50. Acts 19 & 20 |Emphasized- Paul Revisits and Strengthens Churches

Join us as we dive into Acts 19 and 20, following Paul's third missionary journey. In this episode, we explore Paul's commitment to building up churches, his challenges, and his preparation of new leaders. We hear firsthand experiences, humorous anecdotes, and thoughtful reflections on the impact of Paul's teachings and miracles. Discussing everything from the importance of genuine ministry to modern applications of Paul's lessons, this episode encourages us to embrace the messy but rewarding work of living out our faith.

00:00 Strengthening a Movement: Paul's Third Missionary Journey
00:24 Behind the Pulpit: Insights from a Worship Leader
02:48 Struggles with Scripture: A Personal Confession
05:21 Paul's Missionary Heart: Revisiting and Strengthening Churches
06:42 Ephesus: A Cultural and Religious Hub
09:35 Miracles and Teachings: Paul's Impact in Ephesus
21:27 Modern Miracles: Connecting Past and Present
23:42 The Power of Jesus' Name: The Story of the Seven Sons of Sceva
26:36 Jesus and Pagan Worship
27:01 Pop Culture and Little Jesus Figurines
28:48 The Power of Jesus: More Than a Charm
30:35 Economic Impact of the Gospel
36:30 Paul's Farewell to the Ephesian Elders
39:15 Eutychus Falls Asleep and is Revived
44:34 Paul's Personal Calling and Ministry
50:37 Concluding Prayer and Reflections

Music used in intro: "Hard Answers" by JK Productions

Transcript

Adam: 0:00

What does it take to strengthen a movement? As we follow Paul's third missionary journey in Acts 19 and 20, we'll see how he focuses on building up the churches, encountering new challenges, and preparing leaders to carry the mission forward.

Alison: 0:15

Adam, you did such a good job last week giving us our sermon for the second time in a row. You've been really busy.

Adam: 0:22

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Alison: 0:24

So I've been, I've always wanted to ask now, now that you've had lots of time lately in front of In the big worship center, a lot of people have always been curious when I'm up there listening to the pastor, seeing the worship leader, you know, lead the songs like that. What do you see when you're looking out on the congregation?

Adam: 0:42

So what you want to know is you want to know if, whether I'm noticing all of you sleeping or not. Okay. Yeah. And

Alison: 0:47

talking and me licking Andrew's ear. Cause he's not being quiet or whatever. Yeah. Those things,

Adam: 0:52

you know, it varies a lot. It, if I'm way more comfortable with the stuff that I'm teaching, then I notice a lot more, but I still have a tendency to grasp on to just like. I gravitate towards the people who are like intently listening. So like I'll recognize them at some point. And then, um, I also have a tendency, we have this beautiful podium that's in front of me, but it is like made for someone who's normal height and I am, I am not normal height and our stage is already like really tall, you know? So I feel like it's this massive barrier between me and the people. And so I have a tendency to like, want to walk to either side of it. And, and for some reason. I always gravitate towards the left side, and this was pointed out to me a couple years ago. Somebody who sat on the right side after I preached, I think, I had like a month long series that I got to do. Somebody came over and was like, Hey, you do know there's people over on this side, right? If I'm staring out, uh, uh, uh, into the state, this side. So it would have been left, your left side that I was never looking at. And, uh, ever since then I've been very cognizant about going. So if you watch me, I'm, if I constantly looking over to the right, it's because I'm in my mind going, there's people over there, there's people over there. Yeah.

Alison: 1:58

You know, I think maybe, do you think that you gravitated toward the left side? Because that's where are you sit that direction and you just have such a relationship? Actually, no,

Adam: 2:06

it, it would, so it'd actually be the other side.

Alison: 2:09

Oh, it would

Adam: 2:09

actually be looking away from them. So if I'm, I look mostly to the left, my left side, your right side, Um, and so I don't know, I really don't know what it is. I just have a tendency to draw, there are a couple of people over there who are just, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say who they are, but they're rock, they're knocking it out of the park. I'd just say, I see you. If you listen, uh, they're like, they look like they're just like intently listening, taking notes.

Alison: 2:33

Yeah. And as a speaker, you know how it is

Adam: 2:35

teaching, you get kind of drawn towards that. It's almost encouragement to keep going.

Alison: 2:39

Yeah. So now what I'm going to be doing when you're giving the sermon is watching where you're looking. Yes.

Adam: 2:45

Yes, you will. Yeah, I'm sure you'll be very cognizant of it as well.

Alison: 2:48

Well, today we're going to talk about Acts 19 and 20, um, and Paul gives a sermon where somebody falls asleep.

Adam: 2:56

So I want to caveat this, um, and we, this is not a surprise to you because we spoke about this beforehand, but it'll be a surprise to the, to the, uh, to the readers. Um, when, when, uh, you came in today, I was pretty, um, clear about the fact that I have struggled with these two chapters that we're going to study today. And at first. My gut instinct would be to like, well, I'm gonna fake it till I make it. And we're just gonna, we're just going to power through it. And it's not because I haven't spent time on it. I really have. But for some reason this week has just been very, it's been a very distracting type week. And I cannot, I have read through these chapters so many times. I've attempted to sit down and study them, but I'm just gonna, I just want to be very upfront. I have struggled. I have struggled this week. I love that

Alison: 3:38

you're being honest because all of us can identify to that. And, um, and I think that's what we're trying to do with biblical bites is make. Our listeners understand that God's word is accessible and, and that, um, all of us, you know, can understand it and all of us struggle with the same things, those distractions, um, and those weeks that we just are not present necessarily in our mind when we're reading. But you, you are faithful in doing it. You mentioned to me, you read both chapters like five times. Yes. Um, and so, um, we're actually going to see, so I already gave you, I dangled a little fruit and said that someone fell asleep, um, in, in a Paul sermon. But you know, that, that man that fell asleep, that young man that fell asleep, he was, Probably tired because Paul was preaching on a day that he worked all day and he still showed up.

