Bible Story – Topic: Paul in Ephesus
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Topic: Paul in Ephesus Acts 19:1-41
Paul traveled through the interior of the province while Apollos was in Corinth and arrived in Ephesus. He found some disciples there and asked them, “When you became a believer, did you receive the Holy Spirit? “We didn’t even hear the Holy Spirit,” they replied. “Well, what kind of baptism did you get? “Paul was asking. “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was for those who turned away from their sins; and he told the people of Israel to believe in the one who came after him, that is, in Jesus.” They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus when they heard this. Paul laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, speaking in strange tongues, and proclaiming the message of God. They were in all about twelve men. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly with the people for three months, talking to them and trying to convince them of the Kingdom of God. But some of them were stubborn and disbelieved, and they said evil things about the Lord’s Way before the entire group. So Paul left them and took the faithful with him, and he had discussions every day in Tyrannus’ lecture hall. This went on for two years, so that the Lord’s word was heard by all the people living in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles. Through Paul, God performed unusual miracles. Even his handkerchiefs and aprons were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and evil spirits would come out of them. Some Jews who were traveling and driving out evil spirits also tried to use the Lord Jesus’ name to do this. They said to the evil spirits, “I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.” This was done by seven brothers who were the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest. But they were told by the evil spirit, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul; but who are you? “The man who had in him the evil spirit attacked them so violently that he overpowered them all. They ran away, wounded and ripped off with their clothes from his house. This was heard by all the Jews and Gentiles living in Ephesus; they were all filled with fear, and greater honor was given to the name of the Lord Jesus. Many of the faithful came to admit and reveal what they had done publicly. Many of those who practiced magic brought together their books and publicly burned them. They added the books price, and the total came to 50,000 silver coins. The Lord’s word continued to spread and grow stronger in this powerful way. Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia after these things had happened and go on to Jerusalem. “After I go there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.” So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while spending more time in the Asian province.
It was at this time that the Lord’s Way caused serious trouble in Ephesus. A certain silversmith named Demetrius made the temple of the goddess Artemis in silver models, and his business brought a lot of profit to the workers. So he called them all together with others whose work was like theirs and said, “Men, you know that from this work comes our prosperity. Now, what this fellow Paul is doing, you can see and hear for yourself. He says that handmade gods are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in persuading many people, both here in Ephesus and in almost the entire Asian province. Then there is the danger that our business will be given a bad name. Not only that, but there is also the danger that the temple of the great Artemis goddess will come to mean nothing and that her greatness will be destroyed—the goddess worshiped by all in Asia and throughout the world! “When the crowd heard these words, they became furious and began to cry, “Great is Ephesus’ Artemis! “The uproar spread all over the city. Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who traveled with Paul, were grabbed by the mob and rushed to the theater with them. Paul wanted to go to the crowd himself, but the faithful would not let him go. Some of the provincial authorities, his friends, also sent him a message asking him not to show up in the theater. Meanwhile the entire meeting was in a tumult: some people shouted one thing, others shouted something else because most of them didn’t even know why they had come together. Some of the people concluded that Alexander was responsible because he was made to go up to the front by the Jews. Then Alexander moved the people to be silent with his hand, and he tried to make a defense speech. But they all shouted the same thing for two hours when they recognized that he was a Jew: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus! “The city clerk finally succeeded in calming the crowd. “Companions of Ephesians! “He’s been saying. “Everyone knows that Ephesus’ city is the keeper of the great Artemis temple and the sacred stone that fell from heaven. These things cannot be denied by anyone. So you’ve got to calm down, and you don’t have to do anything reckless. You brought these men here despite not stealing temples or saying evil things about our goddess. If Demetrius and his employees are charged against anybody, we have the authorities and regular court days; charges can be brought there. But if you want something more, it will have to be settled in a citizens’ legal meeting. For after what happened today, we are in danger of being accused of a riot. There’s no excuse for all this uproar, and we couldn’t give a good reason for it.” He dismissed the meeting after saying this.
Moral lesson:
- As a believer never be ashamed to preach about christ.
- God will use anybody to propagate his kingdom as long as we are right with Him.
- Let’s not take the name of the Lord in vain, rather we reverence his Name.
- There’s no other God like our God, therefore , we shouldn’t worship any other God.
- The power in you differentiate you from others, So carry the power of God in you for greater exploit
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