Showing posts with label Acts chapter 19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Acts chapter 19. Show all posts

Sunday

Acts Chapter 19 (contd.) - The Influence of Paul

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Continuing on in chapter 19 of Acts today we move on to see the influence Paul had in three different situations.


We left off in verse 7 with Paul still in Ephesus in Questions are Important  and now we see he spends a lot more time there.


verses 8 - 10

This tells us about the boldness of Paul when he went into the synagogue over a period of 3 months to teach the people.

The result however was that people were hardened to the message and spoke badly of Paul and Christianity so that he and the disciples that were with him moved on to The School of Tyrannus (still in Ephesus) where he stayed for 2 years daily speaking and reasoning about the Lord.  It looks like there may now have been more than Luke, Timothy and Silas as disciples along with Paul from the way the verse is worded.

This led to another result found in verse 10

10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.


I think we can say that this was a great result - such a spread of the Gospel.


Perseverance and dedication and the truth bring the right results.


verses 11 - 20

Here now is an instance where we read about the miracles that God did through Paul.  People obviously recognised the power that was at work and sought out healing especially.

But there were others who wanted to try to use this work of the Spirit to benefit themselves even though they were not believers.

It is in this passage that we see how evil spirits can recognise the true power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the believers in Christ; but there is no power in unbelievers that evil spirits will have to recognise or obey as we read the following in verse 15


15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; 
but who are you?”


The result from this was that the unbelievers were at the power of the evil spirits instead of the other way around.




Do we even realise the authority we have as believers?

What authority do we have?

We need to make sure we do not get the wrong idea here so the best thing to do is check this with other Scripture.  (Remember the Bereans in chapter 17  Daily Scriptures)


Let's look at the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 - 20

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.


All authority has been given to Jesus and so He commands us to go and make disciples with The Holy Spirit in our lives so that we have the power of Jesus still with us.

We are not in charge and we are not powerful the only thing we can do is let the The Holy Spirit work through us as we obey God and tell others about him.


So this altercation between the unbelievers trying to use the name of Paul to do the same miracles that he did was then obviously talked about everywhere in Ephesus but even though it may have seemed like a victory for the devil the result was really that Glory was brought to God.


17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.


Great changes were made in peoples lives and nothing stopped the spread of God's Word.


20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.



The right influence works wonders.


verses 21 - 41

We are still in Asia with Paul to see some more of his influence here.


21 When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 22 So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.


verse 22 mentions two of the people who ministered with Paul so this would agree with the impression from above that there were now more disciples along with Paul than we had previously known about.

Now Paul sends Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia -  an example of 2 people who he has discipled becoming leaders themselves, obviously going to help the believers in Macedonia that we heard about in previous chapters and hence now themselves going to be discipling others.
More of the influence of Paul.

What hint are we having about the future for Paul here?

He feels he should go to Jerusalem again and then later on to Rome.

But for the moment he stays in Ephesus in Asia where it is evident from verse 26 that some people do not like the influence he has had on the people there and in other parts of Asia


26 Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.

There was very widespread influence of Paul here that some people were getting very annoyed and there was a lot of tension in the community.

The silversmiths and others involved in the manufacturing of idols are seeing people believing in Jesus and turning away from the gods they had previously worshipped particularly the Goddess Diana and this was seriously effecting their businesses so there was a riot in Ephesus.

The story of Paul continues......









Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



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Thursday

Acts Chapter 19 - Questions Are Important.

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Today we are starting into chapter 19 of Acts.

We briefly heard about Apollos in chapter 18 in A Godly Couple (the previous blog post in this series), when Aquila & Priscilla met him and helped him.

It seems as if he and Paul are travelling in different directions and we have no mention of them having met yet.

So today we are back with Paul who now has come back to Ephesus and there meets 12 men who are described as disciples.

But who were they disciples of?


verses 1 - 7

The interesting thing here is that Paul needs to ask some very important questions.

The first one is found in verse 2


He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? 


and in the same verse we have their answer


And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.


Now I have to mention here that at a certain time in my life if I had been asked this question my answer would not have been too dissimilar to their's.
I was brought up in a church where the work of The Holy Spirit was not taught about in Sunday School or not immediately obvious in the sermons (which I did try to listen to as a young teenager) but I had heard mention of The Holy Spirit in the Bible and at one youth meeting I had gone to in a different church.

So yes I knew there was a Holy Spirit but I was not knowledgeable about the work of The Holy spirit.




These 12 men had no idea at all about the Holy Spirit.
They really were missing out on knowing about the Triune God.

So Paul asks another Question in verse 3


And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? 

and again they answer him in the same verse


And they said, Unto John's baptism.


Perhaps they had been converts from the ministry of Apollos as we read about his lack of full knowledge of the gospel and how Aquila & Priscilla had helped him learn more.

So in verse 4 Paul explained that their baptism was because they had learnt about their need of repentance but they also needed to know about the Saviour who had come after John and was the one they needed to believe in.  (Reminds me once again of that favourite verse of mine in Act 16 v 31 - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and all you household.)

We do not know just how much Paul said to them but we do know that after listening to Paul about Jesus there is the correct response and obedience from the 12 men in verse 5



When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.


Obedience is always a sign of true belief.

But Paul did not leave them with just knowledge and understanding of the Holy Spirit about which he had first asked them.

They had now heard the full Gospel but he knew that they needed the experience as well.

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

What a day for these 12 men

  • Full understanding of the Gospel of Jesus
  • True belief and obedience to God
  • Baptism in the Name of Jesus 
  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit

A great example of the importance of questions and of course the right questions to get the clear picture in all circumstances.  We can never presume what another person thinks or knows or fully understands.










Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.