Paul in Ephesus
Acts of the the Apostles • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
I hate horror movies. Now I don’t mind certain monster movies. Travis and I like to talk about the movies we’ve been watching, and he could tell you the ones I’ve been watching lately. I’ve been watching through all the Alien and Predator movies. They’re dumb, intense, monster and jump scare filled movies, and sometimes that’s what I want to watch. But there’s a genre I hate. Horror. I still remember when I was younger the night I watched “The Exorcist.” I’ve got my older brothers to thank for that one.
But it’s not because there’s jump scares. It’s because there’s truth to those ones. Possession. Dark spiritual forces. There is something so utterly terrifying of being taken over by an evil entity. Being possessed changes a person. When a spiritual entity is the driver, a person’s speech, body language, motivations, everything about that person changes. They take on the characteristics of the spirit, no longer a solo being, but a being with one foot in this world and the other in the spiritual world. With this is mind, we look to Acts 19. Paul’s third and final missionary journey.
For his first missionary journey , we looked at a broad overview. For his second, we looked at patterns. Paul’s method as he entered each city. For this journey, we’re going to focus on one place.
Ephesus.
At this point. Paul has been preaching for several years. The gospel has spread. Local churches have been planted all over the place. Lives are being transformed. And people have received the Holy Spirit. Paul’s first journey started 10-15 years after the resurrection of Christ. Now, this third journey, is around 8 years or so from the start of his first one. Almost 10 years of non-stop travel and preaching.
The author of Acts, Luke, records some interesting accounts from this city. And it ties back to Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disiples, and this reveals more of the character and attributes of the Holy Spirit.
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Repentance comes first. Consistently, throughout scripture, the words and actions of John the Baptist in preparing the way for the Lord call for repentance. Repentance clears the way.
Have you ever been in a relationship with someone that has wronged you, or vice versa? There is a barrier there. You’re out of sync. There is opposition. There’s been some uncomfortable days in my house between me and Bethany. We have hurt each other. We have let each other down. It’s awful having that tension in your home. But when there is repentance. When there is true remorse, the way is opened for that relationship to be restored. But it’s not just words. I’ve seen it put this way.
Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.
Repentance puts in a place where we own up to our own actions, and now the path has been made clear for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
These disciples then receive the Holy Spirit, and when that happens it says they speak in tongues and prophesy.
Tongues and Prophecy
In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it says that everyone heard in their own languages the words being spoken. What a miraculous sign. The Holy Spirit Himself interpreting. Right then and there, it was clear. This message is for everyone, of all nations, of all languages.
Like I said earlier, when a person is possessed, they have one foot in this world and one in the spiritual world. Now we don’t like that word, possessed. It has very dark connotations. But I’m using it hear to drive the point home. This is not just a matter of a feeling, this is an event like no other. The Spirit of the living God, the creator of the universe, inhabiting a person. Using them as a mouthpiece. And when the Spirit comes upon people they sometimes begin speaking in the language of the spirit. There is a language, a way of communication, in the heavenly realms, and being filled with the Holy Spirit gives certain people access to that language for a time. But it’s more than that, they also prophecy. Which is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, conveying messages from God to people. Which is why we have prophets. Sometimes it has to do with future, but is also proclaiming divine truth.
The way we can understand these two gifts more clearly is found in 1 Corinthians 14.
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.
4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
The gift of tongues has caused division amongst believers. All I can say is this. Often when I have seen it, particularly from mega church pastors, there is never an interpreter. And honestly it usually happens when they’re asking for money or they lose their train of thought. That is not tongues, that is not biblical, and they are charlatans.
But here is really the point.
The Holy Spirit takes over
There’s not a formula. I can’t stand here and say this is how it happens for every person. Each of us are used differently. It’s not a competition, there’s not expectation. Simply that we walk through the world as a vessel for the most powerful force in the universe. And things happen. People are changed. We get to walk in both the physical and the spiritual realms. But that can only happen if we allow the Holy Spirit to have all of us. Let’s look at the next encounter a few verses later.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
This is what I mean when I say walking in both the physical and spiritual realms, which are not as separate as many of us think. I read this passage and think of the Holy Spirit as radiating like nuclear radiation. He is so completely filled with the Holy Spirit, no desires of His own, completely given over to the Spirit. That physical items absorb that radiation. This next point is not the original word used in scripture, but I think it’s helpful.
The Holy Spirit is Nuclear
When the spirit is within a person, it effects the world. We start exhibiting, without really even trying, the fruits of the spirit as listed in Galatians. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And sometimes these miraculous events happen.
From what I have read, and from what I have experienced, I don’t think it’s constant. We talk sometimes about sanctification. To be made holy. The process of becoming a vessel for the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Matthew 26:41
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
I believe there’s moments where the heat gets turned up. But God in his goodness and mercy is patient with us.
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done.
19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
There’s this connection made here. Those that practiced sorcery came and burned their scrolls after this incident. Sorcery scrolls have what? Words. Incantations. They were using these words, the name of Jesus, like a spell. Right? Because they’re using the same words Paul would use. In the name of Jesus.
Let’s bring verse 15 back up.
15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
How does the evil spirit know about Paul? Because the spirit knows Jesus. When we follow Jesus. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We become the living, breathing, walking temple of the living God. We are part of His family. We have an inheritance.
There are so many that use the name of Jesus in the same way these Jewish men did. In their own way for their own purposes. Preachers who preach the prosperity and other false gospels. Church goers who use the name of Jesus to justify a political or moral agenda. But here is the reality. Jesus is real. The Holy Spirit is real. Satan and the demons of Hell are real. And to come up against the spirit of darkness alone, without the power of the Holy Spirit...those 7 men were lucky they escaped with their lives. 7 men against 1. But now flip that. How many men can stand against someone with the power of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is Unstoppable
That same radiating Holy Spirit is still at work today. Is in this very room. Not a power for us to wield, but a power to use us. Not for us to gain money, or recognition, or position, but to heal the broken. Free the prisoner. Give hope to the hopeless. The Spirit throws open prison doors and satisfies the hungry and thirsty. The Holy Spirit causes the demons of this world to flee. And we are invited to be an active participant. To have a front row seat to the story playing out on a cosmic scale.
Have you recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Have you repented of your sins and opened yourself to the spirit of the living God? Or are you holding back. Putting up walls. Afraid of what that might mean. What what it take to let go of our own pride? What would it look like to be in that kind of relationship with the Spirit of the living God?
Or maybe you need to ask the question of the Spirit. What’s next? Lead me.
