- The speaker used to spend a lot of time playing online poker, but then received an invitation to study the New Testament with a fellow Christian.
- The speaker realized that discipleship is essential to the life of a Christian.
- The key verse in the book of Acts is Acts 1:8, which talks about receiving power from the Holy Spirit and being witnesses for Jesus.
- The three major themes in the book of Acts are the Holy Spirit, commission, and the church.
- The passage being discussed is Acts chapter 19, which introduces Apollos and Paul's arrival in Ephesus.
- Paul finds some disciples in Ephesus, showing the importance of discipleship as instructed by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20.
- A disciple is someone who knows and follows Jesus Christ.

- Jesus calls his disciples to follow him and be changed by him
- Being a disciple involves knowing and following Jesus with the head, being changed in the heart, and being committed to his mission
- The disciples in Acts 19 were not aware of the Holy Spirit until Paul taught them and baptized them in the name of Jesus
- Believers receive the Holy Spirit at the time of their conversion and are sealed by the Spirit
- Discipleship is essential to the Christian life and involves teaching, baptizing, and empowering believers through the Holy Spirit
- Paul reasoned and persuaded about the kingdom of God for three months, but some people hardened their hearts and spoke evil of the way
- Despite opposition, Paul continued to teach and disciple in the school of Tyranus for two years, and the word of the Lord spread throughout Asia.

- Paul withdraws and takes his disciples to Tyrannus, where he spends 2 years making disciples
- Paul likely taught between 11am and 4pm when others were resting
- Discipleship is essential in the life of a Christian
- Paul had the authority to perform miracles, which authenticated his message
- Miracles can still happen if it is God's will
- A story is shared about a campfire skit where God answered the prayer of two young campers
- Satan is actively opposing God's work

- Satan opposes God's work and tries to hinder ministry efforts
- A group of men tried to cast out evil spirits but were overpowered and defeated
- F.B. Meyer questions if the devil knows about and fears believers
- The people in Ephesus repent of their sins and burn their magic books
- The word of the Lord spreads widely and grows in power
- The Book of Acts shows the anointing of the Holy Spirit, fulfillment of the Great Commission, and growth of the church
- Key principles from the text include following Jesus, being in tune with the Holy Spirit, discipling others, contributing to the church community, and allowing the word of the Lord to grow in power
- Christ's lordship should be evident in our lives and we should seek to overcome sin with the help of others

- The speaker reflects on a preachers conference in 2003 and being moved by a charismatic speaker
- They were confused about how the speaker gained so much knowledge and preaching ability at a young age
- The speaker mentions the lack of internet resources at the time
- They received a book as a gift with a message encouraging their growth in Christ
- The speaker prays for the ability to minister to others and for the transformative power of God's word

- The speaker used to play online poker but then started studying the New Testament with a fellow Christian.
- The key verse in the book of Acts is Acts 1:8, which talks about receiving power from the Holy Spirit and being witnesses for Jesus.
- The three major themes in the book of Acts are the Holy Spirit, commission, and the church.
- Acts chapter 19 introduces Apollos and Paul's arrival in Ephesus.
- Paul finds some disciples in Ephesus, emphasizing the importance of discipleship.
- Discipleship involves knowing and following Jesus, being changed by him, and being committed to his mission.
- The disciples in Acts 19 were not aware of the Holy Spirit until Paul taught them and baptized them in the name of Jesus.
- Paul faced opposition but continued to teach and disciple in the school of Tyranus for two years.
- Miracles can still happen if it is God's will.
- Satan opposes God's work and tries to hinder ministry efforts.
- The people in Ephesus repent of their sins and burn their magic books.
- The Book of Acts shows the anointing of the Holy Spirit, fulfillment of the Great Commission, and growth of the church.
- Key principles from the text include following Jesus, being in tune with the Holy Spirit, discipling others, contributing to the church community, and allowing the word of the Lord to grow in power.
- The speaker reflects on their own journey and prays for the ability to minister to others and for the transformative power of God's word.

Third Missionary Journey - Ephesus Acts 19: 1-22

A number of years ago, Nancy and I were at a wedding when I happened to mention to those sitting around the table that I was spending a lot of time playing online poker.

It was 1 of those online poker sites where you play for points.

