Acts:19

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* While Apollos was at Corinth , Paul passed through the upper country to Ephesus , and found some disciples . * He said to them : »Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed ?« They said : »We have never even heard of a Holy Spirit .« * Paul asked : »What kind of baptism did you get ?« They replied : »It was the baptism John taught .« * Paul said : »John baptized with the baptism of repentance . He told the people they should believe in Jesus , the one who came after John .« * When they heard this , they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus . * Paul laid his hands on them and Holy Spirit came upon them . They spoke with tongues and prophesied . * There were twelve men in all . * He entered the synagogue and spoke boldly reasoning and persuading about the kingdom of God . He did this for three months . * Some were obstinate and publicly maligned The Way before the crowds . He departed from them , and separated the disciples , reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus . * This continued for two years so that all who lived in this part of Asia heard the word of the Lord , both Jews and Greeks . * God did special miracles by the hands of Paul . * Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his body were put on the sick and the evil spirits went away . * Some Jews went around driving out evil spirits saying : »In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches I command you to come out !« * And there were seven sons of Sceva , a Jew , and a chief priest , who did this . * The evil spirit answered and said to them : »Jesus I know , and Paul I know , but who are you ?« * The man who had the evil spirit jumped on them , and overpowered them . He gave them such a beating that they fled out of that house naked and wounded . * This became known to all both Jews and Greeks , who lived at Ephesus . They were all afraid . The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified . * Many of the believers confessed openly about the evil things they had done . * Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books and burned them in the sight of everyone . When they totaled the value of them it came to about fifty thousand pieces of silver . * The word of God kept on growing and prevailed . * After this ended Paul was directed in the spirit to go to Jerusalem after he passed through Macedonia and Achaia . He said : »After I have been there , I must also see Rome .« * He sent two of his helpers Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia . He stayed in Asia for a while . * A great disturbance occurred about The Way . * A man named Demetrius , a silversmith made silver shrines of Diana . He brought a lot of business to the craftsmen . * They gathered together along with similar related workmen , and said : »Sirs , You know we receive a good income from this business . * »You see and hear that Paul , in Ephesus and throughout all Asia , has persuaded and turned away many people . He says that man-made gods are no gods at all . * »There is danger that our trade will lose its good name . The temple of the great goddess Artemis would then become useless . The goddess who is worshiped in all Asia would be robbed of her divine majesty .« * When they heard this they were filled with anger . They shouted : »Great is Artemis of the Ephesians .« * The city was filled with the confusion . They rushed with one accord into the theatre and seized Gaius and Aristarchus , men of Macedonia , Paul ’s companions in travel . * Paul wanted to enter the theatre with the people but his disciples would not permit it . * Some of the officials and his friends sent him a message begging him not to enter the theatre . * Some cried one thing and others another for the crowd was in confusion . Most of them did not know why they assembled . * The crowd of Jews thrust Alexander forward . Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make a defense to the people . * They perceived that he was a Jew and all with one voice shouted for two hours : »Great is Artemis of the Ephesians .« * The city recorder quieted the crowd . He said : »You men of Ephesus , what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Artemis , and of the image which fell down from Jupiter ? * »Seeing that these things are indisputable it is fitting that you keep calm and do nothing rash . * »You brought these men , who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess . * »If Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have a grievance against any man , the courts are open , and there are judges . Let them accuse one another . * »But if you seek anything about other matters , it shall be settled in the regular assembly . * »For indeed we are in danger to be charged with rioting because of today ’s events . We would not be able to account for this ruckus for there is no reason for it .« * When he finished speaking he dismissed the assembly .

---