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Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever heard someone use the name of Jesus when it didn't sound right? (let them answer) I think that you know what I mean. People use it when they are angry at someone else or they hurt themselves and they shout the name of Jesus. We know that this is the wrong way to use the name of Jesus. There are other ways to use the name of Jesus. Some of them are right and there are some other ways that are wrong.

Paul had that kind of experience while he was in the town of Ephesus. He had lived there for almost two years when seven men whose father was a priest decided to use the name of Jesus. They were magicians who tried to make people believe in their power to change things as well as people. One thing that they liked to do best was to find someone who suffered from some kind of problem and convince the person with their magic that the problem was over. People were pleased by that kind of magic, and they paid well for it.

The seven sons of Sceva had heard about the way that Paul had healed people of their diseases and how he had prayed to God in the name of Jesus to do this. Now the seven sons of Sceva did not believe in God or Jesus as the Son of God, but they thought it was a powerful name and one that should be added to their list of names. That meant that they would walk around town and when they found someone in trouble they would use the name of Jesus as though it were magic. It made people who heard the preaching of Paul think that the seven sons of Sceva were doing the right things. Paul knew that they did not believe, and others knew that the sons of Sceva were not the kind of people Paul said a Christian would be. It was a real problem that haunted Paul and the other Christians.

One day two of the seven sons of Sceva came to a particular person who was very troubled. They decided that they should use a powerful name to get rid of the evil spirit that was in the man. They shouted, "I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!" That meant that they were commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man in the name of Jesus. You can imagine how surprised they were when the evil spirit answered them by saying, "I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?" With that the man jumped on the two sons of Sceva and gave them a terrible beating so that when they finally got away, they left without their clothes and their bodies were all scraped and bleeding.

The people in Ephesus were amazed. They did not know that the name of Jesus was so important. But they knew now. The name of Jesus was a holy name and you never use it unless you are praising God. The Bible goes on to tell us that many other magicians saw the power of Jesus that Paul preached about and came over and confessed their sins and burned their magic books and became Christians. But it was not only the magicians who learned something about the name of Jesus that day. Everyone in town found out that Jesus was someone very special.

That is something for us to remember today. People still play with Jesus' name as if it were magic rather than holy. They bring children to be baptized in the name of Jesus, but then they never bring the children to church. People are married and confirmed in the name of Jesus, but they never do much more than use his name. That is magic and it means nothing except an insult to Jesus. According to Paul, we are like the sons of Sceva when we use Jesus' name in that way. People should know better than to use it in this way, but they have never seemed to learn. In Ephesus it made a difference. The people there learned their lesson so that the only time they used the name of Jesus was to praise God and to ask or thank him for a blessing.

The next time you hear or use the name of Jesus, you can ask yourself if it is being used in the right way. If it is, then you can be sure that God will bless you or the person using it. But if it is not, then you will remember the story of the seven sons of Sceva.