I'd become so obsessed, there were times where I'd be playing 4 tables at the same time on the same screen.

That week I received a phone call from a brother in Christ who also attends RBC, who happened to be sitting at her table at the wedding with an invitation.

Stephen, how would you like to spend some time with me reading through the New Testament?

How grateful I am still today for that phone call.

Starting with the Gospel of Mark, we would make our way through the New Testament each week.

We would listen to audio commentary by a Moody's Bible teacher who would compliment our reading and then we would discuss what God has put on our heart We would end the evening with prayer And I must admit it was a much better use of my time.

And the online poker, it soon became a part of my past.

This is what I learned from that time spent with my brother in Christ.

Discipleship is essential to the life of a Christian.

When I pretend to click, it was working in the dry run.

When I do this, Balaji, just hit that button.

I know you're gonna have to follow now, all right?

So as we continue our study in the book of Acts, I believe that the key verse, and I asked Joash the same thing earlier, I said, what's the key verse in the book of Acts?

I said, I agree, and here it is on screen.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

That I believe is the key verse to understanding the book of Acts and I believe that there are 3 major themes in the book of Acts.

Holy Spirit, commission, which is another word for instruction, and the church.

And what I love about the passage that I get to teach on this morning is that each of these 3 themes is nicely interwoven in our text found in Acts chapter 19.

Now at this time I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 19.

It is 1 of 3 passages that we will be looking at this morning.

The other 2 are in the Gospel of Matthew, but we're gonna start in Acts chapter 19 at verse 1.

And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.

Last week, Joash introduced us to Apollos.

We learned that he had a great knowledge of the scriptures.

We read that he was instructed in the Lord.

But he knew only about the baptism of John.

You see, his understanding of baptism was based on repentance and not on faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

And it is clear that Apollos was missing a key piece of information.

And so Priscilla and Aquila, they hear him, they notice this, and they reach out to him.

They invite him to their home, and they explain to him the way of God more adequately.

You see, discipleship is essential to the life of a Christian.

This verse also tells us that Paul came to Ephesus.

We know it's the capital city of the Roman province of Asia or modern day Turkey.

That's almost twice the size of the city or municipality of Rosemount, Rosemount Bible Church where we are, so Ephesus would have been twice the size of the people living here in Rosemount.

It was a city of healthy trade because they were close to the harbor and because of that proximity there was a lot of, the area was always bustling with people, but it was also a city that practiced magic and was deep in the occult.

Many visitors came to the city to see the temple of Diana.

Diana, also the Roman name for Artemis, known as the fertility goddess.

And cult prostitution was an important part of their worship.

And so Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, recognizes the need in Ephesus and will spend 3 years, 3 years ministering to the people.

And what does Paul do upon arriving in Ephesus?

We read, Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus finding some disciples.

Paul doesn't arrive in Ephesus and go straight to the beach or the golf course, right?

Instead, in verse 1 we read, finding some disciples.

Why did he take the time to find some disciples?

Let me suggest it's because it's what Jesus modeled and instructed his disciples to do.

In Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 to 20 we read, Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Jesus, who has all of the authority in heaven and on earth, clearly says that is what we should do.

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

It is good, I mean it is good to focus on the message of the cross.

But let us not forget about the importance of discipleship that Jesus not only demonstrates but also asks us to model.

You see, Jesus would train his disciples, his disciples would train other disciples, and then those disciples would go and they would train other disciples.

Discipleship is essential to the life of a question.

And so we must ask ourself this question.

I wonder if I was to pull this audience, I see some people, don't look at me, I won't do it, okay?

But if I was to ask you, what is a disciple?

I'm convinced that we'd have many answers.

Let me suggest to you that this is what a disciple is.

In Matthew 4, verse 19, we read, come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people.

First, we see that a disciple is someone who knows and follows Jesus Christ.

A disciple is someone who recognizes who Jesus is and places himself or herself under his authority.

So a disciple is someone who is positioned behind Jesus.

Perhaps that's why we read in Matthew 16 verses 24 and 25, then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

You see, Jesus is not just Savior who saves us from our sin, but he is also Lord, the 1 whom with all authority in heaven and earth says, follow me.

And so it begins with the head to know God.

And the disciples had some understanding of who Jesus was and they were willing to follow him.

And the second part of being a disciple, well, it moves to the heart.

