Transformation in Asia
Opening Prayer
To You, Lord Jesus, whose name is above every name, I offer my praise and thanksgiving to You.
Read ACTS 19:1–22
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.
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
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.
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.
21 After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9).
After returning to his home base in Antioch, Paul sets out on his third missionary journey. He travels through Galatia strengthening the churches and then arrives in Ephesus, the capital of the region of Asia. He remains in Ephesus for nearly three years, and the impact of his ministry there is more dramatic and widespread than anywhere else he visits. This stay in Ephesus is in many ways the culmination of his missionary efforts.
The text goes to great lengths to emphasize the dramatic impact Paul had in Ephesus and throughout Asia. He operated in such supernatural power that “extraordinary miracles” were happening, including aprons he had touched being used to heal the sick (11,12). Vivid power encounters were happening, such as that with the seven sons of Sceva, with the result that “the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor” (17). The very culture of the larger city was dramatically transformed, epitomized by many new disciples publicly burning their sorcery scrolls (18,19). Acts summarizes all this memorably by saying, “the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (20) and “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (10).
These astounding summary statements hint at something much bigger than just Ephesus, something that impacted the entire vast region of Asia. We know that people such as Epaphras were being trained and sent to plant churches in other cities in Asia (Col. 1:7,8; 4:12–16), and we also know that Asia went on to be the most reached region in the empire (cf. Rev. 1–3; the seven churches are all in Asia, including, of course, Ephesus). Through Paul’s ministry, Ephesus became an epicenter for a rapidly reproducing church-planting movement, which ended up impacting its entire region with the Good News of the Gospel.
Apply
Could your church increase its impact in your neighborhood, city, region and nation? How could you be a part of this?
Closing prayer
Father, open my eyes to see what You are doing. Forgive me for always asking You to bless what I am doing; help me to do what You are blessing.
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