Adam: 4:28

Mm hmm

Alison: 4:28

and God still used it and I'm not gonna give away the whole story cuz we got to talk about a little bit before we get to there But, um, God still used him in a really miraculous way. And so when you're faithful and disciplined, even if you're not feeling it, God can still

Adam: 4:43

use it. Yeah. Well, I hope that, I hope people find encouragement in that. Yeah. And, and, you know, I, I was, I always had these expectations that, you know, pastors are always just like, I mean, so energized at all times of the word and they just get, but no, we, we struggle just as much. It's just as much of a discipline. You

Alison: 4:58

mean pastors are real people? Oh

Adam: 5:00

yeah. Sometimes a little more, more so than I'd like to be

Alison: 5:04

God. God has a way of using the ordinary. It's

Adam: 5:07

true. So I'm going to be in the passenger seat today. I'm going to, I'm going alongside the listener here and, uh, not to put any extra pressure on you, but you know, it's all on you, you know, this fails on your worst day,

Alison: 5:19

on your worst day, you have a lot to offer. So, um, so, Paul actually, um, had been staying for a little while at his home church. When we ended last week, he was back at his home church and he sets out again. Um, cause at his heart, you know, he wants to reach the nations for Christ. That's his calling. And so he begins visiting and strengthening the churches that he'd already been a part of establishing. And, you know, that's something that I really realized, um, during our pod, you know, as we studied for these podcasts, how much Paul didn't just evangelize, but how much he discipled. I mean, he repeatedly went back to places he had been before, building them up, strengthening them. We have 13 letters in the New Testament written to various churches. He had a pastor's heart, not just a missionary's heart. And um, and so, um, he goes through all these towns and he goes down to Ephesus and he had visited Ephesus briefly at the end of his second journey. But he was in a hurry to get back to Jerusalem. And so he didn't spend much time there, but he promised them he would come back if the Lord willed. And, um, he did, however, leave Aquila and Priscilla who were his traveling companions from the previous trip. He left them in Ephesus because he recognized that Ephesus was an important place, um, where. The gospel needed to be shared. Um, so do you know anything? I know, uh,

Adam: 6:42

Ephesus was like this, this, um, massively cultural, uh, influential area. Um, they were very, very steeped in like their, uh, mythology, like, uh, their Roman Greco Roman, like mythology. So there's a lot of like temples, there were a lot of places of worship. In fact, so much so that, um, because it was a town that a lot of people would travel through and to, um, it was actually. Kind of like, um, how you would, okay, let me put it this way. We've both been to the Dominican Republic. Yes. And in, if you've ever been to a third world country, there's this really crazy thing that happens usually along the coasts. If it has a coast, it's like this beautiful, you know, everything is put together well built, you know, infrastructure because tourists come. Right. But the further inland you get, the more and more and more rundown, usually things become, um, these temples would have been much like those, um, these tourist traps, you know, where people are going to bring in a large amount of revenue in, um, they're going to bring in a lot of money, uh, to, to offer up to the gods. Um, this becomes a, a very influential place, both culturally, religiously, And so Paul is, is in the midst of this, you know, he's not, he's away from the Jerusalem temple, you know, but now he's dealing with other gods. And we've kind of talked about different themes that we've been following in Acts, uh, like as far as like the spiritual warfare that's taking place and how the Holy Spirit is moving and no other spiritual, uh, uh, attack, uh, will overcome, including those that, that kind of bleed into the physical attack. Uh, God is still moving regardless of, Uh, the intent of those powers of darkness or, uh, human flesh.

Alison: 8:22

And so, um, you mentioned that this was kind of a couple of hard chapters to work through and I agree. And I think part of that is it was like a pretty, like massive third missionary trip, like it covered a lot of land. And so I think it's almost like, in some ways, if we're, if we're not like careful, it could seem a little disconnected because it's like these snapshots.

Adam: 8:41

It's like reading a bunch of, remember old map quests? Yeah. You'd print up map quests. It's like, it's like jumping to the two thirds the way through a map quest and reading instructions there and then skipping down. Yeah.

Alison: 8:51

But I guess that Luke, um, in under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was trying to point out since it was, you know, a long, massive journey. Uh, can point out those things that they wanted us to know, um, as the church of all places and all times to instruct us. And, um, the ways of God and, and even some things maybe with regard to the doctrine of the church and things like that. So what you're

Adam: 9:13

saying, he's, he's, he's in that outermost edges of the earth part of that, uh, Acts 1A. Yeah. Okay.

Alison: 9:20

Yeah. And new things are happening. A lot of things are happening. And so we're just getting little snapshots, you know, for things that the Holy Spirit wanted to preserve. Um, and one of those things, um, and sometimes they can seem kind of odd, right? Yeah. They can seem like odd stories. Yeah. Um, and so one of those things when we begin in chapter 19 is, um, Paul arrives back in Ephesus and last time you, you introduced us to a guy named Apollos. And you said he liked Apollos, right? He, he was, um, he was now in Corinth. So he had been in Ephesus and he was now in Corinth. So Paul gets to. Um, Ephesus and Apollos who had been in Ephesus previously was in Corinth. So can you tell our listeners like just who was Apollos from the last chapter?

Adam: 10:06

Yeah. So Apollos is like, uh, ultimately he was a fear of God, but it were led to believe that, um, he didn't quite have all the pieces put together, but he was definitely, uh, teaching about baptism and repentance. He just kind of missed some of the parts. And this is something that, uh, uh, Percilla and Aquilus will come in and from if you remember there from Pontius, which which was kind of a comical way of saying like they're from like the barbarians, the uneducated area. Meanwhile, Apollos, who's from Alexandria, I think, was You know, basically like coming from his doctorate university studies, you know, but yet here the, the weak minded are going to come in and fill Apollos in. So Apollos, um, ends up understanding Jesus and his, uh, his, uh, resurrection, death and resurrection. And so then he continues on becoming really a powerhouse of, uh, discipleship, um, underneath, I would say underneath Paul, you know, ultimately. But. But yeah, he's going to kind of parallel stories with Paul go and create disciples and plant churches and stuff.

