Acts 19 could be a three-act play.
Act 1 Pneumatology.
Act 2 demonology
Act 3 Mythology
If we could open the veil between the natural and spiritual
realm in this chapter, and then capture it on camera, it’d make an exciting
Spiritual Warfare movie.
Today, the curtain opens on Act 3 of Acts 19.
21 When these
things were accomplished...
When, what things were accomplished?
The verse before explains, 20...
the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
How’d that happen?
We saw it played out in the first two sections of this
chapter.
Over two years of preaching and teaching the Word of
God, and the Church minding its business, doing the Lord’s business of being
soul winners and disciple makers, resulted in folks being filled with the Holy
Spirit (verses 1-7) and emptied of demons (verses 8-19); and the word of the
Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
This reflects Jesus’ words; I will build My Church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it... (Matt. 16:18).
The Church (Ekklésia, the people of God) prevailed.
The Church is called by Christ to reign, conquer, succeed,
overcome, all pervasively prevail impacting the atmosphere of every
arena of life; personal and public, natural and spiritual, economic and
religious and political.
After all those things were accomplished...
21...Paul purposed
in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to
Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
After the Church grew mighty and prevailed, after it
was strong and steady, the Lord put the desire in Paul’s heart that he had
other fields to plow, all the way to Rome.
That’s how it goes. When we delight ourselves in the
Lord, He gives us the desires of our heart. Psalm 37:4. When we commit our
works to the Lord, our thoughts are established Proverbs 16:3.
The Lord plants a Seed. An inner unction. A still
small Voice.
Walking in His calling, not our comfort, allows us to
hear His leading.
22 So he sent
into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy
and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.
Notice it says, Paul sent, not Paul went.
He sent ahead a couple men on his ministry team to start
preparing the new harvest field.
But Paul stayed for a time.
The Lord may plant the Seed simply, suddenly, unexpectedly,
but the Divine Timing for the Seed to sprout, blossom and bear fruit, usually
takes plowing planting, sunshine and rain, pruning and patience.
(NOTE: this applies specifically to when
God plants a Seed, NOT when He gives a command. At His command, we stop, drop
and roll, with whatever He said, without hesitation.)
23 And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.
Consider the timing.
Peek behind the veil into the realm of spiritual
warfare.
The activity of the Church impacts the
natural and spiritual atmosphere.
Paul has set his sights on leaving. Two of his ministry
partners have departed. Now a great commotion about the Way, the Church,
breaks out.
Perhaps the enemy of the Way, the Truth, the Life, saw
this transition as a sign of weakness, a good time to strike, like a serpent
waiting, watching, in the weeds.
Consider the timing when not so long ago (2020) an invisible
enemy shuttered, masked and muzzled much of the Church. Then, shortly
thereafter demons came out screaming and rioting and looting and shooting and
burning down the system. They were openly praised and applauded and funded by
left wing lunatics, mentally manipulated media and puppet politicians.
However, just a few days ago, 1.20.25, terror
supporters had planned mass riots in 70+ cities across the country on Inauguration
Day.
But today the Church is NOT shuttered, masked, muzzled, and we saw no mass rioting anywhere in our nation. Only the squeaky voice of an imposter hiding behind a bishop’s pulpit, a confused, silly woman laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts (2 Tim. 3:6).
A picture of the battle we’re in.
Let God arise and His enemies be scattered. Psalm
68:1.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith,
who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the
craftsmen. 25 He called them together with the workers of
similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity
by this trade.
The pagan worship to Diana brought a lot of revenue to
the silversmiths.
The temple was bigger than a football field and had about
1,000 male and female prostitutes.
The silversmiths made a fortune selling little dirty Diana
dolls, or idols, to temple worshippers.
But they had a problem. So, Demetrius, like the head
of the silversmith's union or guild, called a meeting.
Guys, you know we’ve gotten filthy rich off this trade...
26 Moreover
you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this
Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying
that they are not gods which are made with hands.
The Church was simply minding its business, doing the
Lord’s business, of soul winning and disciple making.
Folks becoming Christians no longer bought dirty Diana
dolls. That had a huge impact on the silversmith’s bottom line.
The activity of the Church impacts the economic
atmosphere.
