Acts 20:7-12

Acts 20:7-12 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. Some people say that we should still worship on the Sabbath day like they did in the Old Testament. But here the New Testament Christians, including Paul, worshiped on the first day of the week. Sunday is called the Lord’s Day after Jesus Christ. And talk about long-winded ... Paul preached until about midnight! Now that is late preaching! He preached so long that poor little Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of the upstairs window! But the Apostle Paul went down and revived him, performing an amazing miracle. After all of the commotion, they all had an early morning snack and more talking. Paul and his friends stayed up all night! Paul even had some comforting words with Eutychus right before leaving. I don’t think I could keep up with Paul! What a preacher and missionary!

Acts 19:23-28

Acts 19:23-28 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Yesterday we learned that many people in Ephesus who believed in Jesus Christ repented and burned their evil spellbooks. But today we read that Demetrius did not believe. He knew that his job of making silver idols of Diana was in jeopardy. If everyone believed in Jesus Christ, no one would want buy his little silver idols anymore. So he stirred up the city of Ephesus against Paul and these new Christians. Paul wanted to go into the mob and speak to them. But the Christians feared for his life and whisked him away. They were concerned about Paul. Some people believed and burned their evil stuff, but some people did not believe and were angry at the Christians. And that is the way things are today. Some will believe and some will not. Those who believe will become sweet Christians and those who do not believe will become bitter and cranky. Which do you want to be? Sweet or cranky?

Acts 19:18-20

Acts 19:18-20 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Paul had a great time in Ephesus. He stayed there for about two years preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ. Ephesus was a wicked city and many people there worshiped the goddess Diana. The silversmiths made little idols of Diana and sold them to the people who came to worship in Ephesus. But Paul preached Jesus Christ. Those who trusted in Jesus quit their idol worship. They knew that their magic books with witchcraft spells in them were not from God, but from Satan. They knew that these were wicked. They wanted to obey God and follow Jesus Christ. So they brought their enchantment books with evil spells in them and burned them. They were repenting of their idol worship and witchcraft. And to show that they were serious, they burned all of that stuff. It was valuable, but Jesus Christ was more valuable to them. How about you? How important is Jesus to you? Is He first in your life? That is what disciple means. It means to follow Jesus at all costs. That is what the new Christians in Ephesus did. We too need to be serious about following Jesus!

Acts 19:1-5

Acts 19:1-5 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Apollos arrived in Corinth just after Paul had left. And when Paul came to Ephesus, Apollos had just left. They must have passed each other on the road and didn’t know it! Paul asked the God-fearing people in Ephesus about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But they didn’t know anything about Jesus or the Holy Spirit. They only knew about repentance from their sins from Apollos’ preaching about John. They were ready to believe on Jesus, but they just hadn’t heard about Jesus. Well Paul took care of that right away! He preached the whole gospel of Jesus Christ and they were saved and baptized and received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 18:24-26

Acts 18:24-26 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. John the Baptist was Jesus’ first cousin. He was about six months older than Jesus. John was a wild man who lived in the desert and preached repentance. What does repentance mean? Repentance means to be sorry for your sins and to change your mind to God’s way. John had several followers who preached just like him. King Herod had John executed. Then a year or two later, Jesus died on the cross and offered salvation to all who would believe. So Apollos preached repentance just like John, but he didn’t know that Jesus was the other part of John’s message. You see, salvation is in two parts: You must turn from your sins to God. As you turn to Jesus in faith, you are turning from your sins in repentance. But the two parts are actually the same thing. It is like the heads and tails are two parts of the same coin. They are different, but the same. So Paul’s two friends Aquila and Priscilla explained the complete gospel to Apollos. Apollos was a great speaker and preacher for the Lord.