0:00
Family stuff. It would you be praying for them? And I think that's far enough to say where we are. I think. It's good.
0:07
All is well. We're not lacking for anything that we know of, but we are we're right there. The elders, search committee, nominate, all of that sort of stuff will happen. If you'll be keeping up for the next few weeks, we'll see that start to come into more full focus. But all is well, there's not not any kind of qualms about anything going forward.
0:28
Where we are is in a good place, I think. So, and Carlito sends his love to all of you. He he is now leading there in Alabama and it's a little different. And so, he he and I have the Sunday morning Sunday afternoon check-in about three ish o'clock. We've been doing this for years and years and years and we still are doing that.
0:50
So it's going well. All is well there too. So Acts nineteen eleven through 41 is where we're going be today and I told you last week that it was kind of a travel log and we get to some interesting stuff next week and a lot of y'all said, that was thoroughly interesting. All of the travelogue is not the details. It's the everyday mundane stuff of life moving from one place.
1:12
How are you going to, how long, where are you going to go? How long are you going to stay? What you going to do while you're there? But here, in Acts nineteen eleven, it's looking like a very act passage right here. God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.
1:30
In the New Testament where we see miracles, miracles are authenticating the message and we know Paul's message. He starts in the synagogue each time that he goes to a new place and he gives them the chance because they should know the scriptures and often times, there are some, well, every time there's some people who believe and there's some who reject. Some will say, I'll hear you more later like they did on Mars Hill but often times, it's a acceptance or rejection is very common in the synagogues and it doesn't have a lot of middle ground there. So, God perform an extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. We didn't usually see that in the synagogues.
2:09
He he approached them on a text based presentation and gave them a chance of seeing what they already know and seeing if that fit this paradigm, the new covenant in the fulfillment in Jesus but here we are in Ephesus, not a Jewish stronghold, let's say. Ephesus in Asia, he'd been hindered one time from going there. He'd been there for a day or so and now he's back. He's been there a long time, two years it says at this point. Now, was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.
2:44
When he did that through Jesus and when he did it through his disciples and when he did it through the 70, it was always authenticating the message. So you can take it with all that we've seen before this that that's what's happening. So that, now, is weird. Such that even the handkerchiefs or aprons that were even carried from his body were carried to the sick and diseases left them and evil spirits went out. Does that sound weird to y'all?
3:11
It's weird but you know, fame grows, right? And if you look in the, it it it happens forever. I think of probably my age. The Beatles, Liberace, anybody that's had anything associated with this little cloth, this little napkin. Well, who was that guy?
3:31
Tom Jones? No, that's not a good example. That had little pieces of cloth that people just like, oh, I'm never gonna wash this hand. I shook It's it's a little bit of that going on. But it it does say that they took them to heal people with.
3:48
Now, that's that's weird to me. I'll just say straight up. That's an a very acts like thing. Miracles authenticate the message. So Paul's presenting the gospel straight up.
3:59
The sacrifice of Christ as a ransom for many and you can accept it or you can reject it. And along with that message, he is performing these miracles or God's doing it through him. But also, some of the Jewish exorcists. When I think of Judaism, I don't usually think of exorcists. That's in the movies, Always Catholic.
4:25
Right? You don't see Baptist exorcists very often. I did have one visit to seminary where I was there. The spiritual realm exists. We don't wanna neglect it.
4:35
We don't wanna deny that it exists. But also, some of the Jewish exorcists who went out from place to place, they attempted to use the name of the Lord Jesus. Now the fact that he presents them as Jewish exorcist says that they're not followers of the way. In Luke's gospel and in Acts, he makes a fairly clear distinction. If he says the Jewish many of the Jewish priests were accepting, then you know that they're accepting and they're coming into the way.
5:05
But this, since he calls them Jewish exorcist, they attempted to use the name of Lord Jesus over those who had the evil spirits and they were saying, I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. Does that sound like an extension there? They don't know him. They don't know the Lord. They know of him and I said last week, it's easy to know about Jesus and not know Jesus.
5:29
So they know of him and they're attempting to use the power that they have seen in Paul and maybe others. In order to get the results that they want I order you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. Now, there were seven sons of Siba or Sceva, a Jewish chief priest that were doing this. That's a lot of people. Seven folks that are out using this Jesus whom Paul preaches But the evil spirit responded and said to them, I recognize Jesus.
