Proclaiming God's Word in Ephesus

In one paragraph

This message came from Acts 19:1-20, set in Ephesus, and followed Paul's pattern of ministry there as a way of thinking about what faithful gospel work actually looks like. The pastor traced several themes that repeat throughout Acts and pressed the congregation to consider whether their own relationship with God has moved beyond sin management into something alive. Paul arrived in Ephesus and...

Read together

1. Acts 19:1-20 the main passage read and expounded through the sermon
2. Psalm 145:1-4 read during the offering to remind the congregation why they gather and praise God
3. John 7:37-39 quoted to show Jesus promising the Holy Spirit to all who believe, and John's explanatory note that the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet entered his glory
4. Ephesians 1:13 cited to show that when believers believed, God identified and sealed them by giving the Holy Spirit
5. Luke 8:43-48 the woman who had bled for twelve years and was healed by touching the hem of Jesus's robe, used to contrast an inanimate object being the point of contact for healing

Talk about it

1. The pastor described the baptism of John as being largely about repentance and sin management, and contrasted that with receiving the Holy Spirit. How would you describe the difference between those two ways of living out faith, and which one does your own walk more closely resemble right now?
2. When Paul found those twelve disciples in Ephesus, something about them prompted him to ask whether they had received the Holy Spirit. What do you think it looks like in a person's life when something seems spiritually incomplete, and how do we have that kind of honest conversation with one another without being harsh?
3. Paul worked a trade job in the mornings and evenings, gave up his siesta to teach at the school of Tyranus, and trained those twelve men over two years so that the whole province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. What does that kind of disciplined, unglamorous faithfulness look like in your own context, and where do you find it hardest to sustain?
4. The seven sons of Skeva used the name of Jesus as a formula without any real relationship with Him, and the demon said 'I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?' How does that story challenge the way you think about your own witness and whether it carries any weight?
5. The poem read near the end described someone afraid to say yes to God because that yes leads to other yeses. What is one area of your life right now where you sense God asking for a yes that you have been holding back, and what is making it hard to give it?