Alison: 11:08

So he was out kind of evangelizing before he knew the whole story. What he knew is correct. He knew that John. The Baptist, um, was coming or had come and said a savior's coming, Messiah's coming. And, um, and so when Paul gets to Ephesus where Apollos had been before, he meets about 12 disciples, um, who knew from Apollos, presumably that, um, The safe, the Messiah was coming, but that was as far as they got. And so imagine when Paul gets there, he gets to tell them the rest of the story. I think that would have been just super exciting because they already believe, um, the message of John, um, through Apollos. And so he probably, I just imagined in my head, Paul was like, Yeah. And guess what? He did come. And then he died on a cross, and then three days later he rose again. And I think that the believers were probably so excited to hear the rest of the story, much like Apollos probably was when he first heard the rest of the story from Priscilla and

Adam: 12:06

Aquila. It's like, it's like that passage in John 4 where Jesus is telling his disciples that you get to glean in fields that you didn't even plant. Yeah. Yeah.

Alison: 12:14

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And so they were, they were baptized, um, meaning they, they committed to follow. Jesus, you know, the whole story of Jesus and, um, and the Holy Spirit gave evidence of them, of them following Jesus because he gave the familiar signs to those believers as he did in the early church. And I think that the reason that, um, Luke points out that it was 12 disciples, because we could do a lot with that number, right? I mean, you're 12 disciples. Everybody's mind probably went back 12 disciples, you know, just the number of people that Paul spoke to. But I think it really probably most conveys here. It was a small group because there was a lot of Um, and so this was just like a small group that Paul met, but God, God loves us and seeks us and, um, you know, our salvation is personal. And so I think it's cool that just this small subgroup who didn't know the whole story, um, get several verses in the book of Acts, um, just to show that the Lord sought them out. and made sure they knew the whole story. Um, and I like that. And so for about three months, Paul preaches in Ephesus in the synagogues, but it became more arguing than evangelizing. Yeah. Um, in the synagogues. And so he just moved to an academic setting and Really, he got a broader audience when he did that. It's called the Hall of Terranious, I think. Yeah, I think it's like, it's kind of ironic because I believe the root word for the name of that hall has something to do with tyrant.

Adam: 13:36

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

Alison: 13:37

But, um, and historical records indicate that Paul Maya must have spent or probably spent about half hours a day. Teaching the word of God in that hall. And he did it for three years.

Adam: 13:49

Wow.

Alison: 13:50

Or actually more than two years there. He spent a total of three years. And in verse 10, it says, um, That the result of his teaching was that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks heard the word of the Lord. Wow. And so, um, the thing that really stuck out to me about that is, you know, I think to Paul, when we think about missions, like we often think about trips.

Adam: 14:12

Yeah.

Alison: 14:12

But I think that Paul missions was more about a lifestyle than it was about a trip. Um, and so. We, we can be on mission regardless really of the place where we are. And I think Paul shows us that. I mean, God did send Paul to a lot of places at this point in redemptive history. I mean, the gospel is spreading to new places and he continues to send people to places. There are still unreached people groups in the world. Um, but whether we have Paul's ministry. Or we're kind of stationed in one place. We can live on mission because missions is more about a lifestyle than it is about a trip.

Adam: 14:49

That'll preach.

Alison: 14:52

So, um, so we're going to be now in, um, we're going to move to the next section of X 19, um, in 11. Verses 11 and 12. It's kind of another little odd

Adam: 15:04

passage. It is odd. That's why I will say I was pretty sad that I was struggling with this passage because there are some hard right turns and stuff in here that I just think are fascinating and I would totally nerd out on.

Alison: 15:15

You love hard right turns. I do. So define what you mean by that for our listeners.

Adam: 15:18

So a hard right turn is the way that I've best kind of, um, Uh, the best way I could explain the way, specifically the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament would write, and the Hebrew scriptures would do some, had a way, because it was something that was supposed to be verbally spoken out loud, where they would begin to repeat something or begin to create overly detailed, you know, narratives, and then, um, you would pick up on Uh, key ways that the author is trying to get your attention by these things called like, that I've called hard right turns. They're just like, you're, you're here heading straight down a passage. It may even, your eyes might be even glazing over, but then there'll be this, this random passage that you're like, wait, wait, it kind of draws your attention. Like what? Wait, what just happened? Like we got a squirrel moment here right now, or we just started talking about something completely different. Um, and usually if you follow those, you can find something really cool there.

Alison: 16:09

So as our listeners are reading through and hopefully they will read through, we're summarizing some instead of reading all two chapters, but I would encourage you to read through X 19 and 20, which is the chapters we're discussing today. And look for those heartbreak turns because you actually, I have adopted that term as well that I can't take credit for it. Cause it's yours. You taught that to me. I stole that from something else

Adam: 16:29

too. So I'm not, I love

Alison: 16:31

that. You've really opened my eyes up like slowing down when it feels like something, you know, is disconnected or out of place because there's usually a reason. And so these two verses in Acts chapter 19. It says, God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hand so that even his face cloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. And I think one of the reasons this may seem like a hard right turn to us is it's kind of foreign that We would have some clothing garment that would, you know, be used to, um, initiate a miracle, but the power wasn't in the clothing, right? The power was in the people's faith in Jesus, whom Paul had. Um, been preaching about, but at the same time, it does kind of spark the question for our modern day listeners of why did God act that way in New Testament times and allow those types of miracles when we don't hear much about that happening? And if we do, we're skeptical that they're real. Um, and modern times.

