they better catch on quick, right? Salvation would be one. Or, you know, if they're involved in fornication, you know, once they hear preaching on fornication and they understand that that's a sin that can basically cause them to get excommunicated from the church, well, they gotta get that right. Either separate from their partner, their girlfriend or boyfriend, or they can get married, you know, they have to make a decision at that point, but we have to cut people some slack and not expect everyone to just fall in line right off the bat as soon as they come through those doors. It's not gonna happen. You gotta give people space to learn these things, learn these concepts, and grow, okay? But another thing that I want you to notice here is that, you know, potentially Timothy's conversion might have been a result of that first missions trip, if you think about it. Or, you know what, maybe that's when they actually started going to church. Because if you remember, Timothy is part of that region right there, and the Bible talks about him being a disciple in that area, and he was well-reported of, so those churches knew about Timothy, he was serving God there. Now, you know, there's a couple schools of thought when it comes to this. Some people think, well, the Apostle Paul probably led him to the Lord, and I'm not against that idea, because it's definitely possible. You know, he calls him his son in the faith, and that's often a phrase that's used to describe someone whom you led to the Lord, right? You think of 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, where he says, you know, though you have many thousand instructors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers, for in the gospel I have begotten you. And what he's basically saying is this, look, you have a bunch of teachers, and prophets, and pastors, and teachers who are teaching you the word of God, but the reality is, I'm the one who got you saved, is what he's saying, okay? And so, you know, we can say that maybe he got Timothy saved, you know, on his first missions trips, we don't really know, or it could simply mean that he just took him under his wing. Maybe he got saved early on in life, as we're gonna look at in just a bit. By the way, go with me to 2 Timothy chapter one. It could be that he's just taken him under his wing, he's mentoring him, you know. I think of men of God in my life who maybe didn't lead me to the Lord, but they would consider me to be a son in the faith because of the fact that they mentored me. They were a leader to me, and I looked up to their influence. I have people like that in my life today. They would consider me to be their son in the faith, so to speak, because, you know, in a sense, they adopted me as their spiritual son so they can teach me, mentor me, guide me, et cetera. And maybe this is what's taking place with Paul and Timothy as well. We don't really know, but look at 2 Timothy chapter one. You know, if I were to guess what it is that's taking place here, I would say maybe Timothy actually got saved earlier in life, okay? And this is the reason why. Look at verse number five of 2 Timothy chapter one. It says, when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. So what can we see from this passage of scripture right here? Well, what we see is that Timothy is a third generation Christian, right? He's a third generation because his grandmother had that unfamed faith. His mother Eunice had that unfamed faith, and you can see why, because she was a Jewess, right? And look, let me just say this, is that not every Jew was reprobated in those days. I mean, a lot of the disciples were Jews who got saved, right? You know, now obviously the leaders of that day, the Pharisees of that day were definitely reprobate, and their proselytes were twofold more a child of hell than themselves. That's obvious, but there was a lot of Jews in those days that were not reprobated. They were simply listening to the word of God. They were waiting for the Messiah to be made manifest in the flesh. They were already saved. There's people who were saved in the Old Testament who transitioned into the New Testament, and they were already saved, regardless of what Adam Tannen says, you know? Oh, they had to get saved again, or whatever. No, those people got saved under the Old Testament because it was the same salvation, and then they transitioned into the New Covenant. You know, they forsook their synagogue, right? And they enjoined themselves unto a local New Testament church. And look, maybe it's Eunice and Eunice's mother, and Timothy, maybe they're the ones who attended the synagogue that was in Antioch, but then when that missions trip took place, and Paul came and preached the word of God, and preached Jesus, and showed him, hey, the Lord that you believe in for salvation, his name is Jesus. At that point, they're like, okay, well, it's time to transition into that New Covenant. It's time to pull my membership from the synagogue, and, you know, be a part of a local New Testament church because this is now the New Testament, the New Covenant. We have a better mediator, okay? And so we see that there. It says in verse six, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is indeed by the putting on of my hands. Now go to chapter three, if you would. Go to chapter number three. So, you know, potentially, Timothy could have been saved earlier on in life because if his mom is a Jewess, you know, and that would mean that she's teaching the word of God to him, she's taking him to the temple, they're hearing the word of God preached, and so, you know, seeds are being sown. We don't know if she's the one who led him to the Lord or what it may have been. We don't necessarily know, but you know what, she was faithful in teaching the word of God to her son. And his father was a Greek, which means that potentially maybe he wasn't even saved. We don't really know a whole lot about him. But look what it says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 14. This is how we know that he had the word of God even prior to maybe Paul the Apostle coming. Look what it says in verse 14. But continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise into salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, okay? So this would basically lead us to believe that Timothy's mom is the one responsible, obviously, to teach him the word of God. They're hearing the word of God preached in the temple, in the synagogue. They're hearing it through different people and preachers. But he knows the scriptures even from when he was a child. We would say today, you know, he grew up in a believer's home, right? And look, we have a ton of children in here who are growing up in a believer's home, but they're not saved yet, right? But you know what we can say is that they've known the scriptures from a child. Because they're hearing Pastor Mejia preach, you're teaching them the word of God, they're hearing it through sermons, you know, they're hearing it through YouTube, they're hearing the word of God throughout the day, throughout the week, and it's being, you know, inserted into their mind and into their heart, and Lord willing, later on in life, you know, a couple years or something, they can understand their condition and get saved, amen? That's the goal, obviously. Now, I wanna just make this point real quick before I move on, is that in verse 15, it says that Timothy knew the scriptures from when he was a child, and it says it was able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Now, Manly Perry basically used this to say, you know, oh, this means that he just got saved reading the Bible, you know? And that's nonsense, folks. Now, obviously, we need the word of God to be saved. Duh! But here's the thing, we need the word of God in the hands of a saved individual to give them the word of God in order to be saved. You see, the Bible's telling us here that the word of God makes them wise unto salvation. You ever heard that phrase, hey, you need to wise up. In other words, be aware of these things, right? Well, you know what, when you're giving the word of God to your children, it makes them wise unto salvation. It makes them knowledgeable about this subject and this topic of eternal salvation. That's what it does. But it's not like a child is gonna open up the Bible, read it, understand it, and get saved. They need someone to explain it to them. And I don't know what it is with these guys and they wanna attack this doctrine for whatever reason. I always thought it was just like an old IFB thing, but they seem to hate the new IFB so much that they feel like they need to go after this. And they always use that cop-out, we're not saying that we shouldn't do any soul-winning, brother. Well, that's what it kinda sounds like. We're just saying you could get saved reading the word of God. Anybody could get saved, because it's the word of God that saves you. Yeah, no one's denying that, Manly Perry. Duh. Obviously it's the word of God that saves the individual, but you know what, it's the word of God in the hands of a saved individual who's preaching it. That's why the Bible tells us to open our mouths boldly to make known the what? Mysteries of the gospel! Why? Because the word of God, the gospel, is a mystery to the lost. Right? It's a mystery. You know, it kinda goes along with what the Bible says, that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they're spiritually discerned. And we quote that, and what do they do? They just mock us. They'll always go over and do this verse right here. Yeah, because that's what the verse is teaching. And in reality, they're not mocking us, they're mocking the word of God. It was the Ethiopian eunuch who said, how can I, you know, he couldn't understand the word of God, except some man should guide me. He's reading one of the most clearest scriptures about Jesus Christ that he still didn't understand. All right. Speak of this of himself or of some other man. He needed, he needed the advantages, Philip, the advantages to come and teach him what it actually had to say and who it was talking about. Paul and Apollos were ministers by whom he believed, the Bible says. You know, John the Baptist, the Bible says of John the Baptist that there was a man sent from God whose name was John. You know, the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through who? Him. And he's not the only one teaching this. There's other pastors out there that are teaching this and they mock and they kind of ridicule our position on this. You know, it's pretty clear in the Bible when you look at it, you know. The Bible talks about in Romans chapter 10 that they did not believe their what? Report. Right? That's all in context of calling upon the name of the Lord, needing a preacher to be saved, and he's saying they didn't believe our report, okay? Now I heard this interpretation because there's a pastor that got up and used Luke 16, you know, the rich man and Lazarus. I'm gonna read to you here from verse 27. This is what he used. He says, then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house, for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And that was like a checkmate for this pastor. He was like, boom, right there. They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And what this man was implying, what this pastor was implying is that, well, they have the Bible, let them go read the word of God and get saved. But folks, it's all in context of the rich man asking Abraham to send someone to his house, right? Now look, let me just say this is that anytime I've ever read this chapter in Luke 16, since I got saved up until today, I never thought that this meant a person just has to go to the scriptures in order to be saved. This is what I have always interpreted as. What this means is that when they say they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them, it's referring to a preacher who's giving them Moses and the prophets, right? And they're like, no, that's not what it says. Let them hear them. That's referring to the word of God because faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Let them hear them. No. Look at Acts 10, 21. And this will just put that to bed just completely, okay? For Moses of all time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. Hello? He's