Loving Jesus sounds simple until someone asks you to prove it. If you died tomorrow and five of your closest friends listed everything you loved most, how many sentences would pass before they got to Jesus. That question sits underneath a harder one about how to know Jesus personally instead of just knowing facts about Him.

Most of us can recite what Jesus did. Far fewer of us could say, honestly, that we know Him the way we know a close friend, and that gap is exactly where this post starts. In Acts 13, Paul stood face to face with a man who had built a career pretending to speak for God, and the contrast between a counterfeit faith and the real thing is not subtle.

This post walks through what a false prophet actually looks like, why sharing our faith feels so awkward even when we believe it is true, and what it actually takes to keep loving Jesus like He is the most important relationship in our lives instead of a religious idea we agree with.

 

What Do False Prophets in Christianity Actually Look Like?

 

Acts 13 introduces a man named Bar Jesus, a Jewish sorcerer who had attached himself to Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul over Cyprus. His name is worth sitting with. Bar Jesus literally means son of salvation, and yet Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked at him and said the opposite was true (he called him a son of the devil instead).

That is the pattern behind every false prophet in Christianity: a message that sounds close enough to the truth to be believed, wrapped around something that is actually working against it. Sergius Paulus was intelligent and genuinely curious about the word of God; he was not gullible. But intelligence does not automatically protect anyone from false prophets in Christianity, because the danger was never about being smart enough.

Bar Jesus opposed Paul and Barnabas by trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith, and Luke tells us he was struck blind as a result, a physical picture of the spiritual blindness he had been spreading. Recognizing false prophets in Christianity starts with a simple test: does this message point people toward Jesus, or does it quietly reroute their trust somewhere else.

One honest step you can take today is to ask, of anything competing for your devotion right now, whether it leads you closer to Jesus or further from Him.

 

If you have ever wondered whether what you believe actually lines up with Scripture, our full statement of faith lays out what we teach in plain language; explore it here.

 

How to Evangelize Naturally Without the Performance

 

Here is a strange statistic. Research from the Barna Group found that 96 percent of millennial Christians believe part of following Jesus means telling others about Him, yet nearly half of that same group also believe it is wrong to share their faith with someone who believes differently. Learning how to evangelize naturally starts with noticing that gap.

Most of us were never actually taught how to evangelize naturally; we were only taught that we should. We have all absorbed an unspoken rule that says do not talk about money, politics, or religion, so the very thing that could change someone's eternity gets filed under polite topics to avoid.

But everyone evangelizes something. Every person in Titusville is proclaiming a gospel of some kind, whether it is a wellness routine, a political identity, or a parenting philosophy, so the real question was never whether we evangelize but what we are evangelizing. Figuring out how to evangelize naturally largely means dropping the performance and simply talking about what we already love, the same way we would talk about a favorite team or a good meal.

One honest step today is to tell one person one true thing Jesus has done in your life this week, without turning it into a presentation.

 

When you are ready to hear how ordinary people in this church have wrestled with this exact tension, our full teaching series works through it week by week; find it here.

 

What Does Growing Deeper With Jesus Actually Require?

 

Paul's prayer over the church in Ephesus is where growing deeper with Jesus stops being theoretical. He prayed that believers would know the hope to which they were called and the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward those who believe (Ephesians 1:18-19). That is not a prayer for information; it is a prayer for intimacy.

Growing deeper with Jesus was never meant to end at conversion. The presence of God does not disappear once we believe; it moves in. The sermon calls this a fire, borrowing language from the old Quaker writer Thomas Kelly, who described it as the burning flame of the inner sanctuary.

A fire does not stay lit by accident. It requires chopping wood, tending coals, and showing up to stoke it even when it would be easier to let it go out. Growing deeper with Jesus works the same way: a walk instead of a scroll, fifteen quiet minutes instead of a snooze button, a small daily choice to purge something old to make room for something new.

The story of Bar Jesus becoming blind and Sergius Paulus becoming a believer both happened in the same moment, because where a false gospel promises victory, the true gospel already has it (Christus Victor is the old phrase for exactly that). One honest step today is to pick one specific window in your normal day and give it to God on purpose, this week, before you talk yourself out of it.

 

What Does Acts 13 Teach Us About Recognizing the Real Thing?

 

Acts 13 sets up a direct contrast between a counterfeit and the genuine article, and Paul's confrontation with Bar Jesus makes the difference impossible to miss. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, called Bar Jesus a son of the devil and an enemy of righteousness, then declared that his blindness would mirror the spiritual blindness he had been spreading (Acts 13:9-11). The table below lays out the contrast Luke draws throughout the passage.

 

False Gospel

True Gospel

Promises status through connection to power

Offers relationship with God Himself

Opposes anyone who questions it

Welcomes honest questions and doubt

Leaves people confused and dependent

Leaves people clear-eyed and free

Requires performance to maintain

Is received, not earned

 

Where Is This Kind of Honest Faith Community Happening Near You?

 

The struggle underneath all of this, feeling like your love for Jesus does not match what you say you believe, is not unique to any one person or any one week. It is the kind of thing that gets easier to name out loud when you are not carrying it by yourself.

Whether you call Titusville home or you are coming in from Cocoa, Rockledge, Mims, or Port St. John, there are people across Brevard County wrestling with the exact same gap between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Him. This is simply an invitation, not a sales pitch, to find a few people nearby who would rather be honest about that gap than pretend it does not exist.

 

Loving Jesus Is a Fire Worth Tending

 

Bar Jesus tried to make crooked the straight paths of the Lord, and for a moment it worked, until Paul named what was really happening and the truth won out in front of a Roman proconsul who had been genuinely searching. That is still the pattern.

Loving Jesus was never meant to stay a Sunday idea; it was meant to become a daily fire, tended on purpose, one honest choice at a time. Loving Jesus well is not complicated, but it is costly, and the good news is better than any counterfeit because it has already won.

 

There is a place for you at Miracle City Collective if any part of this stirred something in you; connect here.

Take one step toward figuring out what a next visit could look like before you overthink it any further; start here.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: What makes someone a false prophet today?

A: A false prophet is anyone whose message sounds close to the truth but quietly redirects trust away from Jesus and toward themselves, an ideology, or a system. In Acts 13, Bar Jesus attached himself to power and opposed the gospel while claiming spiritual authority. The test is simple: does the message point people toward Jesus or away from Him.

 

Q: Why is it hard to talk about Jesus with others?

A: Most people were taught not to discuss money, politics, or religion in polite conversation, so faith gets filed under topics to avoid. Add the fear of offending someone, and sharing faith starts to feel like a performance instead of a natural conversation. The shift happens when it becomes simply talking about what you already love.

 

Q: How do I grow closer to Jesus daily?

A: Growing closer to Jesus is less about one big decision and more about small, repeated choices, a quiet walk, a few unhurried minutes in prayer, a willingness to notice His presence in ordinary moments. The sermon compares it to tending a fire; it takes intentional effort to keep it burning. Consistency matters more than intensity.

 

Q: What is the difference between knowing about Jesus and truly knowing Him?

A: Knowing about Jesus means understanding facts, His teachings, His story, His identity. Truly knowing Him means an ongoing relationship marked by presence and devotion, the kind Paul describes praying for the Ephesian church. The difference shows up in whether faith stays informational or becomes personal.

 

Q: What does Christus Victor mean in the context of this sermon?

A: Christus Victor is a Latin phrase meaning Christ is victorious, describing how the cross defeated the powers of darkness and death rather than merely settling a legal debt. In this sermon, it explains why the true gospel does not need to compete anxiously with false gospels; the victory is already secured. That confidence is what allows believers to rest instead of striving.