Acts 19: The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Man
Our series on Acts continues with Paul in Ephesus. At this point, he’s well into his third missionary journey. Ephesus was a major Roman city and home of the temple of Artemis, one of the great wonders of the world in its day. The temple served both as a holy shrine and a thriving marketplace. People came from all over to shop and trade and pay their respects to the goddess of fertility. If Paul could win the Ephesians for Christ, he stood a good chance of winning the whole of Asia Minor.
When he got there he discovered a small, but active, group of Christians. They’d accepted Christ and were baptized, but they hadn’t gotten the full effect. Luke puts it this way:
“It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul, having passed through the upper country,
came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.
He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’
They said to him, ‘No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’
He said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’
They said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’” (19:1-3)
Paul told them that the baptism of John was a merely a baptism of repentance and that’s just the first step of coming to Christ. First, you renounce the power of sin and evil over your life and then you receive the promise of new life through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Ephesians wasted no time. Luke says,
“When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When Paul had laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came on them,
and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.”
(Acts 19:5-6)
Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptized?
Big Question this morning to all of us.
Are you baptized with the holy spirit?
If you have attended our foundation course, we have two chapters. One is baptism in water and baptism in holy spirit. And how both are important.
Bible says about the Spirit, and then I want you to ask yourself the extent to which you’re filled with the Spirit. The more we know about the Spirit, the more we’ll recognize the work of the Spirit in our lives as we seek to live out our lives in faith.
Jesus before He ascended to heaven: “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4); for the first time, people were permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the church had begun.
When we think about the Holy Spirit, what comes to our mind. A force, power, What does the Bible say about the identity of the Holy Spirit? Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is God.
The Bible also tells us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, a being with a mind, emotions, and a will.
In Acts 5:3-4. In these verses Peter confronts Ananias as to why he lied to the Holy Spirit and tells him that he had “not lied to men but to God.”
Psalm 139:7-8, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” . It is present everywhere , omnipresence Then in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11. “These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” , All knowing omniscience
Holy Spirit is indeed a divine person because He possesses a mind, emotions, and a will.
The Holy Spirit thinks and knows (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30).
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption
The Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27).
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
He makes decisions according to His will (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
It put it in this way when we are baptized with the holy spirit , It gives new life. It empowers, It directs, it leads. leading of the Spirit – not something you can define or quantify in any way – so that to walk by the Spirit is to walk by faith, not by sight. It’s to seek God’s will for your life and trust God to lead the way.
Most importantly , you will know the heart of God, Thoughts of God It so important to receive the holy spirit. When we counsel people, direct people, pray for people. you may have heard this statements , I usually say, It’s not me saying this. It’s God who is saying this . It’s an amazing feeling to be immersed with the Holy spirit.
The book of Acts, which sometimes goes by the longer title of “The Acts of the Apostles,” could just as accurately be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.”
We may be baptized but are we filled with the holy spirit. Do we live a life of faith, do we live as been born again, new life.God didn’t create us simply to go through the motions; God created us to live life to the fullest.
I verse 6 , 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[b] and prophesied.
Now , we are going to do this. Let us rise up, we are going to experience the holy spirit and we are going to exercise the gifts of the holy spirit.
Never Stop : Use what you have to do what you can
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.
They did not listen to what Paul was saying, not only that they started saying bad things about Paul, criticized him. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and started meeting in another place. He Spent 2 years and preached in Asia Minor. The impact they made in Asia minor , there were lot of churches being planted. The seven churches which we see in the book of Revelation, were all part of Asia Minor.
Verse 11-12
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.
At the first, Paul found only 12 men who were not very far along in their faith. They had heard about John’s baptism, and nothing more. (Acts 19:1-3) Twelve men in a city of nearly half a million is so small, many would be too discouraged to continue. Paul’s passion is what drove him to take those 12, share the Gospel with them, and start his work. From that small start, however, came miraculous change.
Sons of Sceva
Sceva, who is identified as “a Jewish chief priest” (Acts 19:14), had seven sons “who went around driving out evil spirits” (verse 13). Seeing the success that Paul had in exorcising demons, the seven sons of Sceva began using a new formula invoking the name of Jesus. They would say to the demon, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out” (verse 13).
This ploy of Sceva’s seven sons backfired one day. A demon they were trying to cast out refused, saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). The demon then turned on them viciously. The demon-possessed man “jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” (verse 16). The seven sons of Sceva were no match for the demonic power they were toying with (see Mark 5:1–4).
We learn several things from the account of the seven sons of Sceva.
First, demons are dangerously powerful spirit beings—much stronger than we—who can cause the people they possess to do incredibly violent and uncontrollable things. The seven sons of Sceva obviously didn’t have the proper respect for demons (see Jude 1:8–9).