If it begins with the head then it moves to the heart because Jesus says come follow me and I will make you.

So a disciple is not just about knowing and following Jesus but it's also about being changed by Christ.

Jesus was going to change them by spending time with them, and that is so important, by spending time with them, and by teaching them, knowing that if they reflected to the world who he was, many others would believe and become his disciples too.

We know that today the Holy Spirit produces Christlikeness in those who know him as Lord and Savior.

And So a disciple is someone who knows and follows with his or her head, is changed to reflect Christ in his or her heart, and is a fisher of men, of people, someone who is committed to Christ's mission.

Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people.

The cause of Christ is to fish, to be fishers of men.

For God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only son that whoever, whoever, whoever, there's no limitations, whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

Once Jesus changes our heart to be more like him, we will care more about the things that he cares about.

We will recognize that there are 2 types of people, those who are saved and those who are unsaved.

Do we care enough to reach out and to love them, even when they rub us the wrong way?

And are we willing to use our hands and perhaps our feet and our abilities and our resources and our time to be fishers of people.

So a disciple is someone, as the slide says, who knows and follows Jesus with his or her head, is changed to reflect Christ in his or her heart, and is a fisher of men, someone who is committed with their hands and their feet to Christ's mission.

And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus finding some disciples.

He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Paul, as he spends time with his disciples, notices that there is something missing in their lives and he asks them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

So they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

They were not even aware that the Holy Spirit was given.

Maybe they're looking at each other, looking down, shrugging some shoulders.

In verse 3, and he said to them, into what then were you baptized?

Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is on Christ Jesus.

You see these disciples only knew about John's baptism, a baptism that prepared them to receive Jesus as King, but their understanding, like Apollos, was incomplete.

Maybe they had even received some of his teaching.

Those who were part of John's repentance, they looked forward.

They looked forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Someday in the future it will come, but it was already available.

Verse 5, when they heard this, when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This Baptism was an outward sign of an inward change.

And next week, Nick, I just looked at Nick, Nick is gonna have more to say about baptism when he speaks next week on our Baptism Sunday.

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Notice that 1 of the first things you do when you disciple is you baptize.

And in verse 5, we read that they were baptized according to the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

This is the fourth distinct occurrence of the Holy spirit given in the books of Acts.

The first was at Pentecost, involved primarily the Jews.

The second was in Acts 8 at the laying of the hands of the Samaritans.

Acts chapter 10, the third occurrence was at the home of Cornelius.

And here in Acts 19, we have the fourth occurrence involving the disciples.

Today we know That believers receive the Holy Spirit at the time of their conversion.

That the Holy Spirit empowers them for certain ministries and allows them to be bold in their faith.

Ephesians 1, 3, And you were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, oh that's amazing, with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

Romans 8 verse 9, you however, you However, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed, if indeed, the Spirit of God lives in you.

And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

You want proof that someone is a Christian?

The witness of the Holy Spirit in their life is the proof required.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Here we have a wonderful example of how Discipleship is essential to the life of a Christian.

Paul, he invests in the lives of the disciples.

He walks with them, he spends time with them.

He notices that something is missing in their life.

In the name of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they do some supernatural things.

Verse 8, and he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for 3 months, for 3 months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

For 3 months Paul will reason with them intellectually and he will persuade them by influencing their wills concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

Verse 9, but when some were hardened and did not believe but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyranus.

And this continued for 2 years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Notice how some people respond to the gospel message or to the message of the kingdom of God.

You see in this passage we see that both their intellect and their wills were hardened.

Not only that, it wasn't enough that they were hardened, but now they felt a need to create a disturbance, speaking evil before the crowds.

It's hard to disciple people when their heads and hearts are hardened.

He withdraws and brings the disciples to Tyrannus, a Greek who some scholars say gave classes in philosophy.

He takes his disciples and he goes somewhere else.

Spends 2 years making disciples just as Jesus had instructed.

You see, there is a detail added to 1 of the manuscripts that suggests that Paul spent most of his time teaching in the afternoon.

You see, in those days, people would work from 7am to 11am, and then they would return home from 11am to 4pm in the heat of the day.

And there They would eat, they would rest, they'd do whatever they had to do before they'd return to work from 4pm to 9pm.