saying there, look, so when he says in Luke 16 they have Moses and the prophets, what is he saying? He's actually saying that Moses hath in every city them that preach him, being read, you know, in the synagogues every Sabbath day, the Bible tells us. So this is telling us that when they said they have Moses and the prophets, this is referring to an individual who's preaching Moses. You understand? And they're like, well, no, they can understand salvation. Folks, the Bible says there's none that understandeth. None that seeketh after God. Romans 3, 11, right? There's none that understandeth. That's why we need to go to them. That's why we need to explain salvation to them, okay? So I just want to show you that real quick and just kind of debunk that nonsense and what that does is it kind of mitigates the importance of confrontational soul winning. Because look, if there's a saved pastor out there that believes that, you know, it's probably not going to cut into a soul winning. He still believes he has to go soul winning, but you know what, the individual that follows him that might be trying to make excuses why not to go soul winning, it's going to affect that individual even more. It's like, well, I mean, they have the word of God. Let me just leave a track on the door because I can still get saved. It's nonsense. Okay, go back to Acts chapter 16. We're going to look at the Macedonian call. So we looked at Timothy, and by the way, Timothy is an essential person in the New Testament. I mean, two books are written to him, two letters. He's mentioned throughout Paul's ministry, so this is a pretty important guy here, okay? Look at verse four, it says, And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were deigned of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And unfortunately, those decrees is what we saw in chapter 15, to abstain from fornication, pollution of idols, things strangled in blood. So he's actually going like teaching this stuff in other churches, like, hey, you guys got to be able to keep this. Now, obviously, those commandments are not necessarily bad in and of themselves. It's the fact that those commandments are seeking to make a distinction between Jew and Gentile. When in actuality, the Bible teaches that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. For you're all one, right? Look at verse five, And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. Now, when they had gone through Phrygia in the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they had said to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. Now, let me just explain here what's taking place. They're going pretty far. I mean, they're covering a lot of ground. And I doubt that they're doing this by horse. I mean, they're walking all of this, you know. But it's pretty interesting because obviously, they revisit the churches that were already established, which were in Lystra and Derbe, Antioch in that area. So they decide to expand their ministry a little further and go a little further out, and they purpose to go into Asia. And then the Holy Ghost basically told them, don't go into Asia, and don't go into Bithynia, Bithynia being a little north. And you wonder like, why? You know, why is it that the Holy Spirit forbid them to do that? Now, it's not necessarily because they weren't receptive, because later on, what do we see? We see the seven churches which are in Asia. And not just seven churches, Colossi was there, you know. A lot of churches were there, were being established, a lot of people were being reached. And in fact, Peter's epistle, you know, talks about Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia and Asia. So both of these areas were very fruitful and people who wanted to hear the word of God, but you know what? It could be that the Holy Ghost was just leading them to something that was a little more urgent than that. And the principle that we can learn there is that, you know what? We need to go where it's most receptive or where we think we could get the most bang out of our buck. It could be that Asia and Bithynia were not necessarily the most receptive areas at that time. You know? It could be that, you know, they could have gotten some work done there, but it was far more fruitful to go into Macedonia, because a church called the church at Philippi was gonna be established there. There's a Macedonian called, there's a Lydia there. There's a great work to be accomplished, and so he wanted them to go there. And so the principle that we can learn there is that when we do missions, we need to go to the most low-hanging fruit there is. And for us at First Works Baptist Church, at this point, it's Belize, amen? Belize is very receptive, a lot of people get saved there, it's a short trip, it's inexpensive, the food is good, the people are awesome, and the trip is amazing, right? And you know, you get to do some sightseeing over there, go look at those pagan pyramids, and you know, have a good time where you're out there, but it's very much a fruitful area. And you know what? I purpose to go other places prior to Belize. I wanted to go to, what was it, the Dominican Republic. I wanted to go to different areas, and then these doors were opening up for us, and I just thought to myself, you know, someone from Faithful Word actually talked to me, Brother Mike, and said, hey, have you ever thought of Belize? And I was like, never even came into my mind. But then I went into research, I was like, wow, this seems like a really good area. And then we went, it was very fruitful, very successful, it was awesome, but we're gonna continue to hit that until we're done. It's an easy, easy thing to do. You know, a lot of people are just open to the gospel there, okay? Look at verse nine. It says, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man in Macedonia and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troyes, we came with a straight course to Semothracia, and the next day to Deneopolis, and from Thens to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia in a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain days. So