Second, demons recognize valid authority, and they fear God (see James 2:19). It’s important to note that the authority over demons belongs only to Jesus (see Luke 8:28, 31) and to those to whom Jesus gave it. The demon in Acts 19 says that it knows Jesus and Paul (one of Jesus’ chosen apostles). It refused to recognize any other authority in Ephesus. The demon’s question “who are you?” is chilling in its implications to the seven sons of Sceva and their total lack of authority.
Third, demons cannot be cast out via a formula or a ritual or invoking Jesus’ name. There is no power in incantations, even if they include the name of Christ. The power belongs to Jesus alone. Probably the greatest mistake the seven sons of Sceva made was their failure to realize that Paul was not doing the exorcisms. Jesus Christ was doing the exorcisms through Paul.
When were ere in Srilanka , we been called that one girl in her 20’s is creating havoc and they needed immediate attention . Even before we reached their place , in the car we prayed for us , prayed of our family , covered our children with the precious blood of Jesus and then we entered the house. When the girl looked at us , she started laughing , we asked them what is her name and I started calling her by name. but she was not responding. She was saying that ask them to go , I am not going to go anywhere. We started singing , praying but no response. She was giving eye contact and she will not even blink her eyes. She said I will not go. we said if you are not going , we are also not going , immediately she fell down unconscious , i uttered a word silently that she is fine. And she was released .
Sometimes it looks exciting but it is dangerous if we don’t have the authority which only Jesus gives you and also carry the spirt of God.
Riot in Ephesus : A moment of Madness
The stirring up of the people to madness is everywhere in Scripture . Perhaps one of the most unconsidered characters in the Bible is the crowd — none more infamous than the one who used its voice to sound with Satan, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
So also we see the madness of crowds in Acts 19. A mob was stirred up against Paul, an experience he likely later summarized to the Corinthians: “I fought with beasts at Ephesus” (1 Corinthians 15:32).
Old proverbs have become visible: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Bad company, when a company, can make the good corrupt and the bad worse.
What many citizens recognized as a religious riot in Ephesus started, with smaller, less-visible motives. Men with hidden agendas conspired together and utilized the masses to their hushed purposes. This “great disturbance” began with the greed of a silversmith named Demetrius.
Demetrius made his fortune crafting idols in service of Artemis, the Ephesian fertility goddess, rumored to have been born in Ephesus.
Now Christianity, through the apostle Paul, hurt this business by persuading many “that gods made with hands are not gods” (Acts 19:26). In an attempt to protect his wallet, Demetrius employed few strategies to destroy Paul.
Demetrius called them together: Demetrius gathered them, He did not go after Paul himself, nor pursue legal recourse; rather, he assembled people who were affected by him.
Competitors became friends : “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.
Personal Agenda was covered up by religion.
28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Yet notice that Demetrius’s and the craftsmen’s chief concern of finances isn’t visible once they move into the streets. Their mantra becomes simply “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They mask financial incentives with religious.
Many associate themselves with the church for social or financial gain. They are self-deceived who try to use Christianity for worldly gain and pleasures. Many of these people are simply humanists or socialists who use Christianity as a platform for their ideologies.
As Church we need to be cautious, what we speak , what we say, what we do. Do we speak about the church , it’s people to others. Our heart breaks even if I imagine that in my dreams.
And myself & Sandra don’t want to see those days in God’s church. Better we die than we hear those thinks in our Church. Be Careful ! As a church we can’t stop it but we have 0 tolerance on this. We need to guard the church , it’s our responsibility to guard the people who serve us. We need to stand , support and pray for our leaders in their journey wherever we are.
Christ like
Paul showcased Christlike nature, when Jesus was crucified he did not utter a word he was willing to die.
29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
Paul wanted to run toward, not away from, the murderous mob:
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:31–32)
Paul left the city, and left Timothy in charge of the church there (1 Timothy 1:3). Despite living in an increasingly difficult environment, the church in Ephesus thrived, and likewise the entire area of Asia Minor.
Today, Ephesus lies in ruins, the economic victim of a harbor that silted up. The Temple of Artemis once stood as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, complete with more than 120 massive columns. Today, only a single column rises from a small pasture, hard evidence that Artemis of the Ephesians wasn’t nearly as great as the 25,000 fanatics once insisted she was. On the other hand, Paul’s message of Jesus Christ resulted in the conversion of billions, and his letter to the Ephesians is still being read, studied, and memorized today, some 2,000 years later.
Paul moved from Ephesus to other stops along his path, but he never lost interest in the young church he’d started there. As Paul reached his last years, he wrote a great number of letters, including a very detailed letter to the church in Ephesus. And among his very first words to Timothy was a very clear instruction concerning the church in Ephesus.
1 Timothy 1:3-4
His letter to Timothy, therefore, is a crystal-clear, passion-filled instruction manual for not only Timothy, but for the church he’d left behind in Ephesus.
0 Comment