Title: Grace that came to Ephesus/Acts 19
The book of Acts is an act of preaching the gospel that spreads to the ends of the earth. Acts 19 describes an event where the gospel was preached to Ephesus during Paul's third missionary journey, and the grace of the Holy Spirit came there. The second Pentecost happened because of Paul's preaching of the gospel, and he preached the Word there for two years. As a result, seven churches, including Ephesus, would have been established in Asia Minor by Paul.
1 The grace of the Holy Spirit (1-7).
2 Grace of the Word (8-10)
When Paul boldly preached the gospel in the synagogue in Ephesus for three months, some people became hardened (hardened by nature) and disobeyed, slandered and opposed Paul. Paul set aside those who were not willing to receive the gospel from such people, and preached the Word every day in the vows of Tyrannus for two years. It was the grace of the Word. We must receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Word together. When the obedient saints of Ephesus received the grace of the Word, the Word was preached with power, and everyone in Asia Minor heard it.
3 The grace of burning (11-41)
Power is revealed in the gospel. The sick were healed. The devil has gone too. The demon controlled the magician and even testified of Paul and Jesus. Eventually, many Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus witnessed the power of the gospel, magnified the name of the Lord Jesus, and confessed their sins. Many people who practiced magic gathered books of magic and burned them in front of everyone. True grace brings revolutionary change in life. Let go of worldly customs such as divination, rites, and superstitions and live a new life. “In those days you followed the customs of this world, after the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). That was what the Ephesians looked like before. But now he has received the true grace of burning idols and superstitions. Now let's look at the Epilog of Acts 19. The revolutionary power of the gospel shook Ephesus. The whole castle was buzzing. But the noisy crowd soon dispersed (Acts 10:41).