Adam: 17:34

I have a theory that just popped in my head. So again, when I read this and I hear something like this, it would make me want to question like, why? Why are we being told this? Cause it really doesn't add. I mean, it adds some meaning to the story, but it is like a, There are other easier ways for them to have expressed this, um, and when, when I started thinking about what, what this might tie to in the Old Testament, because that's a really great way that you can understand really theologically what's being told here, because a lot of what's going on in the New Testament are corrections or, or inversions of things that have already been set up in the New Testament or in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, there's another weird passage like this that just could go unnoticed because it's one verse and it's talking about, I think it's Elisha. So if you're listening, I want you to double check this. I want you to go and search your Bible. There's this weird passage that, um, Elisha's body is laying in a tomb and a soldier is killed and falls in the tomb and merely touches the dead bones of Elisha and he springs back up to life. Something like the physical has this power that's just like so much that even, um, those who are entrenched in the Lord, um, his, even in death, like there's a power over, uh, over death in that moment. Um, and if that's the case, then what we might be seeing here is we might be seeing Um, if we tied Jesus with Elijah, then Paul is being tied back to Elisha, who, if you recall, there's one specific thing about Elisha that really sets him apart from Elijah. And that is that even though he experienced his death, he got to do double the portion or double the portion of spirit of spirit and miracles that Elijah got to do. And here, what we're seeing is, is Paul now is going on to continue on these, these, um, you know, miracles that Jesus himself would have done as. You know, quote, unquote, Elijah.

Alison: 19:22

Yeah. And I think that you're exactly on point when you talk about continuing in the work of Jesus, because we see that during Jesus's earthly ministry, um, obviously he did a lot of miracles because he is God. Yeah. Um, but I think that that, that concentration of miracles, the number of miracles in New Testament times redemptive history, it has to do with the fact. That it's kind of continuing Jesus's ministry to authenticate the ministry of the early apostles. Um, in other words, um, one of the purposes of miracles is to authenticate God's message and his messengers. And so the miracles of the New Testament age, they were important because they authenticated Christ and his apostles, um, you know, at these early stages of Christianity. Um, and so we see like a concentrated Um, amount, I think, of miracles because it lends credibility to the early church, to the movement as it's beginning.

Adam: 20:19

Which in culture in Ephesus would have been huge because they believed in multiple healing gods. They would even, um, create, um, uh, in Corinth specifically, but I'm certain this happened again in Ephesus. They would create, um, fake clay body parts and, and offer them up as a, as an offering to the gods so that they would fix. the, their physical ailments. So like, if I had a broken right foot, I would create a clay boat, broken right foot and bring it and offer it up to the God that I'm wanting to heal this. And they found all, you know, they found all these and these are ruins and stuff. So you can find like fake, you know, uh, limbs, but, uh, For Paul to sit here and not only have that power, but to have that power as a man representing a God, that would be different than what they would be experiencing because you're watching magicians and sorcerers who aren't really actually necessarily getting the job done, but now he's watching that Paul's not only getting the job done, it's so, uh, it's so powerful that it's through his handkerchief, you know, can heal, has the power to heal.

Alison: 21:20

Yeah, absolutely. And then of

Adam: 21:21

course, Paul being a great guy would just point the source to the right. Yeah. Absolutely. You know thing as opposed to his own power. He just pointed to the yeah to God

Alison: 21:27

and you know I think it is worth mentioning though. Although we do see a high concentration of miracles. Um in the early church because God was using it to authenticate their message It doesn't mean that miracles don't happen today And i've actually in my lifetime the miracles that I have experienced or been able to witness Um have often been involved with missions. Um, so like one example is we go to Haiti and I know I've talked a lot about that and in 2017, I believe, Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti. It was a very devastating hurricane to that island. And in the village where we work, there We, there is a levee. It's on the river and there is a levee and we were convinced that the levee would not hold. It's like rocks and it's, it's not a levee that you would think would hold. And Lance being a hydraulic engineer, my husband, you know, he thinks about power and water and all that thing. He's like, there's just no way. hold, but it did hold. And so that became a real preaching opportunity for us, um, in Haiti, because we were able to point to who held the levy. And then on top of that, right before our trip, after Hurricane Matthew, um, someone gave us the, um, image of the hurricane going over. The country, you know, how like they'll have like the images of the eye wall and all that.

Adam: 22:51

Yeah.

Alison: 22:51

And, um, you'll have to Google hurricane Matthew over Haiti and you will, you will just be astonished. It looked like just like a skull. You heard this. I've seen that. Yeah. Just like a skull. And so in other words, We like, we had a trip named right after that happened. So we ha we printed lots of pictures of that. Cause I don't know if all the Haitians had access to that. And we brought them. We're like, this is hurricane Matthew. Who does looks like responsible for her. That is the levy that held against all odds. Who do you think is responsible for that levy? And man, People came to know Christ that trip. Um, and I think that the Lord does allow those miracles still today to authenticate his message But we definitely see a high Concentration of them in the New Testament for a good reason. Um, and we're gonna see um another really interesting I don't know if you would call it a miracle. I guess so Seen in verses 13 through 20. This is such a like Lance like He likes, my husband, he's studying this as well to teach it in Sunday school, and he's like, I just love this, like, I just love it about guys, I think they just like this little passage, I don't know, you feel the same way, maybe I'm being serious here, but do you want to read? Yeah, let's read it. Acts 19, 13 through 20.