this is pretty interesting here. You know, again, they don't go to Asia, they don't go to Bithynia, they go straight to Philippi, and a lesson that we can learn here also is the importance of just remaining in the way, okay? You know, people will often say, I remember hearing old IFB preachers say things like, you know, God, just get me out of the way, and I'm just kind of like, I'm going to hinder the word, just get me out of the way, you do all the work. And I get what they're saying about that, and they're trying to be humble, but here's the thing is that God needs us to be in the way. And in fact, if you remember in Genesis 24, the servant said, I being in the way, the Lord led me, right? So in order to be led to the most fruitful area, to be led to the perfect will of God, the acceptable will of God, you know, to the will of God, we need to make sure that we're always in the way. Whether that's reading your Bible, sowing here in your Jerusalem, being involved in your local New Testament church, being a blessing to others, be in the way. Because it's then that God can kind of direct you to where you need to go. You know, these people who just kind of like, you know, they don't want to go sowing, or they don't want to go to church, even though there's a good church in their area, and they're just kind of waiting for the will of God to fall on their laps, that's not the way to do it. They think that God's just going to cater to their desires. No, you need to be in the way. You need to be in the way of church, you need to be in the way of sowing, you need to be in the way of the word of God, you need to be in the way of fellowship, you just need to be in the way of the Spirit, so that the Spirit can lead you, and sometimes, you know, He leads you, and you don't even know it, because you're already in the way. Then you get a divine appointment like this. Now here's the interesting thing about the Macedonian call, okay? Because he sees this man in a dream, this Macedonian, but look, do we ever see the Macedonian ever mentioned later on? We don't. We see Lydia being mentioned, we see that crazy damsel, possessed damsel, we see, you know, the Philippian jailer, but I would surmise that that Macedonian probably did get saved, because there was a church that was planted there. People got saved, and that church was thriving. Eventually, I'm sure they reached that individual that was in that dream, okay? So we need to make sure that we're in the way, okay? Not get out of the way, we need to be in the way. We need God to lead, we need the Lord to be before us at all times, so we're not moved to the left nor to the right, we just stick on the path that God has for us. Serve God according to the dictates of your conscience and according to the word of God. And make sure you're just doing your best in the Christian life. You don't have to be this sinless individual, you know, this talented, gifted, sinless individual, just serve God to the best of your ability. Be in the way, and God can lead you, okay? Look at verse 13. It says that on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the woman which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there, and she constrained us. Now, here's what's interesting, did you catch that? Where is she from? Thyatira. Where's Thyatira? Asia. Where did God tell him not to go? To Asia. So, here's the thing. It's like, go to Macedonia, I know you want to go to Asia, I know you want to go reach those Chinese people, those Cambodians, but sometimes you don't even need to do that, because they will be wherever God leads you. It's like these people who want to go to China today, they want to go to China, they're like, I want to be called missionary to China. It's just like, dude, don't go there, you're going to die, sure. You know, it's not going to be good, you're not going to even earn a bunch of rewards, it's just, the place is dead. Why don't you just reach the Chinese people who are here? You know, instead of going to Asia, and I know that, you know, obviously we're not, Asia here is different, obviously. You know, instead of going to Asia to reach that person from Thyatira, just recognize that the person from Thyatira is going to meet you wherever you're in the way, here in the United States, right? You have little China here, serious. I'm not going to say who, but we have an individual in our church who's very good at reaching this group here, okay? I'm not going to say anything, I'll just use his initials, M. Kasimov, okay? Maybe that's too obvious, we'll call him Michael K., okay? Hey, you know, they're receptive, some of them are receptive, the other generation that's coming to the United States, they're receptive. You can save yourself a plane ticket. You can save yourself the embarrassment of having to write back to your home church about the person you've been discipling for like 10 months and haven't even gotten saved yet. That's embarrassing, you know? Whereas you can just reach them here, you can reach any race here. You don't have to go to Asia, to Thyatira, you don't have to go to Colossae at this point, because right now it's probably not as receptive, just go to Macedonia, and you know what? They're going to meet you there, okay? So I thought that was pretty neat there. Lydia, she was there from Thyatira, the Bible says that the Lord had opened her heart. She was ready to get saved, and we know she got saved because in verse 15 says, and when she was baptized, insinuating that she got saved before that, because salvation always comes before baptism, amen? And her household, by the way, her household got saved too. All right, let's get into the good stuff here, all right? Verse 16, it's all good. And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed what the spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain, by Susein, now I want you to notice that in both instances, they were praying, and these ladies come to them, right? So what's the principle that we can learn there? Well, you know what? When you're praying, when you are in the way, you're going to have opportunities to get people saved, but you know what? When you're in the