Speaking of economic impact, have you heard that Bible
sales have skyrocketed?
27 So not only
is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple
of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed,
whom all Asia and the world worship.”
Demetrius ignites a fire. He exaggerates the situation
to engage and enrage his listeners, (like media today).
These Christians are not only a threat to our local
economy, but a threat to the whole world’s worship of our magnificent great
goddess Diana.
The activity of the Church impacts the
religious atmosphere.
Christianity is an affront (offense) to religion.
Christianity exposes the weakness of religion.
Christianity is relationship with God, not religion to
God.
28 Now when
they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out,
saying,
The activity of demons manipulates mobs
into wrath.
BLACK LIVES MATTER!
From the river to the sea!
My body, my choice!
Equal rights!
No wait, wrong time period.
Back about 2,000 years they shouted:
“Great is Diana of
the Ephesians!”
Same story.
Same evil trying to silence Truth.
Same darkness trying to extinguish Light.
Same source.
29 So the
whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with
one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s
travel companions.
30 And when
Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him. 31 Then
some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading
that he would not venture into the theater.
32 Some
therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did
not know why they had come together.
The activity of demons results in mass confusion.
James 3:16, For where
there is envy and strife there is confusion and every evil work.
1 Cor. 14:33a, God
is not the author of confusion.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the
multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander motioned with
his hand, and wanted to make his defense to the people. 34 But
when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for
about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
They didn’t even give
Alexander a chance, they shut him down simply because he was a Jew.
The activity of demons
displays discrimination.
Prejudice and race
baiting, is evil, driven by demons, and just plain stupid.
They gathered in a theatre,
like a stadium, that’d seat 25,000 people. You can still visit the remains
today. It still has awesome acoustics.
In that stadium they shouted for two hours.
If you’re thinking, “Nobody
would be dumb enough to sit in a stadium and shout, ‘Great is Diana!’ for two
solid hours.”
Just change the words to,
“Go Packers!” or Lions or, Vikings or Cowboys or Giants or...”
Over and over, they
repeated, Great is Diana (Artemis) of the Ephesians!
This repetition was a chant,
a form of worship. Repeating the same phrase over and over again.
Jesus said,
when you pray, don’t use vain repetition like the pagans do. Matt. 6:7.
Parroting mind
manipulation is used among media today. A lie often told is soon believed. The devil
is the father of lies.
The activity of demons brings
strong deception.
35 And when
the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: “Men of Ephesus, what man is
there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of
the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down
from Zeus?
The city clerk (mayor) settled the crowd.
A little Greek Mythology sneaks in here.
Tradition claims a meteorite fell on Ephesus and they believed it was a statue of their goddess Artemis (Diana) from Zeus. They claimed her to be the goddess of sex and fertility. Thus, the multi-breasted statues and little idols.
The mayor continues.
36 Therefore,
since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing
rashly. 37 For you have brought these men here who are
neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. 38 Therefore,
if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the
courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one
another. 39 But if you have any other inquiry to make, it
shall be determined in the lawful assembly. 40 For we are
in danger of being called in question for today’s uproar, there being no
reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.” 41 And
when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
God can use a secular politician to promote His plan
and protect His people.
In an instant God changed the trajectory of the
politics, by using an unlikely source to defend His people.
The activity of the Church impacts the political
atmosphere.
The mayor stuck up for the Christians, even though he
was not a Christian. Remember, he had just said, “the city of the Ephesians is
temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down
from Zeus.” So, evidently, he believed that nonsense.
However, he found no wrong in the Christians, they
were above reproach, so commonsense prevailed.
When the Church minds its own business, doing the Lord’s
business, of being soul winners and disciple makers, it impacts the natural and
spiritual and economic and religious and political atmosphere of the world.
1
Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we want to be about Your
business of being soul winners and disciple makers, so no matter where we go or
what we do, we impact the atmosphere, for You. Thank You for helping us shine
Your marvelous Light.
We Love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
Call or text: 612-554-2522
Email: pray4measap@aol.com
Facebook: Church at WPV
Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling
Watch online:
Facebook: Impact
Your Atmosphere, Acts 19:21-41
You Tube: Impact Your Atmosphere,
Acts 19:21-41
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you
to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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