The Word This Week
Acts 19:8…
Paul ventured into the synagogue at Ephesus to persuade the Jews attending there of the things of the kingdom of God.
For three months, every Sabbath day they permitted Paul to give instruction.
He was, after all, a brilliant lawyer, and former member of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. As a guest speaker, Paul likely would have been welcomed into the synagogue there by his credentials, at least initially.
Once again, Paul would have been seeking to bring a ‘completed’ Biblical understanding to those Jews who may be willing to listen. He would open their own scriptures to them, so they could see it with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears. In three months’ worth of Sabbath days, Paul would have been afforded plenty of time to bring his Gospel message to the Jews there.
But gradually Paul’s welcome wore out. When they even began to speak evil of the gospel message Paul was putting together for them from their own scripture, Paul realized he had done all he could, and all he was called to do for them – and he left.
He didn’t go far. At Ephesus, a man named Tyrannus had a school. It was typical in those days to have school sessions in the morning and then break for the afternoon because of the heat of the day. It seems most likely Paul arranged with Tyrannus to use the afternoons as a time to teach the Biblical gospel revealed by the Word of God to anyone would listen.
This would have been a tremendous number of hours of instruction, for both Jews and Greeks. Paul continued each day for two years. Given the brilliance and gifting of the apostle Paul, for him to spend so much time there teaching how the Old Testament fully revealed Jesus to be the long-promised Messiah would have been a wonderfully fulfilling time of instruction. The Ephesians who attended would have been among the best-instructed people on the planet pertaining to Jesus Christ.
As if to affirm the gospel of Jesus Christ Paul was teaching, God caused healing miracles to follow after his teaching.
Since Paul taught in the afternoons, he continued tent-making with Aquila and Priscilla in the mornings. Leaving the workshop to head for school, people began to gather his handkerchiefs and aprons and carry them to the sick in order to touch them with cloths Paul had worn.
Amazingly, anyone touched by those cloths were cleansed of their sicknesses and of their evil spirits.
Pastor Bill
Paul ventured into the synagogue at Ephesus to persuade the Jews attending there of the things of the kingdom of God.
For three months, every Sabbath day they permitted Paul to give instruction.
He was, after all, a brilliant lawyer, and former member of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. As a guest speaker, Paul likely would have been welcomed into the synagogue there by his credentials, at least initially.
Once again, Paul would have been seeking to bring a ‘completed’ Biblical understanding to those Jews who may be willing to listen. He would open their own scriptures to them, so they could see it with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears. In three months’ worth of Sabbath days, Paul would have been afforded plenty of time to bring his Gospel message to the Jews there.
But gradually Paul’s welcome wore out. When they even began to speak evil of the gospel message Paul was putting together for them from their own scripture, Paul realized he had done all he could, and all he was called to do for them – and he left.
He didn’t go far. At Ephesus, a man named Tyrannus had a school. It was typical in those days to have school sessions in the morning and then break for the afternoon because of the heat of the day. It seems most likely Paul arranged with Tyrannus to use the afternoons as a time to teach the Biblical gospel revealed by the Word of God to anyone would listen.
This would have been a tremendous number of hours of instruction, for both Jews and Greeks. Paul continued each day for two years. Given the brilliance and gifting of the apostle Paul, for him to spend so much time there teaching how the Old Testament fully revealed Jesus to be the long-promised Messiah would have been a wonderfully fulfilling time of instruction. The Ephesians who attended would have been among the best-instructed people on the planet pertaining to Jesus Christ.
As if to affirm the gospel of Jesus Christ Paul was teaching, God caused healing miracles to follow after his teaching.
Since Paul taught in the afternoons, he continued tent-making with Aquila and Priscilla in the mornings. Leaving the workshop to head for school, people began to gather his handkerchiefs and aprons and carry them to the sick in order to touch them with cloths Paul had worn.
Amazingly, anyone touched by those cloths were cleansed of their sicknesses and of their evil spirits.
Pastor Bill