way, you're going to have some wicked people come and attack you as well. You're going to get both. I find it interesting that this lady makes her living off of divination and palm reading, whereas Lydia, she had an honest job of selling purple, right? Wasn't necessarily a wicked job that she had there, this is just a contrast there between these two ladies, it's pretty interesting. Verse 17 says, the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out the same hour. And when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrate, saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans. All right, now let's look at a couple principles that we can learn from this passage right here. Number one, and I want to talk about the damsel who is possessed with a devil right now. First and foremost, I want you to notice that this damsel was not a charlatan. Now what is a charlatan? It's a fake phony, right? It's these people who claim to have these powers, or they claim to be able to do magic, but they just use sleight of hand, right? They're just liars. Now both are liars, but this person, the charlatan, you know, they're not even possessed with a devil. They can't even get a devil to possess them, okay? That's how lame they are. It says that she's actually possessed with the spirit of divination. So, you know, there's two categories of these people. One, you know, you have the charlatan who will just use the process of elimination in order to find out something about you. And they trick a lot of people like this. You know, they use the process of elimination, they'll use body language, handwriting analysis, they'll try to find out information about you using legitimate, you know, procedures and methods in order to find information about you and get you to think that they have some divine power. That's a charlatan, right? The other one uses devils. Now both of these are liars, because the Bible tells us that these devils are lying spirits, okay? Now, you know, an example of this would be Sylvia Brown. How many of you know who Sylvia Brown is? You know, she used to be on this show called Montel. Montel, right, is it Montel? Don't act like you don't know, you guys know. Children from the 90s, no one knows that? Man, am I the only one? Spoon, anybody on Spoon know what I'm talking about? No, I'm just kidding. There's a show called, I think it's Montel. And, Brother Albert, you should know. Yeah, see, I knew he knew. Montel Williams, and she used to come on that show and she, you know, she would claim that she was able to find where, you know, bodies were if they were murdered or something like that, because the spirits were still there, and I mean, a ton of people believe in her, but she was actually proven to be just this charlatan. She just completely lied, because she was actually caught. You know, she claimed that there was a body somewhere, and then that person wasn't even dead. It was like, oops. But others, I think, actually used just devils to preach lies. You know, like Joel Osteen, right? He is like a damsel, who's possessed by a lying spirit, right? So I want you to notice, she's not necessarily a charlatan, in the sense of like, you know, she is by slight of hand trying to, you know, do these things. The Bible actually says she's possessed by a demon. And the second thing I want you to notice is that she's possessed by a spirit of divination, which the Bible also calls necromancy, okay? Now go with me, if you would, to Leviticus chapter 20. Hold your place there. Leviticus chapter 20. In verse 16 of Acts 16, it says that it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us, okay? Now, today you still have this. Palm readers, look, in the Spanish culture, you have this a lot, where they have these, what they call botanicas, where you can go there and they'll tell your future, they'll read your palm, they'll do all these weird rituals on you in order to get information about you. They basically invoke a spirit to try to get information about you and lie, all right? And you know, these people will say, well, you know, you can communicate to the dead, you know, because they have unfinished business here. How many of you have ever heard something like that? Yeah, their spirit is stuck here because they have unfinished business. Folks, when someone dies, there's only one or two places they're gonna go. If the person is saved, and what I mean by saved, I mean they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, exclusively for eternal life, the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Business is over, right? Soon as someone dies in the Lord, their body goes into the ground, but their spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord forever, okay? Now, if that person is not saved, if this individual did not trust Christ as their savior, they're depending on their works, they're depending on their church or on keeping the commandments, on repenting of their sins, on getting baptized, on anything other than Jesus Christ, that person will go to hell. And the Bible says that when that person dies, they will lift up their eyes and hell, being in torment. The spirit doesn't stick around on this earth here, folks, like just wandering around. Like, you ever wonder why is it that these spirits always just hanging out in haunted houses, these dilapidated houses? You would think that they would like choose something nicer or something, you know? You say, I don't know, Pastor Mehihi, I've heard some stories, and they're like, it seems like as though they're legitimate people, folks, they're demons is what they are. They are demons. I'm gonna read to you from Leviticus 19, 31. It says, Regard not them that have familiar spirits. Neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. It may not be said of God's people that they would ever allow themselves like a saw to go to some witch of Endor to find out what their future is. Folks, you wanna know what your future, here it is, right here in the Bible. This is your, this, choose your destiny. You can either serve God, sow to the spirit, and reap life, or sow to the flesh and reap death. Choose your destiny. There it is. You