Who Are You

In one paragraph

This message came from Acts 19:11-41, covering what happened in Ephesus near the end of Paul's three-year stay there. Pastor Mark walked the congregation through several connected scenes: miraculous works, a failed attempt to use Jesus's name as a tool, a wave of genuine repentance among new believers, and a civic riot driven largely by economic fear. Paul had been in Ephesus longer than anywhere...

Read together

1. Acts 19:11-41 the main passage preached through in this sermon
2. Acts 1:8 quoted to show Jesus telling the disciples they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts
3. Acts 2:47 cited as a summary statement about the Lord adding to their number day by day those being saved
4. Acts 6 cited as a summary statement about the word of God spreading and disciples increasing greatly in Jerusalem
5. Acts 9:31 cited as a summary statement about the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoying peace and increasing

Talk about it

1. The sermon pointed out that the seven sons of Sceva knew about Jesus but did not know Jesus personally. What is the difference between those two things in your own experience, and how does a person move from one to the other?
2. When the fear of the Lord fell on the people in Ephesus, many came forward and confessed practices they had been holding on to, and some burned their magic books at considerable financial cost. What does that kind of honesty and surrender look like in a person's life today?
3. The sermon walked through several summary statements in Acts showing the word of the Lord growing and spreading from Jerusalem outward. Where do you see that same kind of growth, or the absence of it, in your own sphere of influence right now?
4. Demetrius stirred up a riot not over theology but over money and civic pride, and most of the crowd did not even know why they were there. The sermon drew a parallel to people today being whipped into a froth over things they do not fully understand. How do you guard yourself against that kind of reaction?
5. Near the end of the sermon, the point was made that just letting the word do its work is hard, but it is good. What makes that difficult, and what have you seen happen when a person or a church actually trusts the word to do that work?