Acts | Chapter 19

Acts Ch 19:1-20

“Getting in shape for the New Year”

Vs. 1-7 Eating healthy

Vs. 8-10 Class room time

Vs. 11-20 Healthy in an unhealthy world

Intro.

Ok let me review the previous chapter: Paul had taken a vow of commitment and thanksgiving to the Lord (Nazirite vow). This vow showed us that Paul was committed to the Lord above ministry. Simply put Paul was committed and his motivation was right because it was to a PERSON not to a PROGRAM. (Cesar upon his troops arrival on the British Islands…burned their boats)     

Next we saw in the person of Apollos a fellow who understood the message of John the Baptist, namely: That a person needed a changed heart for forgiveness to take place. If a person did not truly want God to change their lives then forgiveness could not take place.

That a person who had a changed heart and had been forgiven would know it because there would be a changed life. The Jewish folks that came out to be baptized by John did so to demonstrate to all that there was a desire for a clean start, a changed life.

Lastley Apollos taught what John had taught about the need for something further. They would need a change in power to live that changed life. John had said that Jesus would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and that was going to be the key to living a new life.

So what was it that went wrong with Apollo’s message that had to be corrected? Well Apollo just needed some personal trainers to come along and explain to him the person and work of Jesus. Apollos needed to understand how the cross, resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit made it possible for what he proclaimed to happen in human lives. Simply put he needed to put “flesh” on his message, he was sharing the truth in concepts but he did not connect it to Jesus’ and His finished work!  

         So what is it that we have seen so far that will help us get into great spiritual health in the New Year?

Vs. 18b-23 MOTIVATION: We are going to have to make sure that we have the right motivation if we are going to succeed. The person of Jesus is that motivation! That would be the Cross!

Vs. 24-28 METHOD: Next we are going to have to make sure that we have the right method for change. The person and work of Jesus is the method for a changed heart, life and power! That would be the resurrection!

Vs. 19:1-7 MOTOR: Today we shall see that we are going to need a new engine, new power for this to take place. That would be the baptism of the Holy Spirit!

Furthermore, we shall see how a spiritual healthy life can affect the world around us. What I like about this passage is how the stories define just what it looks like to be under the new power of the Holy Spirit.

Vs. 19:1-7 Eating healthy

Vs. 1-7 So Luke tells us that after Apollos has gone to Corinth Paul made his way to Ephesus. Now again there are some different opinions about whether these twelve disciples were Christian or not. The difference of opinion centers on the little word in verse 2 rendered “when” in the New King James and “since” in the King James, Paul’s question to these disciples is either, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when (or since) you believed?” The literal translation is, “Believing, did you receive the Holy Spirit?” If the word is “when” then it would mean that Paul questions whether or not they had become believers. If the word is “since” it would mean Paul questions whether or not they had the in-filling or baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Arguments can be made for either position based upon the context of the passage. So it will all boil down to your personal opinion as to whether or not you believe in the gifts of the Spirit and the possibility of the third work of the Holy Spirit in the life of man. That is the “upon” experience spoken of in Acts 1:8. (para = along side, en = in, epi = upon)

Now I’ve got to tell you that I read all sorts of commentaries with differing opinions, I do so deliberately. For instance John McArthur who does not believe in the gifts says concerning this word that it has to be “when” because everyone knows that the  “experiences and phenomena in Acts are not normative for today.” In other words it can’t be “since” because he does not believe that the gifts of the Spirit described in the book of Acts are for today! That’s called a presupposition! 

So what do we know?

• Paul met up with 12 folks that he called disciples or followers.

• Something about them made him question the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

• They were most likely associated with Apollos.

So what made Paul question them? Well I think it was that he noticed a lack of power in their lives. They knew about Jesus, they had responded to the message as taught by Apollos but something was missing. In other words they were in the gym but not getting the results that they should have. It seems to me based on Paul’s question that he is asking them if they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And their response is, “Man Apollos never told us about the Holy Spirit.”  So Paul goes on to find out exactly what they did know. And they say, “We know that we needed a changed heart which would lead to a changed life, and to live that changed life we needed something more, some new power.”

So Paul goes on to say that they needed to believe on Jesus the Christ whom John preached and no doubt that meant the message as well. I think Paul spoke to them about Jesus’ words in Acts 1:4-5 where Jesus says: “to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Furthermore Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” These 12 were trying to be a witness, that’s why Paul calls them followers, but they just weren’t getting any results.

