November 28: Acts 18:19 - 19:41

November 28, Acts 18:19 - 19:41

Acts Continued…!

Acts 18:19-28 Paul is continuing on his missionary journeys. His companions are now in Ephesus and wanted Paul to stay. His desire was to follow the will of God. If God wanted him to come to Ephesus, then he would. Paul headed to Caesarea and strengthened the people in the name of Jesus. 

Apollos Speaks Boldly in Ephesus. Here we learn about Apollos. He was an eloquent man and competent in the Scriptures. “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.” When Priscilla & Aquila heard him teaching, they lovingly took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Game changer for him! “…for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” Incredible. They loved him enough to correct him and he was humble enough to accept it. 

Acts 19  Paul in Ephesus. Paul finally made it to Ephesus and he met up with some disciples that were there. Paul asked if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They had not, they only had John’s baptism (a water baptism of repentance). In and of itself, that is a great start, but they had not received the Holy Spirit yet. So Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they began prophesying and speaking in tongues! That is the power of the Spirit… The fullness of God… Gotta have the whole package deal…

After this, he entered the synagogue and preached for 3 months - reasoning with the Jews and persuading them about the validity of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s Word! Check this out… “But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” Not all people will be fans, but they still deserve an opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ. Never miss an opportunity to be there for people and share with them Truth. 

The Sons of Sceva & some crazy stuff. Let’s take a look!

“God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,  so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

Not always the case, but when the Spirit wants to accomplish things, He can even use a sweat rag to heal people… Never underestimate God’s power!

“Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” 

Seriously… They were pretending and they got called on the carpet… Demons know Jesus and aren't fooled. Demons knew who Paul was. They didn't know these fakes and they were literally taken down by them. After this, great fear fell upon many people & Jesus was glorified. People ditched their witchcraft ways and the stuff that was not honoring to God. 

A Riot at Ephesus. After this, Paul desired to go to Rome but stayed in Asia for a while longer. About that same time, people were getting ticked at the followers of Jesus. There was craftsman who were losing a bunch of money because people were not buying their idols as much - people were ditching the idols for the real God. So, they were getting people so worked up about it that there was much confusion and battles going on. A wise leader came in and basically said that they couldn't be doing this anymore since there was no legal grounds for it and that this commotion would lead to a riot… they all went their ways. 

To sum it all up: 

• We need the whole Gospel, not just parts of it. I always get concerned when people hand out just the New Testament to people. You cant have the New Testament without the Old Testament! It is one book. It would be like handing out a copy of Romeo & Juliet, but only the last chapters. Sure, it would be a romantic tragedy, but it would make far more sense if the reader knew how they got to that point… Make sense?
• No faking. Either you know and serve Jesus or you don’t. That is all there is to it. I understand that life is a process, but it is not a game. 2 teams… Jesus and Satan. No middle ground… sorry to be so blunt, but it is true.