Adam: 24:03

Yep. 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 there was an evil spirit leapt on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, and they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus. Both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all in the name of the Lord Jesus, who was was extolled. Also, many of those who were also believers came confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them and found it to become to be 50, 000 pieces of silver, and the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Alison: 25:05

So we have these itinerant, um, exorcists and itinerant just means like they were going from house to house. Like they were traveling. Um, they most likely were doing it for money. And they were probably, don't think of like pure Jewish priests doing this. These were probably, um, people who mixed Judaism with some of the local witchcraft and pagan worship. Um, and they probably mixed, um, Deities and their incantations. Yeah. And so in other words, they were trying to add Jesus to what they were doing. So they were like covering all the bases. They were probably going in to, um, getting paid for these, you know, families that thought that they had a loved one who was possessed and, Um, they saw that Paul was having success

Adam: 25:50

and so

Alison: 25:50

they start trying to just mirror what he's doing. Um, but the name of the Lord was held in high esteem and that was the purpose of why, um, what happened like it did. People were afraid. And here's why I think this is, and this seems like why in the world would this story be? You know, out of all the things that could have happened, this is why I think. I think it was really important for us to understand and the early readers as well to understand that. Jesus didn't become part of the synchronous pagan worship. In other words, he wasn't like added to, we cannot add Jesus. Mm-Hmm. to our life. Jesus stays separate.

Adam: 26:27

Yeah.

Alison: 26:28

And um, and, and it kept, I think this whole event kept, I would imagine kept any other extra exorcists from adding Jesus. Yeah. To they're incantations. Right. So it kept Jesus separate from the synchronism of the pa, pagan worship. Yeah. And Ephesus, and I think. That, that can speak to us today. How many people want to just like, add Jesus? Let me put it

Adam: 26:48

a different way. Okay. How many, how many use the Jesus magic, you know, for their own situations?

Alison: 26:54

Yeah. You

Adam: 26:54

know? Uh, can, are we, can we, can we? I think

Alison: 26:56

we should. Okay. I know where you're going with this. I know

Adam: 26:58

exactly where I'm going with this. And actually, you're going to fill us in. So, I got, I received a text from you this week, uh, uh, and it, it asked me if I was culturally aware of a, of a little person. Pop culture thing that's, that's happening. And I'm sure our listeners have probably listened to this.

Alison: 27:12

Yeah. Well, because you always, you and Lance always know like pop culture, like the words with the kids and I'm like, I'm so behind on that kind of thing. But I had noticed on my Facebook feed, um, that a lot of these little Jesus's were popping up. They're like little figurines or whatever. And I'm not trying to say there's something inherently bad and like,

Adam: 27:31

But

Alison: 27:32

I kept seeing them used in ways that, um, You know, we're just kind of like, add a little Jesus to my life. Add a little Jesus to my kardash. Add a little Jesus to my winning football team. Add a little Jesus to, you know, and it came

Adam: 27:45

like a little good luck charm.

Alison: 27:46

Yeah. Like a talisman or something. Yeah. And, um, and so I mentioned it to Lance because he is, Um, speaking to the kids every week on Wednesday, the youth, you know, um, and I was like, Hey, have you seen this? And you nor Lance had seen it. So I was, I was a little bit proud of myself that I had seen something in pop culture before you guys, y'all are on top of it, but, uh, but anyway, and so he asked the kids, he showed them the thing. And, um, he actually did a really good job because he showed them, someone had just posted a picture. Jesus next to their bingo card, you know, like it was gonna help her win bingo or whatever. And, and he said, have, have you, have you guys ever seen this? And man, every single hand out of like 50 kids went up.

Adam: 28:30

Well, and since then we went, we went trick or treating with our kids at one of the churches, trunk or treat. Uh, uh, last night and, uh, we were handed one, we were handed a little tiny Jesus, which I had, of course, take an immediate picture and send it to you because we couldn't find one when we really wanted one to show.

Alison: 28:46

Yeah.

Adam: 28:46

And, and, well, yeah, we got one now.

Alison: 28:48

Yeah. And so here, here's the thing, and I don't think I have to tell our listeners this, because I think you already know this, but it's important for us just to be aware when we encounter this in our everyday lives, we don't need a little bit of Jesus. We need all of Jesus. Amen. He isn't there to be our genie in a bottle, as my name describes it. Yeah, a little magic charm. Yeah, that's not. He is Lord and Savior of all, and every knee's gonna bow, and every tongue's gonna confess one day, so you ought to do it willingly and surrender to him now. Um, and so, but. Just remember,

Adam: 29:15

the ones who used Jesus little magic ended up naked and beaten, so. Maybe a little bit of Jesus is not a good idea. Oh,

Alison: 29:22

man. That, that, maybe Lance did it. He did a good job talking to the kids. And I'm sure whoever started that had really good intentions, but we do have to be careful, right?

Adam: 29:31

Yeah.

Alison: 29:32

Um, we do have to be careful with, um, how we treat Jesus. Um, and we can see that in this passage, how we treat his name, we should revere it. Um, and, um, because he is, he is going to be held in high esteem. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, and so the result of this scene where, um, The seven, the seven men, you know, go out wounded and naked. Yeah, I think that's why Lance likes this passage.

Adam: 29:58

Yeah, I knew it. This is like, that's the part he thought was funny. Exactly. He liked that.

Alison: 30:02

But as a result, people get rid of their Books, their incantations, their things that they knew. And I think these people that were doing this, I think there were Christians already, and this was an act of spiritual maturity. And it doesn't say that Paul or anyone required them to do this. Yeah, they did it willingly. And, um, we're not exactly sure. The Bible says that it was worth 50, 000 pieces of silver. And I think for sure. Figure is in there because it's meant to show it was a lot. We're not exactly sure how much that was, but I've heard estimates between like 1 and 5 million dollars. Oh,

Adam: 30:35

this ties back to Elisha again. No, it does! Uh, cause when Elijah came and put, uh, put his coat around Elisha to, uh, Signifying that he would be the next one who would follow him. Elisha was a rich man with a lot of stuff and he burned it all to ground and walked away. Never even thought, never turned back, not at all. And now the people are kind of progressing the same mindset where they were willing to just burn it all away because they knew, uh, God or Jesus was the right way to follow.