In fact, more people probably slept at 1 o'clock in the afternoon than at 1 o'clock in the morning.

And what is interesting is that it suggests that Paul most probably did most of his teaching between 11am and 4pm when many others had opted to go home to sleep and to eat.

And I'm just so impressed with Paul's eagerness to teach, Paul's eagerness to disciple.

How easy it would have been for Paul to say, you know what, I just don't have the time.

It causes me to reflect in my own life, How am I using my time for kingdom purposes?

Because brothers and sisters, what I've come to realize is that people will always make time for what's important to them.

All who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

The same brother in Christ with whom I would study Scripture with, would once again reach out to me.

Stephen, let's meet regularly downtown for lunch.

We can eat, we can walk around, we can share what God is doing in our lives.

Stephen, tell me, how are things going with the youth ministry at RPC?

Let me tell you what's going on in my life.

Stephen, how are you enjoying your time on the leadership practicum team with the elders?

I'm so grateful that this individual found the time in his busy schedule to disciple me.

Verse 11, now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

You see, Paul had the authority to perform signs, miracles, wonders.

It was God performing the miracles through Paul's hands.

And through the miracles, I believe that Paul's message was authenticated.

Imagine for a moment someone getting a hold of Paul's handkerchief.

Perhaps it's what he wore around his head.

It was like a sweat band that would absorb the sweat as he worked.

And the 1 that held the tools as a tent maker.

And they would take these things and they would bring it to the sick.

And it said, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits fled.

Some may be asking, can these miracles be repeated today?

I would answer by saying, God is sovereign, And all things are possible with God.

But the apostles of that day had supernatural powers that I don't believe have been extended today.

That said, I still believe in miracles, especially if they are God's will.

It's been a while since I've been up here.

Camp was a long time ago, but I still have a story in my back pocket that I want to share.

You see, this summer at Parkside Ranch, Julian and Thomas, both from RBC, were both part of the maintenance team.

And they were selected, I love the word, selected to be part of a campfire skit.

Similar, she's not here, Similar to how Katie Brereton was selected to be part of the Mexican knife throwers last year at RBC's weekend retreat.

You'll mention, I don't see, but that's what was going on here.

And so Julian and Thomas, they did not know what was the what, what they would be participating in.

And so after some thoughtful deliberation, It was decided, again, without their knowledge, and among a very few select individuals, because we didn't want this surprise getting out, right?

It was really, there was tight lips, tight lips.

It was decided that they would be part of a chicken battle royale.

See, each would be dressed like chickens, and there'd be a balloon that would be tied to their ankle, and they had to fight around like chickens and pop the other person's balloon.

From the picture, you will notice, oh, Belaji, work with me, yeah.

You will notice that an orange construction code was taped to their face to replicate the beak of the chicken.

You will see that their torsos are completely covered in molasses, so that the bird feathers would glue nicely to their body.

In each hand at the dollar store, in the animal section, we found 2 squeaky chickens.

They were like dog toys that they held in each of their hand.

On each foot, not in this picture for good reason, we actually had a chicken foot that came from a chicken farm and it was tied to their ankle and they had to protect that at all costs.

And you see these 2 men, they gallantly battled each other in the middle of this campfire, tried to pop the other person's balloon.

And in the end, Thomas was the winner of the first inaugural Chicken Battle Royale.

You can tell that's all the youth from Camp Clapping, right?

Here is what no 1 knew at the time, including me.

In 1 of the girls' cabins, over the past 2 nights before we did this thing at campfire, 2 young campers were praying to God, asking God to show them a miracle, asking God to reveal himself to them.

And they prayed, and this is what they, they prayed, God, if you are real, can you show us a chicken dance?

God answered their prayer, not just with a chicken dance, but with the whole kid in caboodle, right?

From the head to toe, the beak, the feathers, the chicken feet, the chicken dance, the chicken toys.

I mean, on the last night of camp, these 2 young ladies, they stood up at campfire and they shared their testimony with everyone.

And they're telling everybody how God had revealed themselves through this prayer.

And by answering their prayer to see this chicken dance, As a result of that, these 2 young ladies had asked Jesus to come into their life as both Lord and Savior.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves, I'm in verse 13, to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, we exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.

Also there were 7 sons of Siva, a Jewish priest who did so.

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