                    Now if you are going to go to the gym and get serious you are going to have to do more than just pump iron. You’re going to have to make sure that you eat right. You’re going to have to fill yourself with the right food. Foods that will help you get in the right shape. The same is true with your spiritual health you’re going to need to make sure you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Now it must be pointed out that this was a rather small group of believers in Ephesus that did not have a complete understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

                    Now what I like is that they again were open to the change.

• Do you want to get into spiritual shape?

• Is your motivation right?

• Are you committed to the person of Jesus and not a program?

• Are you open to a further understanding of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit?    

Vs. 8-10 Class room time

To set up this section of scripture it is necessary to go ahead in this chapter and look at what is said of the ministry of Paul in Ephesus. 

To start with the time line goes like this:

• Vs. 8 Three months in the synagogue, which he had stopped by on his way to complete his vow, 18:19-21.

• Vs. 10 Two years in the rented school of Tyrannus.

• Vs. 22 Some more time after he had sent Timothy and Erastus to Corinth.

So it is safe to say that Paul remained in Ephesus for about three years. That being established just what happened during those three years? Well here is what we are told:

• Vs. 10 “All who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” That would be all the Churches listed in Revelation 1:11 (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.)

• Vs. 18 “Many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.”

• Vs. 20 “The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”

• Vs. 26-27 Demetrius the silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, made a complaint before the chamber of commerce and said; “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. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.”

So putting this together we can see in Paul’s ministry an illustration in those three years of just what it looks like to be powered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Jesus’ life.

Vs. 8-10 In these three verses Luke crams 2 ½ years of ministry in. Paul started out his ministry where he had left off in 18:19 the synagogue, where he remained three months longer than any of the other towns he visited. Again Paul uses the usual format of discussing and the result of that was that some were “convinced by way of argument” about the “Kingdom of God”.

                    Jesus told Pilate that His “kingdom was not of this world”. We get a further clue as to what Paul preached concerning the “Kingdom of God” in verse 9 where we are told the Jews of the synagogue “spoke evil of the Way”. Paul went into that synagogue for three months and spoke about the “Way” into the kingdom of God. He stayed there until they began to reject his message publicly, then Paul moved to the school of Tyrannus. Now in chapter 20: 33-34 Paul declares to the elders in Ephesus that he “coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel… that his hands provided for his necessities, and for those that were with him”. The typical workday was that folks would work then take a siesta during the hot part of the day from 11:00 am to 4:00pm and then go back to work after 4:00 to around 9. 

So Paul worked making tents thus his day looked like this:

• 7:00am – 11:00am work

• 11:00am – 4:00pm teach

• 4:00pm – 9:00pm work

• 9:00pm – when ever teach from house to house (Acts 20:20)

Now we do not know anything about this school of Tyrannus but it is believed that he was a philosopher who ran a school in the mornings. It is interesting to note what his name means, it is where we got our word “tyrant” from. I mean what better place to teach about the freedom we have in Christ than a school that taught the philosophy of the world, “tyranny”.

                    If you add up the amount of time Paul taught in the rented school it adds up 3,120 hours of teaching. While some rested Paul rested in the Lord and taught others to do so as well! And what was the outcome of all those hours of teaching? Well we are told that an area larger than our state of Montana heard the Word of the Lord. In fact Luke says that the Word of God crossed cultural boundaries in that both Jews and Greeks were reached. So? Well if you want to be spiritually healthy you are going to have to be consistent! Spiritual growth is a process that requires consistency in that which is a daily routine.

 People don’t grow because the bottom line is, they aren’t consistent day in and day out! The outcome of consistency is always growth! I know if I continue to work out and eat healthy I will become healthy and fit. Now my problem is right now I’m doing great but what about three months from now? If in three months from now I have stayed consistent you will be able to see a visible change in me. Folks, the same is true spiritually. People often come to me and say that they “tried” the Bible and prayer and it didn’t work. Now if you are committed to change then you don’t stop!

Vs. 11-20 Healthy in an unhealthy world

So we have seen that to get healthy spiritually we need to have:

• The right motivation, to the Person of Jesus not a program.

• The right method, that is to the finished work of Jesus.