Alison: 31:01

Yeah. And interestingly enough, so this is a really strong growth in the Ephesian church. And we've seen in Acts 12, we saw some strong growth in the church there. And then we have this phrase, about that time, and in Acts 12, about that time was when Herod decided to kill James for his faith and then imprison Peter and attempt to also give him the death penalty, which he wasn't successful at, but Um, you know what? We have that phrase again here. I know in chapter 19 about that time.

Adam: 31:38

Oh no.

Alison: 31:38

So about that time, um, we're going to meet this guy named Demetrius and, um, is it okay with you if I just summarize what happens in the next like 15 verses or so in my own words? So, um, Demetrius was a silversmith and he was, um, Making silver shrine shrines for Artemis. So you've already mentioned, you pointed out to our listeners, the Ephesus, the main attraction there at Ephesus was the temple of Artemis also called Diana. And so, um, actually it's one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was the biggest, it was even biggest, bigger than the temple in Athens. Was it called the Partheon? Yeah. Okay. So it was even bigger than that. It was really big. And um, they had a lot of tourists come and they made a lot of money on these little, these little shrines. Um, and so basically Demetrius comes, gets all the people together. I imagine it like a union meeting, right? Like he gets everybody together and he's like, man, Paul's whole, like all this stuff they're burning and like people going, seeing, you know, being drawn to Christ away from Artemis, like it's hurting our pocketbook, it's hurting our business. Like. Business for these little shrines of Diana have gone down and so he talks to them But he what he really gets them riled up Is he really gets them riled up when he starts to appeal to their civic pride

Adam: 32:58

and

Alison: 32:58

he's like you've got to remember where you've come From Artemis is gonna be just despised her her magnificence is in ruin. And this was their sense of like civic pride They're belonging, you know what they were proud of And so they started shouting great as Artemis of the Ephesians, and they just got all emotional and riled up. Um, and it just kind of got out of hand quickly when he appealed to their civic pride. And I actually thought about, and civic pride's not a bad thing. It could be a good thing. He just, he was crafty, I think. And he used that as a way to kind of stir up the crowds.

Adam: 33:28

Yeah.

Alison: 33:28

And we talked last week about our big rivalry game, right? Yeah. Um, and I thought about how that kid played. How that can happen, how I can get the crowds riled up and it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Like in our case, I think it's a good thing at the football game. Like we have this guy behind us. I love where we sit and he barks because we're the Bulldogs, right?

Adam: 33:45

Yeah.

Alison: 33:45

And like, he'll just start barking and like everybody will just start barking. That's funny. I mean, unless you're from Nederland and you know, like, we're the Bulldogs. You're like, well, how are these thousands of people are barking, you know, dogs or whatever, but it really excites us. And everybody gets on their feet and start barking. And, and so, I mean, that's the kind of scene that Demetrius is, um, kind of creating here by appealing to their civic pride. And so they just get emotional and they're screaming and they drag out some of Paul's traveling companions and they bring them into the amphitheater with them. And, um, one One of the Jews decides he's gonna go up. In front of the amphitheater and try to make a defense. But honestly, I don't even think most of the people knew why they were there. All they knew was, um, they were shouting about Artemis, there was some Jews who they knew were against Artemis, and they just kept shouting. They weren't really even concerned about hearing from, and Paul wanted to go and make a defense himself because he was still in Ephesus at this point, but everybody's like, that is a bad idea, Paul. Like, don't, let's not send the poster child. Not going to work out well for you. Yeah. And so finally, the Roman, uh, kind of mayor figure, I think the Bible calls it the city clerk, he's been like over the area. He, he quiets it down. And, um, he quiets it down, not so much because he is sympathetic to Um, Paul and his companions or their message quiets it down because he doesn't want to be accused of his city rioting. So Ephesus was a free city. It was not a Roman colony. It was, it was ruled by Rome, but it was considered a free city. And so they still have more rights than some of the Roman colonies. And I think he probably thought, Oh my goodness, not only am I going to be held responsible for this terrible riot. But we're, we're putting our free city status at risk, right? If they think we're, you know, possibly inciting insurrection here, they're going to come in and, you know, take over, take away some rights and things like that. So he squashes it and, um. They go on about their way and that's actually how the chapter ends. It just kind of.

Adam: 35:52

I like how, uh, NT Wright puts it, puts it this way. He says, uh, he points out that when the people turn from their idols, it often challenges economic and social foundations of their community, which I thought was an interesting way to put that, that, that just the mere, um, uh, life giving gospel, uh, can change an entire structure of how things. Are actually working, uh, physically and monetarily in, in that.

Alison: 36:17

Yeah. So the church should affect the community. Yes. And if we're not affecting the community, maybe we need to look at our effectiveness.

Adam: 36:25

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Our effectiveness.

Alison: 36:27

So

Adam: 36:29

Paul takes

Alison: 36:30

this, this as his cue to leave, I think, which he had been there for a long time and done what the Lord had asked him to do. And so he goes on visiting churches that he had previously been to at the beginning of, um, Acts chapter 20. And he has a gro growing group of traveling companions with him. And he starts, um, he lists them, which we're not gon I'm not gonna ask you to read. Or I'm not gonna read, cause they're like hard names and hard places, right? So a lot of, a lot of big words, but he's, I think it's cool how he's just like constantly not just evangelizing and discipling, but also equipping leaders, like everywhere he goes. And, um. And there are places that you're, you've heard like Derby, um, Berea, you know, these places that he's been to and he's preached and he's found leaders to come alongside him. But the interesting thing, I just want to point one little thing out about Thessalonica. He has two people traveling with him from Thessalonica. One is Aristarchus. Aristarchus, I think it's the, it's the word from which we get aristocrat. So I want you to think like somebody important probably. Um, and then there's another guy also from Thessalonica. So aristocrats, Um, or Aristarchus and this guy named Secundus and Secundus was actually probably not his name. Probably the word for second. And that's how, um, in this culture they named their slaves. So they had a word like I think it was premieres or something like that would have been the first slave. Secundus would have been the second slave in every household. And so the reason I want to point that out is so we have. Aristocrat and slave. Yeah, traveling together. Now, this is cool. We can see how this is cool on our West, from our Western minds, but put yourself in the perspective of this culture. This was crazy.