don't have to read your palm, you don't have to have a crystal ball, they don't have to do the tarot cards. Literally, we're coming off the freeway right now, and my wife's like, look at that sign, and in Spanish it said, tarot cards, like I'll read cards for you or whatever. Now why do they do that? Do they do that because they want you to find your life purpose? Do they do it because they just wanna be a blessing to you? No, because they wanna make money off of you, that's why. Folks, the reason the damsel was possessed by a devil was because she had masters who were making money off of that. Look at Leviticus 20 verse six. And the soul that turneth after such as hath familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Skip down to verse 26. And ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine. A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them, the Bible says. So look, they don't go to prison. They don't go to a ward. God sees this as such an abominable act that he says these people need to be cut off, they actually need to be put to death. Now, today in 2020, obviously, we're not under that. These people are allowed to roam freely and do whatever they want, but in biblical times, under the law of Moses in the Old Testament, they were put to death. Hey, you walked into a tent and there's some palm reading going on? Stone them with stones, that's what would happen. Go to Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 18. So we see that this lady is possessed, this young woman is possessed by a devil, a divining spirit, and she must be divining some pretty good stuff, because she's making a lot of money. These people are upset. Once she gets exorcised by the Apostle Paul, they're upset to the point where they take both Paul and Silas and throw them into jail, because it's just like, man, you just ruined our money maker. Look at Deuteronomy 18, verse nine. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh the son of his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. So the Bible's saying we should have nothing to do with these people. Don't go to them for advice. Don't go to them to learn things from them. It says don't learn after their abominations. Or a charmer, look what it says, or a consultor with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, people who try to communicate with the dead. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because these abominations the Lord thy God that drive them out from before thee. What is he saying? Look, the reason I'm even allowing you to inhabit this land and driving out these people is because they're actually guilty of these things. The Canaanites, the Hittites, and all these other inhabitants, they were actually practicing these things. There's no new thing under the sun, folks. Go to Numbers, actually, let's see here. Go to 2 Peter chapter two. So this young damsel is possessed with the devil, and it says here in verse 16, it came to pass as we went to prayer, certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us, and it just so happens to mention this, which brought her masters much gain, might sooth saying. Did it say that it brought her listeners much success, much inspiration, much insight, what job, what vocation they should choose, who's that perfect one for their life, how to find their soulmate? No, it says which brought her masters much gain. So what is the purpose of her sooth saying? To make money, to make money. Now, the reason they are making money is because there is never a shortage of people who are in need of answers during a crisis. Never a shortage. And so they beguile these unstable souls in order to do so. You know, people lose their jobs, they're like, man, what am I gonna do? I just lost all my money, I'm bankrupt, or whatever, and they just see the palm reader, like, well, I should just go see if they can give me some insight. Or how about this, they lose a loved one. You know what, folks, losing a loved one is hard. You know, I haven't had that experience yet, it will happen one day, but I've seen my loved ones go through an experience like that where they lose someone and it seems just very difficult. You know, whether it's a husband or a wife, a child, God forbid, it's hard. So these people become unstable during the time of crisis and these diviners, necromancers, they hop on that, they're opportunists, they take advantage of that, is what they do. Okay? Now, what is an example of this? Well, this Sunday, you have something called Day of the Dead, or in Spanish, it's Dia de los Muertos. It's November 1st and 2nd, which is Sunday and Monday. And what is it? It's just this massive celebration and practice of necromancy is what it is. You know, and look, I've gotten so many people just criticizing me for our film, our documentary, Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, a celebration of death. They criticize me like, shame on you, you're brown and you're Hispanic and you should know better, your roots and all these things. Obviously, they're saying it in Spanish sometimes. And they're just like criticizing me, like, you know, we're just trying to remember our loved ones. Now, let me just say this, is that the people who practice this, obviously, a lot of them, it's not their fault. In a sense of, you know, they've been deceived, okay? They were hurting, they lost someone and they're just looking for what? Comfort. But the propagators of this, they're wicked. They are the divining spirits that are trying to promote this and propagate it and make money off of people. I'm telling you, that's why Disney's involved. Folks, when you have Disney involved, making cocoa, making just tons of money off of this, obviously, we see that the agenda is money. Much gain from the soosane, okay? And really what it is, it's just a celebration of death, folks. Look, East L.A., they're gonna have a lot of that. People painting their faces like skulls and just glorifying death. They literally, they will literally make altars for their dead family members. They will put marigold flowers from the graves of their deceased loved ones all the way to their homes in order to invoke the