• The right motor or power, that is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

• The right manner, that is consistency in all of the above.

With that said, Luke now records for three specific instances which help show what the life controlled by the Spirit will look like.

Vs. 11-12  First Luke tells us of this incident that he puts into the category of “unusual miracles”. Literally the phrase is “miracles not of the ordinary kind”. Now when you think of it this is an oxymoron. I mean when can you ever have a “natural supernatural” event? Now I like the fact that God works outside the box but it sure would make it a lot easier if He just did things that we could explain to people!         

         The word “handkerchief” is sweatband and the word “apron” is that of which a construction worker would use to put his tools in. So you can see what was happening, Paul would work hard till 11:00am and then take off his sweatband from around his forehead, and untie his tool belt so that he could teach the word. Well, we are not told how it happened but someone picked them up and brought them to a person that was sick and they were healed. Now I can’t say it for sure but I bet old Paul got tired of having to buy new ones. Well, what on earth are we to make of this passage and does it give credence to those T.V. evangelists who sell a piece of prayer cloth?

First remember that these are “unusual” miracles. Thus we should not expect them to be the norm.

Second, according to verse 19 Ephesus was a very superstitious place. So God worked through their superstitions to minister the truth about Jesus.

Lastly, as we shall see in verse 19 God began to deal with their superstitions soon after becoming believers.

Folks, the virtue of these things is not to be seen in the material they were made of or the sweat that soaked them. No, they were healed as they laid hold of the Jesus Paul preached and proclaimed! 

So what do we get out of this section as far as looking at a life controlled by the Spirit? I think far too much is made out of the use of the sweatband and tool belt as instruments of healing and not enough is made out of what their intended use by Paul was. Paul wore those two items because he was a servant! 

He served for two reasons in Ephesus:

• He was humble as verse 19 says, “serving the Lord in all humility”.

• He loved them and did not wish to be a burden on them.

So then manifestly we can tell that the Spirit of God controls a life if it is a life of self-sacrifice dominated by humility and love! Folks, if we are the kind of people as Paul was then our self-sacrifice humility and love will be used to heal the sick and cause those tormented by evil to become whole in Christ!

Vs. 13-17 Now let’s look at our second story that shows what the life controlled by the Spirit will look like. This story is more about what it won’t look like in many ways.

             Here we are told these guys went around casting demons out of those people who were possessed. Now they did so for profit, so they were economic exorcists. And as the Word about Jesus traveled and evil spirits came out of people they started using the same name like a magic formula. Luke tells us that seven of them were sons of Sceva (prepared) whose dad they claimed was the Chief priest. So when they commanded the evil spirit to come out they did so “by the Jesus whom Paul preaches”. The answer back from the evil spirit was literally, “Jesus, I know Him well, Paul, I’m familiar with, but who are you?”  So this one demon possessed man comes and whips on the seven sons, leaving them overcome, naked and wounded.

         Ok, what do we see in this section about life controlled by the Spirit? Well it’s simple, a life controlled by the power of God is due to a relationship with a person not in repeating some formula! These guys thought they could just repeat the name of Jesus as some magic incantation. No way, if you want the power of the Spirit of God in your life it can only happen by maintaining a relationship with Him. A lot of the ultra Pentecostal stuff today is all about “formulas”. The fact is these guys did not fit the name of their father (prepared). Folks, when you try to act as if you are controlled by the Spirit of God when in reality all it really amounts to is something you are repeating then you get what happened to these seven sons of Sceva. Trying to fake the Holy Spirit will leave you:

• Overcome

• Feeling naked

• Wounded

Because of this incident people came to Jesus and the true relationship to Him was magnified. So we can see so far that the evidence of being controlled by the Spirit of God can be seen in the service of a humble heart living in love, not in repeating some formula but rather in an ongoing relationship with the Lord.

Vs. 18-20 Lastley Luke reveals the final way we can see a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. 

Two things are mentioned here:

Vs. 18-19 On going changed lives: I love this, Luke tells us that after this those that were Christians living with one foot in the world came on their own confessing that they were not living as they ought. I can always tell who is living a life controlled by the Holy Spirit by the way they are continually making changes in how they live their lives towards God. They were hanging onto their magic books and they had a big old book burning time. Notice they did not have a garage sale. No, they took a loss of their worldly investment to the tune of a year’s wage of 150 men.

