Acts 19 - Powerful Name
Acts 19 NLT
The first time Paul visited Ephesus on his 2nd missionary journey he didn't stay very long but he said, "I will come back if it is God's will" (Acts 18:21) Well, now he was on his third missionary journey and sure enough, the Lord brought him back to Ephesus.
Paul quickly found a little group of guys who likely had been brought to faith through Apollos during his early ministry in Ephesus. Remember that Apollos, while he spoke with great fervor about Jesus, at the beginning he still had a limited understanding of the Gospel because he only knew of "John's baptism of repentance" and was mentored by Priscilla and Aquilla to "understand the way of God more adequately." (Acts 18:25-26)
So here was this group of guys in Acts 19 who loved God but had never even heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul "baptized them into the name of the Lord Jesus" and then when he "placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them.." (vs 1-7) God was at work big time!
I think there are a LOT of people who have experienced just a fraction of what it means to really know and follow Jesus who would be blown away if they were be filled with the Holy Spirit like these guys were on that day.
Remember that his last time in Ephesus, Paul had "reasoned with the Jews" in the synagogue and they had asked him to spend more time with them but he had declined. (Acts 18:20) So this time around he spent his first three months in Ephesus focused on the Jews. But as always seemed to happen, eventually things went south in the synagogue so he moved on to a secular lecture hall nearby where he actually held daily discussions for TWO YEARS! (vs 10)
Throughout Acts we have seen the power of the Name of Jesus. The disciples depended on invoking the name of Jesus in all their prayers (including when they were dealing with demon possessed people). Because "God did extraordinary miracles through Paul" (vs 11) in Ephesus, there were some Jewish exorcists who thought they could use the Name of Jesus like some magic word to further their own work. This backfired on them when the demon wouldn't listen to them (they used Jesus' name incorrectly) and beat them up instead. The result was "people were seized with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor." (vs 17)
As people "openly confessed their evil deeds" (vs 18) and repented from all their magic and idols (vs 19) "IN THIS WAY the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power." (vs 20) I like how God worked in this city through the obvious changed lives of these new believers.
The only people that didn't like it were the silver workers who made souvenirs and statues of Artemis (the Greek name of the Roman goddess Diana). Since Ephesus was home to the Temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) basically these silver workers depended on trinket sales to make a living. As people started following Paul's teachings and stopped following Artemis this was ruining their business. The ensuing riot and uproar was enough to drive Paul and his disciples out of town. (vs 23-41)
Prayer: Lord fill me with your Holy Spirit. Give me the faith to step out and be used by you to do extraordinary things in the name of Jesus. If there are areas of my life that I need to change, give me the wisdom to see them and the courage to repent. And if there are parts of my faith that need to be more adequately understood then give me the humility to listen and adjust the way I think and believe. In Jesus' name, Amen.