spirit of their lost loved one so they can find their way back home. It's wicked, folks. It's necromancy. You say, well, you know, do you really believe it works? I don't care if it works, it's still wicked. And look, let me just say this, is that Dia de los Muertos is just a counterfeit resurrection. You gotta think about it, you know, Satan can't come up with anything original. So everything that he does is a counterfeit of what God does. But obviously it's just, it's whack, it's lame. Because Day of the Dead, what they wanna do is resurrect their dead family members for two days. I mean, they don't even see them. And obviously I don't believe it happens at all. If they see any type of apparition, I just think that's just a demon. Okay, because that individual is dead, you know, hopefully maybe some of them were saved and if they're weren't, you know, according to the Bible, they're an eternal damnation. Okay, but it's a counterfeit resurrection. Whereas the true resurrection of Jesus Christ lasts forever, right? Look what it says in 2 Peter chapter two. In verse number 14, Have an eye full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. In heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozo, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Now what does it mean that he loved the wages of unrighteousness? It means that he was paid to do some soothsaying. That's what it meant. Because he was a diviner. He was a soothsayer and he was paid for that. And in fact, Balak tried to pay him. If you remember the story back in Numbers, Balaam wanted to pay him, but you know what? Or Balak wanted to pay him, but then Balaam would consult with the Lord and say, you can't curse my people. So what did Balaam have to do? He had to convince Balak to try to get Israel to sin by fornicating and committing idolatry, and therefore the curse of God would be brought upon their nation because of that. He couldn't curse them. He had to basically teach them how to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel in order so God can basically chastise that nation. That's what took place there. But he did it why? For money. It's not because he wanted to, because he really liked Balak and he was just against Israel. He just loved the wages of unrighteousness. And every single palm reader out here, look folks, if you think that the higher ups who are for Dia de los Muertos really care about your dead loved ones, find out how much money they're making from that. Tons of money. They don't really care about your dead loved ones. They want you to believe these fables so that they can make money off of you. That's what it's for. Says there in verse 16, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumbass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with the tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. And so it's simply a worship of death. You're evoking spirits. There's altars that are being made. Folks, they even make bread for the dead. And it's so crazy to me that you think of, let's say you lose a loved one. Go to their grave site. Let's say a child is lost or something. You put some toys there. You honor them with some things, whether you put toys or things that will remind you of them. These people will literally put shots of tequila there. Cigarettes, tequila, alcohol. It's like, is that really honoring to your lost loved ones? Does that really honor their memory? Folks, I remember one time, Brother Albert, actually you and I went. We went to a funeral one time. I don't know if you remember. And it was a guy, he was saved, but he just lived a really worldly life. He ended up dying. I don't remember if it was because of cancer or what it was. I remember like a heart attack. But he lived a really worldly life. And you know what, when they buried him, they literally put alcohol in his pocket along with cigarettes on his fingers and everything. It's just like, that's how he was buried. You remember that? And I remember going there, because I knew the man. He used to go to our church. I'm like, this is so dishonoring to the dead. Like how in the world do you think you're honoring this individual by putting a cigarette between their fingers and a bottle of tequila in their, you know, how embarrassing is that resurrection gonna be? And he's gonna resurrect like, this looks really bad. It's like, what in the world? That's gonna be, you know when they say they'll wake up to everlasting contempt? It's like, in the resurrection it's just like, that's the guy who woke up with alcohol in his pocket. But he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. Because I believe that man was saved. But you know, he lived a worldly life. That's the kind of life he lived. And he ended up dying like that. But that's not honoring, folks. But this is exactly what they do in the day of the dead. Now I don't personally know anybody, any Christian who involves themselves in this. But I'm sure they're out there. I'm sure there's Christians who like the culture. And it's the same Christians who like the Halloween culture. Where they wanna dress up like ghouls and goblins and whores and sluts and look like these wicked people. They wanna dress up like witches and hookers. And they wanna look like murderers and all these people. And it's just like, man, if they're willing to do that, what's a little paint on the face to make them look like skulls and dead people? He said, man, I don't like the way you're talking about Dia de los Muertos. That's very dishonoring. Folks, Dia de los Muertos is dishonoring to God. Amen. It's a mockery of God, okay? Now turn with me if you would to First Thessalonians chapter four. I'm almost done here. Now the people that involve themselves in this celebration, again, I'm sure they're sincere. And I'm sure they're just looking for an outlet to be comforted. I'm sure it's hard to lose a family member because they're not knowing where they went. That's a very difficult thing, I'm sure. So they're looking for some form of comfort, hoping that once a year, their deceased loved one will come and visit them and they can fellowship or something. Obviously that's not taking