Gary Gleans

                                                                                       Acts 20:25-38 And now, behold,   I know that none of you among whom I have gone about   proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.   Therefore   I testify to you this day that   I am innocent of the blood of all,   for   I did not shrink from declaring to you   the whole counsel of God.   Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all   the flock, in which   the Holy Spirit has made you   overseers,   to care for   the church of God, which he   obtained   with his own blood. I   know that after my departure   fierce wolves will come in among you,   not sparing the flock;   and   from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.   Therefore   be alert, remembering that   for three years I did not cease night or day   to admonish every one   with tears.   And now   I commend you to God and to   the word of his grace, which is able to   build

                                                                             Acts 20:17-24 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called   the elders of the church to come to him.   And when they came to him, he said to them:   “You yourselves know   how I lived among you the whole time   from the first day that I set foot in Asia,   serving the Lord   with all humility and with   tears and with trials that happened to me through   the plots of the Jews;   how I   did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and   teaching you in public and from house to house,   testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of   repentance toward God and of   faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained   by   the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,   except that   the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that   imprisonment and   afflictions await me.   But   I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if

                                                                                       Acts 20:7-16 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together   to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.   There were many lamps in   the upper room where we were gathered.   And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he   fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.   But Paul went down and   bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said,   “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”   And when Paul had gone up and   had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.   And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.   But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending h

                                                                                  Acts 20:1-6 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.   When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.   There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews   as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.   Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.  These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,   but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.   Paul’s mission to the nations was rich, productive, dangerous, and many other things, but it was never accomplished alone.  The ministry

                                                                             Acts 19:28-41 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out,   “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”   So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and   Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's   companions in travel.   But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.   Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.   Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander,   motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.   But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice,   “Great is Artemis of the

                                                                                       Acts 19:21-27 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit   to pass through   Macedonia and Achaia and   go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there,   I must also see Rome.”   And having sent into Macedonia two of   his helpers,   Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia   for a while.   About that time   there arose no little disturbance concerning   the Way.   For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis,   brought no little business to the craftsmen.   These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.   And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people,   saying that   gods made with hands are not gods.   And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but

                                                                             Acts 19:11-20 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,   so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.   Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”   Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”   And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all   of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.   And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now

                                                                                       Acts 19:8-10 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.   But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.   This short passage records one of the most astounding and successful missionary efforts in history.  Paul had been prohibited by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in Asia during his second missionary journey. However, this is the beginning of his third missionary journey and God uses his ministry in Ephesus to reach the entire region.  Clearly this was by God’s design.  It is interesting to the strategy Paul implemented in this place.   EVANGELISM AMON

                                                                                  Acts 19:1-7 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland   country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.   And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”   And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.”   And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in   the name of the Lord Jesus.   And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.   There were about twelve men in all.   Transitions are unique moments in history where God is bringing about change in the way he is dealing with men because of additional revelat

                                                                                     Acts 18:23-28 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor   and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, provi

                                                                                  Acts 18:18-23 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.   When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.   As Paul leaves Corinth after a long and fruitful ministry, he begins his return trip back towards his sendin

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews   made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,   saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”    But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.    But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” And he drove them from the tribunal.   And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.   Paul had been promised protection in the passage before this one.  The promise is obviously fulfilled in this passage.  God can protect His followers and confuse His enemies even using an unbelieving judge.  His power is on display in this text and should encourage every person who strives to adva

                                                                             Acts 18:1-11 After this Paul   left Athens and went to Corinth.   And he found a Jew named   Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife   Priscilla, because   Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,   and   because he was  of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.  And   he reasoned in the synagogue   every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.  When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul   was occupied with the word,   testifying to the Jews that the Christ was   Jesus.   And when they opposed and reviled him,   he shook out his garments and said to them,   “Your blood be on your own heads!   I am innocent.   From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”   And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius   Justus,   a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.   Cris