Sermon On the Mount

 

 

BE READY

 

ACTS 19: Paul’s continuing journey took him to Ephesus where he found some Disciples who had received John’s baptism and he asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit, and they replied that they didn’t even know about the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them and they received the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages and prophesied. Paul went into the synagogue to preach but they didn’t want to listen so he left and went into the lecture hall of Tyrannus and he preached there for about 2 years. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so powerful that if anyone even touched a cloth of his they would get well.

 

There were some Jews who were going around driving out evil spirits and they tried, unsuccessfully, to invoke the name of the Lord. There were 7 sons of a Jewish high priest who tried this and when they did the evil spirit in the man overpowered them and beat them very badly. This put quite a scare in the Jews in the area. Many of them began confessing their evil deeds and some burned their scrolls they had used practicing sorcery. After this happened Paul decided to go to Jerusalem.

 

About that time a man named Demetrius who made silver shrines of the local’s god, Artemis, became very disturbed, and gathered together some men in related trades. He told them of his concern that what Paul was doing would be very bad for their business. When they heard this they became furious and began to shout praises to their god, Artemis. Soon the whole city was in an uproar and they seized some of the Disciples and brought them into the theater. The crowd was very agitated and began to chant once again to their god, Artemis. The city clerk got involved and eventually got the crowd to quiet down. He explained their meeting was unlawful and the fact that the Disciples did nothing wrong. He said if anyone had a problem with them they should take go to court.

 

What we see in this chapter is a continuation of the trials the Disciples had everywhere they tried to preach the Word. But the Word of God is more powerful and will always prevail. As Christians today, we must stand ready to deliver His Word to anyone who will listen. Each one of us has a very distinct witness capability, whether it is direct one on one discussion or the example we can be according to how we live, act and react to life and what confronts us each day. Remember, we know that God is watching and so is everybody else.