Vs. 20 Growing in the Word of God:  There will be a continual growth in the Word of God. The Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. A life controlled by the Holy Spirit will be best seen through personal change and growth in the Word.    

Acts Ch 19:21-41

“A case against Christianity”

Vs. 21-27 Four things the world hates about Christianity

Vs. 28-34 Blind and staying that way

Vs. 35–41 The worship of fallen images

Intro.

Apologetics is defined by Webster’s dictionary as, “Defending by words or arguments”. Two of the best books, in my opinion, written for the defense of the Gospel are Lee Strobel’s books, “The Case for Christ” and “The Case for Faith”. What we have written here in Acts by Luke is not the defense of Christianity but rather, to borrow Lee Strobel’s titles, “The case for Diana” and “The Case for faith in Idols”. Unfortunately for the author, Demetrius the silversmith, he ends up making a better case for faith in Christ then he does for the worship of Diana. In so doing we get a great insight into the make up of the early church.

         Several experiences this week have caused me to look at just what we here at Calvary Chapel are to be doing.

• First, I read an E-mail with the most recent numbers as far as the Church in America is concerned. Statistics showed that the average sized Church in America has 90 adults and 14 teenagers in the youth group. “Wow”, I thought, “It has taken me almost 14 years to become average!”

• Second, after over a year of lay offs a friend Tom and I decided to attend the ministerial lunch. (I took a free lunch to get most of us there.) Tom made me promise I would not say anything and I was pretty good. But after he left, a topic was brought up by one of the pastors and almost all agreed with him that when we do joint church services the gospel should not be preached and there must not be any opportunity given for people to come to Jesus.

It was right then I realized that we are anything but average! Someone sent me this E-mail and in light of the above it hit home, “God loves His Church but prefers the fruits of the Spirit over religious nuts”. Folks as we start yet another year of serving Jesus together I am so thankful that I’m a part of this body. May the complaint of Demetrius against the Church of Ephesus be said of us; “They have persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.”

Vs. 21-27 Four things the world hates about Christianity

Vs.21-22 Luke is giving us a little insight into the timing of the events that follow. “After these things were accomplished”. What things? Well, after the three months in the synagogue and the 2 ½ years’ daily teaching in the school of Tyrannus. After “all heard in Asia the Word of the Lord and it grew mightily and prevailed” After the “many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds and those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”

         Note this dear saints, the Lord does not move us on until certain things are accomplished. I was speaking to someone recently who was contemplating a change in ministry and they asked what I thought. My response was simply, “to or from”? “What?” they asked. Are you running to something or from something, that’s how you know it’s the Lord! You say, “Wait a minute now, Joseph was running from something, (or someone) Potiphar’s wife”. Yes but in running from someone he was at the same time running to someone, the Lord. I find it interesting here that before we are told of the riot in Ephesus Luke wants us to know that Paul had already “Purposed in his spirit” to be moving forward, all that happened afterward just confirmed the truth that was already in his heart.

         So here is the run down:

According to Rom. 15:25-31 and 1 Cor. 16:1-4 Paul’s plan was to travel through the churches he had planted in Macedonia, (Phillip, Thessalonica and Beroea) and then through the Churches in Achaia, (Athens, Corinth and Cenchrea) to strengthen them and collect funds for the famine stricken Church in Jerusalem.

• He wanted to spend the winter in Corinth but before crossing the Aegean Sea he was going to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, which is in May.  

• Then in Romans 15:28 Paul writes to them that, “after I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.” So Paul planned on collecting an offering, dropping it off for the Church in Jerusalem then afterward come and visit the Church in Rome then go all the way to Spain which was the furthest reach of the Roman empire at that time.

To fulfill his desire he sends ahead Timothy and Erastus (lovely, amiable) so that the Churches mentioned above would have adequate time to collect a love offering while Paul stayed in Ephesus for a time.  

Vs. 23 So something is going to change these plans as Paul writes to the Corinthians “a great and effective door has opened to me (in Ephesus), and there are many adversaries. What were those “many adversaries” that he calls “wild beasts in Ephesus”? Well that is what Luke now records for us in the remainder of this chapter. 

“There arose a great commotion about the way.”