place, but in their mind, that's what they believe. I'm gonna read to you from Zechariah 10, verse one. It says, ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to everyone grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. So it's telling us that these diviners, when they try to comfort people, it's all in vain. It's like the false prophet in the book of Jeremiah that said, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They healed the hurt of my daughters slightly, the Bible says. Not a real healing. It's not a real restoration, it's not real comfort, is what he's saying here, okay? Now, how can we comfort people who have lost a loved one? Well, you know, if anybody ever comes to me and they tell me, Pastor Mejia, I don't know if my family member was saved, they passed away, am I ever gonna see them? I don't know if they were saved or not. I try to leave them with a little hope because there is a possibility that that individual might have gotten saved. You don't ever know. Maybe your soul winner came to their door, got them saved, they just never got plugged into a church. So I always tell that individual, you know, there's always a possibility that maybe they did get saved. Now, obviously, if they're like some reprobate, then, you know, that's a pretty obvious answer there. But if they're just a normal person, you know, and I don't know who they are, I just tell them, you know, there is a possibility that they were saved. Maybe a soul winner came to them, you know, at a parking lot, at their door, you never found out about it, and they got saved, you never know. We won't know. And I try to leave them with that hope to say, you know, but either way, you need to get saved, first and foremost, because if not, you're gonna pay for your sins in a place called hell. But secondly, you know, if your family member was saved, you're gonna be able to see them again. Look what it says in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13, but I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, look what it says, even as others which have no hope. So as people who practice Dia de los Muertos, you know how they behave? They behave as people who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them, also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. So what is he saying? Hey, you have hope for your lost loved ones, or not lost loved ones, deceased loved ones, excuse me, because you know that Jesus Christ is gonna bring them again. He says in verse 15, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Notice what it says in verse 18, wherefore comfort one another with these words. You know, death carries with it a what? A sting. Pain. But that sting is actually removed when we recognize, well, you know, I need to make sure I get my family saved, first and foremost. My mom saved, my dad saved, my uncle saved, my cousin saved, my brothers and sisters saved. Because God forbid if they were to die, you know, if they were to die, at least I know that I'll see them again. And when I go through that difficult time of me missing my family member, I miss them. I can comfort myself with these words. They don't need to go to day of the day. They don't need to spend any money. Day of the dead, it costs you money to remember your family members. It costs you money. Lots of it. The biblical way is that it doesn't cost you anything. Why, because salvation is free. Salvation is free. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's completely free. Salvation is free, and guess what? The memory of your lost loved one or your deceased loved one that got saved, free. So when you feel sad, you're mourning because, man, I miss my family member. I miss them. You know, I'm just not used to not having them here. I just miss them, and I'm mourning now. Well, you know what? Comfort yourself with these words. You will see them again one day. It's a promise, and you know what? It's not gonna be for two days out of the year. It'll be forever. Amen. Because so shall we ever be with the Lord, but guess who's with the Lord? Our deceased loved ones who are saved. We shall be with them forever. Amen? I ran out of time. I was gonna get into the devil, what he was saying through this damsel, but I think I'm gonna leave it at that because I'm already out of time. So, you know, the sermon for tonight is simply this. Hey, let's reject this pagan acceptance of Dia de los Muertos, and when someone brings that up to your attention, you preach Christ and Him crucified in the resurrection. You talk about the resurrection of the just and how they don't have to depend on that. They can actually live forever in a resurrected state. Look, what a cheap way to come back from the dead. You don't even get a body for Dia de los Muertos. Folks, you don't even get a cloud. You don't get a mist. You don't get a cloud. You don't get anything. Folks, not only do we get our bodies, we get to eat, like literally eat. We get a glorified, resurrected body. It's gonna be great. None of this counterfeit nonsense that Satan pulls once a year through Dia de los Muertos, amen? Inspire heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and God, thank you for the promise of the resurrection, and I pray that if there's someone listening to the sermon who's not saved, Lord, I pray that they would get saved. All it takes is just faith in Christ, alone, exclusively, plus nothing, minus nothing. They don't have to be a good person. They don't have to keep God's commandments, or get baptized, or even come to church. All they have to do is place their faith in Christ, and you promise them that they can live forever. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I pray that they would flee from the wrath to come, and place their faith in Christ. And many out there who are practicing Day of the Dead, Lord, I pray that they would be wise unto salvation, through the preaching of God's word, that they would understand it, see it, that they would get saved, and forsake that way, Lord. And Lord, thank you so much for all that you've done, all that you're doing. Bless us as we go on our way, in Jesus' name, amen. ["O Come All Ye Faithful"]