Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “Who Will Tell Them?” – Sunday, 8 June 2014 - Scripture: Acts 19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. 2 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.”
3 He said, “Into what then were you baptized?”
They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied. 7 They were about twelve men in all. 8 He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s Kingdom.
9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out. 13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.
15 The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. 19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.[a] 20 So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.
Footnotes:
a. Acts 19:19 The 50,000 pieces of silver here probably referred to 50,000 drachmas. If so, the value of the burned books was equivalent to about 160 man-years of wages for agricultural laborers
“Who Will Tell Them?” by Bill Manning
Paul arrived in Ephesus almost 30 years after the death of John the Baptist. Yet Paul found there a group of about 12 disciples who still followed John. They believed in the coming Messiah and in John’s baptism of repentance. Yet they knew nothing of the cross, the resurrection, or the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It was Paul’s privilege to tell them about Jesus. On hearing of His life, death, and resurrection, they were baptized in Christ’s name (Acts 19:5). And when they heard about the events of Pentecost, they were filled with His indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 6).
Imagine how frustrated those 12 disciples were before Paul arrived? How hard it must have been to live without Christ’s example and teaching. How empty their lives were without the hope of the resurrection. How impossible it was to share their faith without the power of the Spirit.
We, too, know people who have an inadequate knowledge of Christ. All around us are those who have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
- Will you share your faith in Christ with those who need to hear?
- Will you tell them about the empowering of God’s Holy Spirit?
Hymn for Today:
“A Charge To Keep I Have” by Charles Wesley1. A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify!
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky;
2. From youth to hoary age,
My calling to fulfil;
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master's will.
3. Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And, O Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give.
4. Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely;
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.
Thought for Today:
“Your way, God, is in the sanctuary.
What god is great like God?
You are the God who does wonders.
You have made your strength known among the peoples.” (Psalm 77:13-14
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Cape Verde!
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