Vs.24-27 Now before we look at Demetrius’ fourfold complaint against Christianity a little back ground will help:

• Demetrius was a silversmith who appears to have been the head of a guild there in Ephesus. Their chief product was associated with the temple of Diana, which Luke tells us that they made “no small profit” from the sale of little silver idols in the shape of the multi-breasted god.  

• The temple: Was one of around 33 shrines around the Roman empire to this god making her by far the most popular. The temple to her in Ephesus was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was located 1 ½ miles from the city and measured 400’ by 200’. It was supported by 127 marble pillars each standing 60’. By the way the temple was excavated in 1869 and the main altar found again in 1965. 

• Diana or Artemis (to the Greeks): Was the protector of the female youth and assistant in conception and child birth. She was considered a mother and guardian of girls coming of age. Just before marriage the young women would take a lock of their hair and their underwear (that’s one way to get out of doing laundry) and offer it at the temple along with models of the sexual organs. Her worship was held each spring around May and for a whole month the city gave itself over to a festival called “Artemision” which resembled today’s Mardis Gras in its wild partying. The image that was fashioned into this multi-breasted idol was evidently made from a meteorite, (verse 35).

So here then is Demetrius’ fourfold complaint against Christianity:

Vs. 25 Prosperity, “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade”: The gospel Paul preached threatened the economic livelihood of the temple idol trade. Especially important as it was nearing the time when all of Ephesus would become packed with travelers for Diana’s worship. Christianity was threatening the money being made by the enslaving of people to passions and ignorance.

Vs. 27 Popularity, “this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute”: Their popularity and the dependence people had upon them was falling away.

Vs. 27 Power, “also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed”: The hold that the goddess Diana had upon people was slipping throughout Asia. The worship of Jesus was causing people to disregard superstitions.  

Vs. 27 Patriotism, “whom all Asia and the world worship”: Ephesus itself with its popularity being rested solely upon the temple, since her harbor was no longer usable because it was filled with silt, was in danger. So to not take a stand for Diana was unpatriotic.               

Folks, do you realize that these are the same accusations made against Christianity today?

Sure look at this:

• Prosperity :“Hey, man if I become a Christian I won’t want to party with my co-workers and bosses then I will be passed over for promotions!”

• Popularity :“Man it’s just not cool to hang out with the Bible thumpers and Church goers” “I mean everyone knows that the party is going to be in hell!”

• Power :“If I become a Christian no one will listen to what I want, I’ll have to follow God’s ways and not my own.” 

• Patriotism :“If I become a Christian then I won’t want to hang with my old friends or they won’t want to hang with me.” 

So what caused this? Well Luke tells us that the commotion was over “The way,” and Demetrius says that the gospel Paul preached persuaded many not to worship things that were made by hands. In other words people started worshiping the creator instead of that which they created. There are two important features of Demetrius speech that give a great view of how Christianity was superior to the worship of Diana:

What Kind of god was Diana if her popularity could be defeated? I mean if Diana was so great that all of Asia and the world worshipped her then why is she not able to defend herself against Christianity? If her power and her image is so great why does the city have to defend her? If Islam truly is the way to God then why do people have to be terrorized into worshiping Allah? If evolution is truly how we came into being then why not have the facts presented alongside creationism in public schools? “Hey Peter Jennings, if you really want to search for the historic Jesus then why do you only seek out those who don’t believe?” You get my point? The fact that people are so against Christianity, that they won’t investigate it proves that they are afraid that it might be true! Where is the worship of Diana today? Gone, and Christianity remains!

How great is Jesus that He could defeat Diana without an argument: Think of this, what was Paul and the other Christians doing that put the silver idol trade in jeopardy? What were the believers doing that caused so many to turn away from worshipping things made by human hands? Did they verbally attack the worship of Diana? Did they organize pick lines against the silver idol trade?  Or did they chain themselves to the door of her temple? No, the Mayor tells us in verse 35, that they were neither, “robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.” How powerful is the gospel of Jesus that it can defeat any and every superstition or philosophy of man by just presenting the Truth and Love of Jesus. You see man has a Christ shaped void that only Jesus can fill.

