Acts 20:13-24

Paul is now on his way to Jerusalem, and is determined to get there as soon as possible. Paul did not want to go to Ephesus itself, but the leaders from Ephesus came out to him. Paul seemed to know he would never see them again, and so gave final instructions to them.

"You know how I lived..." Our lives should be consistent with our preaching, and a demonstration of the truth. This was certainly true of Paul. Paul served with humility and tears. He cared about the people he was serving. He was under constant pressure. He taught them the whole truth, both publicly, and in house visits..

The essence of his message was that all, whether Jew or Gentile, should repent and have faith in Christ.

Paul felt that the Holy Spirit was leading him to Jerusalem. Paul did not know exactly what would happen there. We do not always need to know exactly what God is going to do. Abraham followed God, even though he did not know where he was going (Heb 11:8). But Paul did know that he would face hardships wherever he went. He was not motivated by wanting to know what would happen next, but by the desire to preach the good news of God's grace. His goal was to complete the work given to him by the Lord.

Acts 20:7-12

The first day of the week was Sunday and they broke bread. Sunday was the day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead and is the event that changed everything. Jesus commanded us to break bread in remembrance of Him. 

Paul spoke to them and went on for a long time. We should note that most of the reports of sermons or teachings given in the New Testament are condensed versions of the real thing. One man, Eutychus, fell asleep during Paul's teaching. So if you have felt like dropping off during a sermon one Sunday, you are not alone! However, Paul went on rather longer than most preachers today.

Eutychus fell into a deep sleep and then fell out of the building and was killed. Paul went down to the man and put his arms around him and declared that he was alive. They broke bread, and Paul continued speaking until the morning! We are not told if anyone else fell asleep!

Although it doesn't say so explicitly, the fact that Paul threw himself on the man indicates that he actually brought him back to life. His actions are reminiscent of Elijah (1 Kings 17:19-21).

Acts 20:1-6

Paul encouraged the disciples and then left for Macedonia. Note that it is "the disciples" not "his disciples". We are called to be followers of Christ. Travelling took longer in Paul's day, but that did not mean that less was done. A few hours spent of an aeroplane, and the associated hanging around and waiting is usually waster. Paul encouraged the various churches he met along the way.

Jews had plotted against him. So many key figures in the Bible lived their lives under constant threat. Moses and David are examples from the Old Testament, Jesus and Paul examples from the new. Our natural leaning is to long for a life free from trouble and pressure, and we see getting free of the pressure as the route to freedom. God's solution is to be able to cope with the pressure and to know His peace. Seeking to be free from pressure is one of the things that leads to break-ups of marriages, and people giving up, even suicide in the most extreme cases. God's way leads to life. May God give us the peace that passes all understanding. See that His peace "passes understanding". In our various situations we can always work out why we will never be at peace, but God's peace passes all understanding.

Acts 19:23-41

"The Way" was a term used to refer the Christians, perhaps it arose because Jesus referred to Himself as "The Way". The gospel was leading to people turning from idol worship, this meant that those who made money from making idols were losing out. So Demetrius, a silversmith, stirred up trouble. We need to be clear that the good news will involve loss for some people, and will lead to conflict. Jesus Himself said that He came to bring not peace but a sword (Matt 10:34). Ungodliness is woven into the economic system. This is still true today. In organising opposition, they played on devotion to the goddess Artemis. Artemis (Greek version of Diana) was a fertility goddess, and prostitution was involved in her worship.

The "threat" to Artemis aroused the passions of the people, and so a riot was started. They grabbed two of Paul's companions. Paul wanted to appear before them, but other disciples stopped him from doing this.

The crowd was in uproar, and shouted the name of Artemis for two hours. The Jews wanted to make it clear that they had nothing to do with the Christians.

The city clerk brought an end to the riot by his calmness. He pointed out that Paul and his companions actually had not done anything wrong, and that any charges could be pursued properly through the courts. Things would be bad for Ephesus if Rome heard of riots in the city. So everything fizzled out.

Acts 19:8-22

As always, Paul went to the synagogue and preached there for three months. Presumably he took some breaks! Acts is very clear about the power and importance of preaching and arguing for the gospel, something that tends to be denigrated by some today.
Again, as always, there were those who objected and attacked the gospel. So Paul left and went to the lecture hall to continue his preaching. This went on for a further two years, and so a vast area had the chance to hear the gospel.
As well as preaching, "extraordinary miracles" were part of Paul's ministry. Today we so often seem to separate preaching and miracles, expecting only one or the other, but the Biblical pattern is for them to go together. We also see that handkerchiefs that touched him were taken to the sick and they were healed. Sometimes we can be overly intellectual in our approach, here is an example of something happening that we might consider a bit silly.
Driving out evil spirits was not an unknown phenomenon, but there is a world of difference between the real thing and the counterfeit. The sons of Sceva obviously noted that Paul was being much more successful than they were, so they sought to adopt the same "formula". They were in for a shock, for it is nothing to do with a formula, but about knowing Christ. So the sons of Sceva were beaten up by demon. This should also serve as a warning to us that using the "right words" in prayer is not the key to "success". Knowing Christ is the key.
The event with the Sons of Sceva lead to more people honouring the Lord. It also filled believers with fear that led to repentance, getting rid of scrolls associated with sorcery.
Paul then left, aiming to go to Jerusalem, and then Rome.

Acts 19:1-7

Next Paul arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples who had not received the Holy Spirit. It is obvious that the gospel was not just spreading through Paul and his immediate team, but by other means as well, as people like Apollos and the Ephesians had heard somethings about Jesus.

The Ephesians had only received John's baptism, a baptism of repentance. Paul then told them about Jesus, and when they believed in Jesus they were baptised. Paul laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. There was evidence of this in that they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 

There are a few things that can be noted. One is that there is no set pattern to receiving the Holy Spirit, it happened in different ways and at different times to different people. We should never get hung up about how or when.

The second is that the key to the breakthrough was their hearing and believing in Jesus Christ. Remember this was also the key with Cornelius and his household. The prime task of the Holy Spirit is testifying to Jesus Christ, and our preaching and teaching should be centred on Christ.

Thirdly Paul clearly saw being filled with the Holy Spirit as crucial, and there was clear evidence of them being filled with the Spirit.

Acts 18:19-28

Paul left Corinth, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him. It is perhaps notable that Priscilla's name comes first, maybe she contributed more than Aquila. The churches gave to each other, both financially, spiritually, and in terms of people. The Greek churches gave money to the Jerusalem church, Jerusalem gave spiritually to all the churches, and various churches gave people to the mission.

Paul went to the synagogue in Ephesus and reasoned with them. He seems to have had quite a good reception, as they wanted him to stay with them. For some reason Paul declined, probably because he had other places to go to.

Next he went to Caesarea and then to Antioch. After that he went on to Galatia and Phrygia,

We then read about Apollos, and we see that Paul was not the only one helping the church spread. Apollos knew about the Lord and used his knowledge of Scripture to expound the gospel, but he had not received the Holy Spirit. Priscilla and Aquila explained about the Holy Spirit to him, and Apollos went on to soeak even more boldly and was an encouragement to the churches.

We can learn various things from this. First, although Apollos spoke accurately about Jesus, he still needed the Holy Spirit, and was even more effective after he was filled with the Spirit. Conversely, we should note that even before he had received the Spirit he was effective and taught accurately. We must not despise people who are not "filled with the Spirit", though we should also encourage them to be so.