Adam: 38:16

Interesting.

Alison: 38:17

Because everything, a person's social status affected everything in ancient Rome. It

Adam: 38:22

affected

Alison: 38:23

how they were treated by others. It affected their legal rights, like how they could be treated by the courts, who they could marry, how they could dress.

Adam: 38:32

Hmm.

Alison: 38:32

But in this radical movement, we're experiencing radical equality at the foot of the cross. And that was something that I think really stood out about Paul and his ministry. And, um, and so we're going to see them going and visiting churches that they had been to before, and they finally get to Philippi and they meet back up with Luke. So we're going to go from, we've been to first person or excuse me, third person to first person with Luke saying, we. And Luke stayed in Philippi for about seven years. And now when Paul gets back to Philippi on his third missionary journey, Luke's with them again. And, um, and so do you want to read one more passage? Um, so we're, so, so far I've brought the listeners up to, Acts chapter 20 verse 7 and so I want you to read we hinted at it at the beginning of our podcast I asked you what it looked like when you preached and you looked out on the congregation So, let's see what happens when Paul's preaching. Okay in Acts 20 verses 7 through 12

Adam: 39:35

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus, sitting in a window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And becoming, being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, bent over him, and, uh, taking him in his arms, said, Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him. And Paul had gone up and broken bread, and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted, and were, were not a little comforted. Yeah, they

Alison: 40:27

were greatly comforted. Yes. And, um, and so, basically, Paul's preaching. A young man falls asleep, falls out of the window. I can say that

Adam: 40:35

has not happened to me yet.

Alison: 40:36

Okay.

Adam: 40:37

Uh, sleep? Yes. Sleep to death? No.

Alison: 40:40

Okay. No one's, no one's passed away in the pain of your sermon. Okay. Yes. Yes. Not yet. So, um, you know, we, and we, a lot of times this young man gets bad rap. I mean, he did fall asleep at church and actually in the Jewish synagogue, had he been in the Jewish synagogue, had he fallen asleep, he likely had been expelled for the synagogue for maybe 30 days, I think was. Um, the max that a Jewish leader could expel someone from the synagogue for falling asleep. But Paul doesn't treat it that way. Um, in fact, he, it was midnight, you know, and we're, they're meeting on the first day of the week. So, likely this young man had worked all day, because this wasn't a day of rest for them. Sabbath, the day before, was a day of rest in their culture in this time. And so, um, they probably participated in Jewish services, maybe. Still on the Sabbath, they went to work on the first day of the week. And that now Paul's preaching to him past midnight. He falls asleep. I wonder if

Adam: 41:35

Peter ever heard, like, heard this story and what he thought. Like, how dare he fall asleep? Meanwhile, we have gospels that tell us that they couldn't stay awake for Jesus on his last night. Oh, yes.

Alison: 41:46

Yeah. Yeah, so it doesn't seem like the disciples or even Paul are throwing stones, right? Yeah, right. And so, um, Um, and Paul was speaking for so long because he was about to leave them and he was just really passionate about, you know, leaving them. Um, he's in Troas, so he's about to, you know, move on to the next place and he really, He wanted to leave them with something that they could continue their ministry. But I think he probably couldn't have even planned this as well as it happened. And I know you're thinking, what do you mean as well as it happened? A guy fell out the window and died, but Paul raised him back to life through the power of Jesus. And you know what he, what God left them with a miracle that can teach. And so don't, you know, that. Paul, you know, wanted so badly to pour into these people. And I think he was probably praying, God, just give me the words for Troas. Like help me to in a short time, build them up so they can continue to make disciples. After I leave, this guy falls out the window, dies. God raises him back to life. That'll preach. So don't you know that after Paul left God answered his prayer because people were like hearing about this miracle, this young man's walking around. And I mean, that is a transition. I mean, I heard when I was researching this part, like so many pastors. Gay sermons using this passage about like being spiritually asleep and being spiritually dead, you know, and being raised back to life and things like that. And so don't, you know, they were making those kinds of connections when they were going around, um, in Troas. And so this miracle just served to, um, really answer what I think was Paul's prayer of, Just, um, really reaching for us for the gospel in a way that his words probably I also

Adam: 43:24

like that Paul didn't He didn't even do anything other than just take the kid like it's not like he said the magic words Yeah, you know in Jesus name raise it. He just took the kid and Then continued on the business and Jesus just did this and almost what seemed to be like a pretty trivial way Yeah, like it wasn't a big they didn't have like a big circle up and let's anoint him and pray You know pray over him thing. It It's just God just did it.