6:06
They always recognize Jesus. The demons, the evil spirits, oh, they recognize Jesus in the gospels. The evil spirit responds to him and says, I recognize Jesus and I know of Paul. But who are you? This is comic relief except for if you're one of the seven sons of Skiva.
6:29
Oh my goodness. They are attempting to do something in the name of Jesus that they're not carrying the name of Jesus. They don't know Jesus. They don't belong to Jesus and they're trying to use Christ to do something that they have no association with him and the demons recognize that. The demons recognize and shutter but the demons didn't shutter at all at the seven sons of Skeva.
6:58
And the man in whom was the evil spirit pounced on them and subdued all of them, seven people, and overpowered them all so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. That's what it says. Had somebody I was talking to somebody earlier this week and he was talking about kind of the brutality of MMA and the different fighting that you see. And he said that in a fight, usually their points, karate it's points, wrestling, it's points, all these different points and he said, doesn't matter how many points you gained. If you leave the ring naked and wounded, you lost that fight.
7:40
They lost that fight because they didn't know Jesus. This became known to all who lived in Ephesus. It'd be hard to keep up your Jewish exorcisms if that's your reputation. It became known to all who lived in Ephesus. I bet that story was told and told and told.
8:01
Both the Jews and the Greeks and fear reverence, fear fell fear fell upon them all and the name of Jesus was magnified. That's cool. Even when someone tries to co opt the name of Jesus, he still is magnified. Fear fell upon them all. There's a certain reverence that comes from recognizing actual power, right?
8:32
And even if you don't know what it is, you're a little more hesitant to try to use it for your own benefit, right? Fear fell upon them all. In the name of Lord Jesus was being magnified. Also, many of those who had believed kept coming. Amen.
8:53
And they were confessing and they were disclosing their practices. This is a vulnerability that comes from the fear of God and many of those who had believed kept on coming and they were confessing and disclosing their practices. Was this in the Hall Of Tyrannus? Probably, that's that was the immediate preceding. Paul had left the synagogue behind because of their rejection and he had taught daily in this the Hall Of Tyrannus, a philosophy hall and people were coming in and it was growing.
9:27
And then, when the spiritual situation that happened with the seven sons of Skiva and the fear that that created, people were like, I can't just play with this thing. I need to really be all in and so, the pet sins and the things that they've been holding on to disclosing their practice. Actually, it goes on to say, many of those who practice magic, that was pretty common in the area. Many of those who practice magic brought in their books. They brought in their books together and they began burning them right in the sight of everyone.
10:01
Like, I've had enough of this. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not trying to use some sort of incantation or spell to get the results that I want. I am done with this. For me, from here, it's Jesus.
10:15
I really want to be his. I want to belong to him. So, they came in, brought their magic books, burn em in front of everyone, and they added up the price of those books and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. Now, I have heard wildly different estimations. Millions of dollars probably or 9,300 depending on one weird internet site.
10:39
But it's it's probably close to millions of dollars today's money. Right? 50,000 pieces of silver. The value of their things they did not care about anymore. Okay.
10:56
So, how much is that today? Well, that's when I started looking it up. Between 9,300 and many millions. And then there's this, summary statement. Another summary statement.
11:07
So the summary statement says, so the word of the Lord was growing and it was prevailing mightily. Oh, can that be said today? Can that be said in our spheres of influence? Can you see the word of the Lord growing and prevailing mightily? It still has the same kind of power that it had then.
11:30
Rejecting the secret stuff, the pet stuff, the weird stuff, rejecting that helps this to happen. All humility instead of thinking in pride. I can handle this. I can handle this myself. I can deal with this.
11:48
So, the word of the Lord was growing and prevailing malice. There are a bunch of summary statements actually. They're programmatic statements in the text. Imma read em because I just think they're great. Acts two forty seven after the day of Pentecost.
12:00
Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who are being saved. Acts six, now the word of the Lord or the word of God kept spreading and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priest were becoming obedient to the faith. That's cool. So, where did Jesus say in Acts one eight? Where did he say that they were going to go from there?
12:33
You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the uttermost parts and so, these first two had to do with the word spreading in Jerusalem. 09/31. So, the church gathered throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. So, the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace as it was being built up and it as it continued in the fear, the reverence, the holy Phobos, fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It kept on increasing but the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
13:11
The vast and unchronicled witness. People, it's been said that Christianity is like one beggar telling another beggar where bread can be found. Once you found it, you spread the word to other people. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, Acts 16, and they were increasing in number daily and then this one, so the word of the Lord was growing and prevailing mightily. There's actually one more.