So how can we change our world? Why one heart at a time and by simply out living them. Folks, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! The story is told of the Welsh revival of 1901 under the preaching of Robert Murray McCheyne. All the bars and pubs went out of business and yet not one message against alcohol was ever preached by him. Once people came to Jesus they just lost all interest in booze. Perhaps you have heard this one? “Be fishers of men. You catch ‘em He’ll clean ‘em!”  We don’t have to change the message for if the message is Jesus He will change us!

Vs. 28-34 Blind and staying that way

Vs. 28-29 So how is the world going to handle its objections to Christianity? 

Well Luke lists the same techniques used today:

Vs. 28 “Full of wrath”: That is always the response of a hard heart is it not. Think about this a minute, when Paul went into the synagogue and confronted the teachers there what did he do? Well, open a line of communication with them so that he could reason from the Word of God with them. That’s always the first ploy when a person has no answers to the truths of Christianity, get mad. “Hey, now I’m mad. What do you mean Jesus is the only way to heaven!”

Vs. 29a “Filled with confusion”: Now this theater seats around 25,000 people and most of it has been excavated today. Demetrius had given an emotionally charged speech getting people to think Christianity was a threat to their “prosperity, popularity, power and even a threat to the patriotism of Ephesus.  What this produced in the crowd that was now a mob was confusion. So again you see this tactic employed when people don’t have answers to the truths of Christianity just brings about confusion.

Vs. 29b-31 “Sized Gaius and Aristarchus”: These two men were Paul’s traveling buddies that he had picked up in Derbe and Thessalonica. So here is another ploy when the world has no answers to the truth of Christ, attack the person when you can’t attack the message! Now it is interesting to see that unlike the World Paul is ready for a defense of the truths of Christ but some officials, (Asiarchs) who had become his friends, plead with him not to do so. Who were these fellows? These guys were elected officials who each city would elect to oversee Roman festivals and games. Paul had some pretty important friends in this city otherwise Paul would have been attacked or killed.

Vs. 32-33 “Some cried one thing after another…they were confused and did not even know why they had come together”: Now we are getting down to causing disorder and public chaos. All of this leads people away from seeking out the truth for themselves.

Vs. 34 “With one voice they cried out four two hours”: Here then is the last thing the world will do when it can not answer the truths of Christ, unite together and shout the truth. You have all seen kids when they don’t want to hear what their parents are saying, cover their ears and start shouting at the top of their lungs anything that will keep them from listening. That’s the only thing left for people to do against living the truth, shout itself hoarse.  

You have to ask yourself what are they so afraid of? Well they are afraid of the truth! Now this again in a backhanded way proves the truths of Christianity are real. I mean why are folks so bothered if Jesus is not Who He claimed to be? I was thinking about that in light of the pastors concern over preaching the gospel and having an opportunity for someone to receive Jesus. What is he so worried about? 

Vs. 35–41 The worship of fallen images

Vs. 35-40 Now here we see how the Lord works through secular agents at times. This guy would be kind of like our mayor today. 

He has three points that he makes to this ruckus crowd:

Vs. 35-36 “Guys there is no need to shout. If old Diana is as powerful as you say then she can defend herself”: Again we can just ask people why they don’t want to talk about the claims of Christ if they are so certain of the truth. I’d have to say to those who practice Islam, “If what you say is true, why do you have to use terror to get people to adhere to it?”

Vs. 37-38 “People, what are you screaming about when those that you so accuse never did anything against your belief all they did was to proclaim something different!” You see the mayor’s point is if it’s a matter of words then stand and fight back with the truth of your position. But of course they could not because they had no truth to their position. So I would challenge those who hold to an ideology other than the Word of God to stand and defend your position! 

Vs. 39-40 “Folk’s it’s your behavior that is endangering the freedoms you say Christianity threatens.” Here is the bottom line, if that truth or religion is so great then the way a person lives out what they believe ought to make me want to seek out the truths concerning it. The world is threatened by the message of Jesus, so it goes more and more into the realm of paganism and while doing so our society is crumbling around us and the world screams back and says it’s the Christian’s fault! Let me put it another way, “If the claims of all the beer commercials are true then what about all the alcoholics?” “If the truths about sex outside of marriage is true, what about all the sexually transmitted diseases and ruined lives?” 

Vs. 41-20:1 So the Mayor dismisses the crowd and Paul has to leave Ephesus. And is that not what the world wants? Just get those darn Christians out of the way.  Paul may have left but a strong church remained.