Alison: 43:49

Yeah, because Paul, I think Paul did a good job of keeping himself in perspective, right? His role in the ministry in perspective and um, and so he he leaves there And he decides he's not gonna go He's not going to go back to Ephesus on his way back. He's kind of in a hurry to get back to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. And I think he wanted to celebrate that festival. It'd kind of be like a saying, I want to be home by Thanksgiving or whatever, you know, but also he had an offering from the Gentile church that I think he probably wanted to present to the church during that festival. And so, um, he was hurrying, but he does get to a town that's, I think about 30 miles or so from Ephesus. And he calls the leaders. Um, from Ephesus to come meet him, meet up with him. And this is how the chapter ends basically. Um, and he, he knows, Paul knows because the Holy Spirit has told him that he's going to face suffering and he knows that this is likely the last time that he is going to see these, these leaders. From Ephesus and be able to really speak into the church in Ephesus and you could just tell by this passage He he loves him. He loves the church

Adam: 44:59

Yeah

Alison: 44:59

and I truly believe that the heart of every effective minister is is the love for the people that he's been called a minister to and and so he talks about he talks to them about kind of some people might look at the first part of his message with the Ephesians and Um, the leaders there is maybe like a little braggadocious because he talks about what he does has done. I think he was just appealing to them. That they would continue to trust the message that he's brought to them. And I kind of thought about, um, you know, when my kids are facing difficult things in the world and I want to, um, give them a right view of things. So if they've been confronted, maybe at school or with friends about something that doesn't line up with our biblical worldview, and I'm instructing them, like, you know, this is, this is why this isn't right. I say things sometimes like, would I lie to you? Like, I love you so much. Like, would I lie to you about this? And, um, and I feel like that's kind of what Paul's doing here. He's like, guys, I love you so much. He's, he's not really bragging to them about all the things he's done for them as much as he's saying, you can trust me. Like what I'm about to tell you is true. And I just really want you to trust me. And, um, And he even mentions to him that he he's done everything he can he's told them the truth and he was innocent of their blood and he's drawing back there on their minds to ezekiel 33 Because ezekiel 33 talks about unfaithful prophets who failed to warn god's people were held accountable There in ezekiel 33 and he's like look i've told you everything And and the thing that really stuck out to me is In these verses, and it's about 20 verses where he's telling them how much he loves them and how he wants them to stay true to the word and how he wants them to be careful about false prophets, teachers who are some of the, are even going to rise up within their own ranks. Um, and he, he mentions tears three times, three times, he mentions crying over them. It mentioned some crying with them that day. And you know what? It really brought to mind ministry is messy, isn't it? Like life is messy. Um, and we see that Paul's ministry was messy, uh, because people are messy.

Adam: 47:14

Yeah.

Alison: 47:15

And we kind of had a messy week, right, in ministry. And we talked about in different ways, you know, we, we dealt with things that were, we might consider messy, but that's how you know that you're really doing the Lord's ministry because the Lord gets messy on our behalf. He demonstrated that first and foremost when he sent Jesus. I'm in the form of a lowly servant to die a humiliating death on the cross. I mean, Jesus got messy for us. And Paul gets messy with the Ephesian church and many of the people he ministers to. And I just think that that's a beautiful example for us.

Adam: 47:47

Well, and we're called to embrace that messiness, you know, to do our best to continue in his ministry. As his image bears to bring, um, you know, uh, out of chaos order the best that we can. But, uh, that messiness is not something that we shouldn't, we shouldn't, um, like loathe because what it does, the way that Paul would answer this is that he counts not the present suffering to even begin to compare to the future glory that we have. So the messier that this life is, the more glorifying that that life after will be, um, in comparison. Amen.

Alison: 48:18

In his in the messy part of his ministry while he doesn't see the people in ephesus again Um, it's not over is it? And so we're gonna wonder why

Adam: 48:26

he's not gonna see the church in ephesus again. Well, they'll

Alison: 48:29

have to stay tuned for more episodes So, um, but paul really is, um, such a beautiful example of what it means to love people And um for to allow god to use you and in this um last You Message that he gives to the Ephesians. He he also says that um, He's his purpose is to finish and he says to finish my course in the ministry I received from the lord jesus, which is to testify to the gospel of god's grace and Um, I just want to leave the listeners to think about the fact that paul's ministry his calling was personal It was his race that god called it was a The gospel is for all people of all times, but the way that God calls us to interact in our time and place with it, those people, he has called us to reach our circles of influence. Those are personal callings.

Adam: 49:20

Yeah.

Alison: 49:20

And, um, and Paul embraced his personal calling and he stayed in his lane in a lot of ways. You know, you don't see him spending a whole lot of time other than a few times. He goes to the Jerusalem council to testify about things Once he becomes a Christian he doesn't spend a lot of time in Jerusalem.

Adam: 49:36

Yeah,

Alison: 49:37

and so, um, and and so God gives each of us a ministry if we're believers and We can embrace that ministry. It may not look exactly like Paul's but it's a personal calling to a gospel for all people and so spend some time this week praying about if you're Um, fulfilling your personal ministry, and if you're getting messy with people, then you likely are.

Adam: 50:02

Well, I think that, uh, these last two chapters have really progressed the story along, that the gospel is, is continuing, it's, it's reaching people, and it's now, uh, moving into that second and third, uh, realm of influence, whether it be generation or, or those disciples that Paul has, uh, risen up himself now, so we've moved from the disciples of Christ, the disciples of the disciples, to Paul. Who are now, who's now discipled the next generation who's going to take this and continue on in Ephesus and beyond as well.

Alison: 50:32

That gospel comes all the way to us here at our table today. Pretty cool. Yeah. It's

Adam: 50:36

amazing, really.

Alison: 50:37

So do you want to close us out in a word of prayer?

Adam: 50:39

Yep, yep, let's pray. Father God, thank you for the opportunity that we get to spend in your word. God, even in our weak moments, we are thankful, um, uh, that you are made stronger. God, uh, help us to recognize those moments where we're trying to use a little magic Jesus on our behalf and, and, and correct those ourselves. Father, I pray that we can find ourselves to be committed to the same purpose and the same cause that was there in this reading today. God, that we will be willing to stand boldly and courageously. 10 seconds of courage to step forward and to proclaim the gospel, but then to continue on discipling those who we've proclaimed the good news to. God, you've given us these patterns, and Paul was faithful in his, uh, continued ministry, and we want to find ourselves faithful in ours. God, we just ask that you be with us this week. Keep us safe, and we ask these things in your name. Amen.