13:36
We'll get to it in nine more chapters. So, the word of the Lord was growing and prevailing mightily. Now, after these things were finished, seven sons of Skiva, bringing of all the magical books in, burning them, the fear of the Lord, really listening to the message of the gospel, and all of the proofs from the Old Testament. Now, after all these things are finished, Paul resolved in the spirit to go to Jerusalem. If you've read the rest of the book, there's a lot between here and there.
14:11
Paul resolved in the spirit, I gotta get to Jerusalem. After he had passed through Macedonia and Ikea saying, after I've been there, I must also see Rome. Okay. So, that's the greater area you can see. Sorry, my little pins are very small but Ephesus to Jerusalem is no small distance but Israel, Israel, I mean, Jerusalem after going from Mephedus Ephesus to Macedonia to Achaia and back to Jerusalem was his plan.
14:44
And after he sent into Macedonia, two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus. This is the first time we meet Erastus. We know about Timothy. We've seen him. He was his running buddy for some time and still an emissary that goes ahead and prepares the way in Erastus.
15:00
Actually, Erastus was our was when Carl and Tanya and Pascal and I went to Africa a few years ago. Erastus was our driver and I love that he was going ahead of preparing stuff for us. Paul himself stayed in Asia for a while. He hung back. Three years in Ephesus.
15:19
It's the longest we see him stay anywhere with any detail. About that time, a major disturbance occurred in regard to the way. What could be a major disturbance to Christianity? For a man named Demetrius. Oh, I know what you're thinking.
15:39
But that's not him. Mike Demetrius, it can't be this guy. First of all, he's a 20 century guy. But this is Mike Demetrius. If you try to write him a little nice little note, leave the U out of it, alright?
15:56
Mike Demetrius is his name. But Demetrius was a silversmith who made little silver shrines of art. Maybe not. Maybe they're not little. It doesn't say little.
16:06
A silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis. Artemis is a goddess. They had all kinds of they had all kinds of beliefs about Artemis. I won't go into you right now because it's a small G God, okay? For a man named Demetrius, the silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, tourist trinkets is what I see it as, could have been an actual shrine but I doubt it.
16:37
Was bringing considerable business to the craftsman. Okay. So now, it's not just him being a silversmith. He's a silversmith businessman who brings considerable business to other craftsmen that work silver. He gathered those folks together with the workmen of similar trades and he said, man, y'all all know that our prosperity depends upon this business.
17:01
We don't have a life if we don't do this. This is what we know. This is our trade and if we don't do this, our prosperity is gone. So you see and you hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia. How many times have we heard?
17:21
In all of Asia, they knew about Jesus. In all of Asia, the word was growing. It was prevailing mightily and now, that's causing an economic upset for Demetrius, not Mike Demetrius, Demetrius and his band or his guild. You see and you hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia, this Paul, you can almost hear the venom when he calls him this Paul, this guy. He's persuaded.
17:49
He's turned away a considerable number of people. When people convert to Christ, when people come to Christ, they go away from something else. You are called into the body of Christ. You're called out of whatever else. You don't you don't ride both horses.
18:09
Paul, this Paul is saying that small g, gods made by hands are not gods at all. Doesn't it? Maybe it's just my mindset from being in the now and I was a sculpture major like I made some graven images. You know, I did that but I never thought to worship one of em. I never even considered it.
18:28
Never, that's, I made that thing. In Isaiah it says, how you work so hard to get the money and then you pay somebody to carve out something that you have to slip a shim up under it to keep it from toppling over and then you bow down and worship that thing? Does that make sense to you? Isaiah says. Paul is saying the same thing Isaiah is saying.
18:50
That's not a god. That's something somebody made. God's made by hands are not gods at all. Actually, Paul had said just recently two chapters ago on Mars Hill that God doesn't even dwell in temples made by human hands. God doesn't, capital g, the God.
19:07
He's the Lord of heaven and earth. He's not served by human hands. He doesn't need anything. All of that making stuff is not what he needs. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute.
19:23
He's messing with our livelihood. Not only are we going to have the PR damage of this goddess that we're making over and over and over and over and over and over and over again is not going to be popular anymore. But also the temple of the great goddess Harmas will be regarded as worthless and the temple of the great goddess of Artemis was in Ephesus. And so now, he's they're appealing to their civic pride, to their city pride, to their rah rah high school spirit pride. We don't want for Artemis to become worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship because that's what it feels like when that's your goddess, that's your team, that's your sacred cow.
