Acts 19:8-10

Introduction: I’d like to recall this past Sunday for a moment and praise God for what He was able to do. We concluded our vision series “Thy Kingdom Come” with this topic of “We Deploy”. I want to look at a passage in Acts 19:8-10 that I held off on referencing Sunday for us to cover this evening. Read with me Acts 19:8-10.

Read Acts 19:8-10.

Before we look at these three verses lets understand the context. Paul has just encountered some followers of John the Baptist in Ephesus and has determined they aren’t truly believers because the do not have the Holy Spirit. Paul baptizes them in the name of Jesus and they receive the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:8 Paul has already had a relationship of some type with the Jews who met in the Ephesian synagogue. They wanted him to stay longer, but he could not due to the work he needed to do in Judaea and Syria.

Paul comes back and spends three months boldly proclaiming the gospel.

It says that Paul reasoned and persuaded them about the Kingdom of God. Paul does the same thing that Jesus himself did in Acts 1:3.

Acts 19:9 We see here that after the three months, some “became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation.”

The bold proclamation of the gospel and the Kingdom of God became too much for those opposed to this message. This is a good reminder to us that we too shall find times where there will be opposition to the message of the Gospel. We cannot allow that to deter us!

As I mentioned on Sunday from Jeremiah 29:8-9 we see these who try to deter the exiles from what God wants. There will be times when we face opposition. We must stay the course. Look what Paul does next in the second half of verse 9.

9b: Paul withdraws from the synagogue and takes these disciples with him, reasoning again daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

Tyrannus was a man at Ephesus who had a lecture hall that Paul used. That’s all we know of him.

Acts 19:10 Don’t miss this church! Paul continued to do this for TWO STRAIGHT YEARS so that ALL THE RESIDENTS OF ASIA heard the Word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

You heard me ask the question on Sunday what would our community look like if we sought the welfare of the city. We would see several things...

Unity, reduction in crime, racial reconciliation, restoration of broken homes, addictions destroyed, etc.

Think about this…if we truly sought the welfare of the city and our brother/sister congregations did the same consistently for two years EVERY MAN, WOMAN and CHILD can have MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES TO SEE, HEAR AND RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL.

God was able to do this through Paul and other believers (Epaphras) for ALL the people of ASIA to hear it. If God can use him for ALL the people of ASIA to hear it, imagine what he can do within a one mile radius of our church building. In our neighborhoods. In our cities.