20:07
She whom all of Asia, the whole world worships Artemis. Does anybody worship Artemis today? This is pretty scant. She whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence. If she's not a god, she should be.
20:28
If she's not a god or goddess, she should be dethroned from her magnificence. Now, when they heard this, they were filled with rage because Demetrius was, Demetrius was fear mongering. This is the worst thing. This is this is awful. This is terrible.
20:47
It's the worst thing that could happen. Absolutely terrible. He could come on. Come with me. Now they're filled with rage with Demetrius and Demetrius.
20:58
Golly, that's hard. That's why I put it up there. They began shouting, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Great is Art There she's worshiped in the Greco Roman Roman world but Ephesus is our stronghold and so, appealing to the civic pride, appealing to their team spirit, Demetrius gets some hyped up to an into a froth of rage.
21:24
Great enligments of the Ephesians. The city was filled with the confusion and they rushed together into the theater. Actually, if you're looking at Ephesus today, this is a Google Earth whatever picture of it. That's the theater. It was right there.
21:40
That's where it happened. And it says, they rushed together into the theater and they were dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's Macedonian traveling companion. So, he's gathering a band everywhere he goes. He's picking up folks and Gaius and Aristarchus, this is the first time I think that we hear of them. They're from Macedonia.
22:00
They're his traveling companions and dragged into the situation and when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples wouldn't let him. Like, come on. It's a it's a mob. You know what you do. When you see a mob forming, what do you do?
22:16
Go the other way as fast as you can because there's no way to overestimate the stupidity of people in large numbers. Underestimate, overestimate, whatever. When Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. Also, some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent word to him and repeatedly urged him, don't go in there. Please don't go in there.
22:45
Paul, I know it's a great place. The theater there is amazing. You can almost whisper on stage and be heard in the backroom, in the back row. Please don't go in there. I know that it's a lot of people but there's too much confusion right now and so then, some were shouting and one thing and some were shouting another.
23:05
We know that one of the chants was greatest Artemis of the Ephesians and that'll come back and say it was again but the assembly itself was in chaos and confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. I love that. The majority had no idea why we're even here. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander. Who's Alexander?
23:30
It's the only place we hear of him. Since the Jews had put him forward, get out there, Alexander. This is our chance. God is one. Hero Israel, God is one and it's our chance.
23:44
Artemis is about to topple and we want that to happen. So, Alexander, Alexander, what am I doing? Why am I put forth? And having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, we know where the Jews stand on this.
24:05
We know that God, they believe God is one. They don't believe in Artemis already. So, when they heard out that heard that he was a Jew, a single outcry, unity arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours. Greatest Artemis of the Ephesians for two hours. Good grief.
24:29
Now, after quieting the crowd, can you imagine two hours of greatest Artemis of the Ephesians and the town clerk goes going, come on, settle down, settle down, banging the gavel. After quieting the crowd, the town clerk says, that little asterisk, if you have a new American Standard Bible, that little asterisk is a historical present. It's a storytelling device. It is a present tense verb, but it's kind of meant to just bring you into the scene. So, after quieting the crowd, the town clerk says, men of Ephesus, what person is there after all who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from the sky.
25:11
That's one of their beliefs. Everybody knows this. He is the town clerk after all and the civic pride that he has, he's like, come on. Everybody knows that Artemis is awesome. Especially Artemis of Ephesians.
25:27
This is where the image fell to the Earth. So, since these are all undeniable facts, you ought to just keep calm. Don't do anything weird. Don't do anything rash. Calm down.
25:41
Now, why might the town clerk say that? Because this is under Roman rule. And Roman rule, the Pax Romana or the Roman peace endures how long? It endures for a pretty good while. The way that they do it is by the sword and if there's a riot, we saw this at Passover time with the crucifixion.
26:02
The local governors are supposed to take care of riots before they ever get going And so, town clerk is aware of that and saying, keep calm and carry on people. Move along. So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to just keep calm and don't do anything rash for you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers, that would be bad. Nor are they blasphemers of our goddess. Paul, in their eyes, what Paul has been teaching is just Judaism.
26:36
God is one. So, that's not although they would consider it blasphemy in general. That's not. He's not specifically talking about Artemis. Anyway, Just chill.
26:50
There are ups and downs in life. So then, if Demetrius and the craftsman who are with him have a complaint against anyone, then we'll handle this the legal way. The courts are in session. The proconsuls are available. Have them bring their charges against one another.
27:06
If they want to sue them, sue them. Let it happen in court. We'll see you in court. But if you want anything beyond this, it's going to be settled in lawful assembly. We're not having a riot here today.
27:20
For indeed, we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's offense. Since there's no real reason for it and in the connect and in this connection, we'll be unable to account for this disorderly gathering. This has become a mob and it's not gonna become a riot. I'm putting a kibosh on this. There will not be a riot here today, town clerk says.
27:44
Now after saying this, he dismissed the assembly. Move along. Nothing to see here. We see a couple of other riots and acts. We see a lot of people whipped into a froth.
27:56
This is the last verse that I wanted to cover cover today, but to me the parallels in life in general are pretty stark. So, the majority does not know what's going on. It seems to resonate with me. There are two sides right now. There are at least two sides.
28:15
There are two sides right now that are screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming and their chance is like a high school gym where it's like, we've got spirit. Yes, we do. We've got spirit. How about you? And the majority these days is more, we've got ambivalence.
28:29
Yes, we do. We don't really know. How about you? And then the business. So, there's to begin with, the sons of Skeva thing If you recognize the power of God there's a holy fear that sets in and you want to lay down.
28:53
Your magic books. You want to lay down your internet addiction. You want to lay down your extraneous things that you think you can hold on to and still be okay. You want to. If you recognize that there's real power there and if you're just using Christianity or Christ or Jesus or whatever, if you're just using that because you know that people listen to it, then you're in danger of setting free some evil spirits.
29:21
Not setting them free. Yes, setting free the spirits to do the the evil spirits work. Not setting free the people. Does that make sense to you? So, the seven sons of Skiva.
29:37
We want to present the Jesus that Paul preaches. We don't know him. We know he's powerful. We really don't want to step away from what we're doing here though and then they get beaten up by the evil spirits themselves. After all of these things coming forward, business.
29:57
It's about business. I I've had a couple of instances in the past week or so. Had somebody call me and say, hey, we're trying to we're trying to set up something and there's considerable resistance and honestly, I wish I had said no to setting this thing up. It was church like bylaws, constitution, all that sort of stuff and I said, pare down. Get rid of everything that happened because of some problem in the past.
30:21
You can tell what happened on a mission agency and you could tell what happened in the church by reading over their bylaws and thinking, oh boy, they're really hedging against that happening again. Oh boy, but it's not necessarily biblical. You have to breathe thee and he says, but that's hard. I said, it is. Just allowing the word to do the work is hard, but just let it do its work.
30:42
It's good. It's really really good. Don't get whipped into a froth over something that you don't really understand or confused by. Turn your eyes on Jesus and the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And what fills your heart, the grace of God, the mercy of God will start coming out in your life and you'll be more gracious, you'll be more merciful, you'll be more loving.
31:07
I think that's all the application I can get. '21 next week is after the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and when he had encouraged them and he had taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. That was the last scene we see in Ephesus for now. So, we're going to go into a time of communion right now and before this, I will invite the elders to come forward and we're distribute. First of all, we'll do the bread.
31:35
It's cracker that is representative of the body of Christ and then we'll do a second pass through with a little plastic cup of grape juice. We practice an open table so that it does not matter your denominational background. If you have given your life, you've trusted in Jesus, you've given your life to him, then we want for you to enjoy this celebration of the Lord's Supper with us. Before we got started today, my mind was darting and kept on and kept on and kept on and kept on. With all these distractions.
32:10
If any of those distractions for you are sin or you're thinking about yourself and going, I haven't laid down my magic book. I haven't done that and I have been pulled to one side or another. I want give you just a second during this prayer to say, God, forgive me for that. Here it is. I want you to have my whole heart.
32:32
Lord, that's my prayer. I want you to have my whole heart. I don't wanna think about past sins and I don't wanna think about anything but anything but you and your will for me. I'm praying lord right now for you to show me what your will is, fill me with your power to walk it out. In Jesus name, I ask your blessing over this little representation of the body of Christ as it is presented to the ongoing body of Christ.
33:00
For anyone who is gonna partake, lord, I pray that this would be a blessing and for anyone in the room who knows they haven't trusted in Jesus and lets this plate pass up. I pray lord that you will work in their lives through these other folks to bring them into the family of God. In Jesus name, amen.
