The Book of Acts, Part 4

Well, good morning again, brethren, and Brad has got a new map for you. So I'm continuing in our study of the Apostle Paul and his travels.

I'll kind of bring you up to date with what we've covered so far, but of course we're in the book of Acts.

And I think it's incredible, you know, whenever the Bible begins to shrink.

That's what I think.

Whenever I get a little bit of a, somewhat of a understanding of how something fits together, then it makes it seem like the Bible has shrunk.

See, now you can look at the Bible as 66 books, which is a big number of books, and you can certainly look at a lot of different authors. And you can see how that they all tie together under God's inspiration.

But, you know, until I get somehow my mind wrapped around either the Old Testament, which I can't really fully say I have because that's still pretty big, a lot of unknowns to me, or the New Testament, which is at least smaller, and I can almost encapsulate it. You know, we have the four books of the Gospels, which obviously talk about the life of Jesus.

If I want to know something about that, that's where to look.

You've got the book of Acts, which we're studying now, which gives a history of the church, but the remainder of the books in the New Testament are letters.

They're letters either to the churches, the congregations, or letters to a member, or letters to the ministry. We have other letters to the churches, Paul or Peter or John or James.

And then ultimately we have the book of Revelation, the revealing of Jesus Christ, to tell us what's going to happen, to tell us what's going to lead up to His coming. So we should have, if we can kind of summarize those in that way, we should have a good overview of what the New Testament is about. And of course, the Old Testament is a history of man. And I'm not going to try to go through it at this time, but that's something we continue to study. But I want us today to be thinking about the third trip or the third journey or whatever you kind of want to call it, the missionary tour. That's the way it often is written. And if you look up the times that Paul is described in the book of Acts as traveling. And it seems like, you know, that he didn't really want to stay back home all that much. He wanted to be out and about and going somewhere. And I'll just as a reminder, you know, a good part of the book of Acts covers the Apostle Paul. Now, a lot of it does cover early on Peter and a little James and Philip and Stephen, I guess you find those characters in there. But the bulk of the book of Acts is about Paul. And of course, we talked about his conversion, which is in chapter nine. And we talked about how he was then trained and trained even directly by Jesus Christ in Arabia. That was a part of his training. He mentions these things in different ones of his writings. And we could go to those, but I'll just generally say those at this point. We also read through chapter 13 and 14, which was Paul's first journey. As he left from Antioch, he went through Cyprus and up into mid-central southern Turkey into the area of Galatia. And he went to several different locations, several different towns. One of them, I'm sure, would always stand out. Lystra. Why? Well, there were two things that happened. He found Timothy there. Timothy was from Lystra, and Timothy would later become a minister and certainly a co-worker with Paul. Secondly, Paul was stoned, left to die. I doubt that he ever forgot Lystra. But God, of course, restored him. But we read those in Acts 13 and 14. In Acts 15, you have the Jerusalem Conference, which I've not even touched on, but it occurred in about 50 A.D. And so we see the dating there. That his first trip was before that, probably three or four years. His second trip began right after that conference, which is what we went over last time, to chapter 15 or the end of chapter 15, up through chapter 18. His first trip he was with Barnabas. The second trip he was with Silas. And again, these names are somewhat familiar with us. If we read through the pretty easy-to-read book of Acts, Luke is writing it. He's writing it very chronologically. He's writing it pretty clearly. It's something all of us can read. And it helps me to see kind of where the locations are. Because I see on this second journey that he wanted to go back through where he had established churches before, but then he also was sent up into Greece, up into Europe. He was sent into Philippi and Thessalonica, and down to Corinth. And these were all going to be significant, significant congregations that he would later send a letter to that would become a part of our New Testament and become a part of the guides that all of us have for our lives. And we find that Paul Paul was on that second journey. He wrote a couple of letters. These were letters that he needed to write to the Thessalonians. And he wanted those two letters first and then second Thessalonians were the earliest of what we see that's recorded as part of the Bible as far as the letters that Paul was writing.

And he covered topics that were significant or needful for very new Christians. They needed to understand that they're awaiting the coming of Jesus. They needed to understand the resurrection of the dead will occur when Jesus returns. In the second book of Thessalonians, he also needed to help them realize, well, now there are a number of things that still have to happen. And so I don't think you need to. You might die. That's what he was telling them because he realized that they may have misunderstood the importance he was focusing on the coming of Jesus. Because again, as we know now, that was 2,000 years to be 2,000 years later. But his third tour begins here in Acts 18 in verse 23. So let's go there and you can follow along with one side of the map has the third tour, the other side has what we'll eventually cover as a fourth tour, although it was simply a cruise through the Mediterranean. A cruise being captive on ship, he was taken from the coast of Israel or just north of there, taken to the world capital of Rome. He was in captivity during the entirety of that trip. And of course, even after he got to Rome, he was in captivity.

Although it appears he had a lot of latitude, he could do a good amount of preaching and teaching and receiving people. So here in Acts 18, let's begin. Verse 22 ended his second tour. He landed at Caesarea. He went up to Jerusalem. He greeted the church there and went back down to Antioch. So this is where Paul ends up residing, actually leaving from each of the times when he is leaving on a trip to go see the churches. And in verse 23, it says, after spending some time there in Antioch, it doesn't say how long, it just says he spent at least a short time there, he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples. See now, in essence, that's kind of a description of what we see that I think in many ways stands out on this third trip. See, Paul had started out the first trip. He was establishing churches. He was actually, you know, God was calling some Jews, but many Gentiles, to be a part of the church. And he would establish churches. And then on the second trip, he went back through that same area and went further up into Greece and down to Corinth and Athens. And then, of course, he'd kind of go back, usually, and go back down to the Middle East. Here in this third trip, you find Paul wanting, you know, to go back and to see the brethren in the, what it says here, he wanted to strengthen the Christians. He wanted to strengthen the brethren so that they were continuing to grow, so that they were developing. And actually, what we find here on this third trip, ultimately, in this third trip, which I believe almost you can, I don't know if you can fully identify how long each one of them took, but it looks like it could be up to about four years, each of the three trips. But we can see that he is on this third trip. He is in the city of Ephesus for three years. And so much of this trip, he's going to be in one location. But see, what we read or what we see is that he saw a need, a need to strengthen the brethren. He saw a need to build them up. He had written to the Thessalonians earlier. And what we find on this second or this third trip, excuse me, is that he is going to be writing to several of the other congregations, because those congregations were going to need instruction. They were going to need instruction to be fending off those who would try to take them away. And they were going to need some instruction about how to get away from sin.

You are going to need to struggle against sin. So he's going to be writing some of these during this third tour, and during the three years, primarily, he was in Ephesus. So we see that he starts out here in chapter 18, verse 23. I want to drop down to verse 19. We'll come back to the little section that I'm jumping over here about Apollos. And it says, while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. So Paul had gone through the middle part of Turkey, the middle part of where Galatia would be as kind of a province. And he then would travel through what we see on the map there as western Turkey and would come to Ephesus. And it's interesting to see, he found some disciples there, and he said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? And they said, no, we've never even heard about the Holy Spirit. Now, obviously, these people had begun to know something about the truth. They had begun to know something about Jesus Christ, but they clearly were not fully converted. They did not fully understand what it is that we need if we're going to relate to God the Father.

And so he goes ahead to tell them, well, well, into what were you baptized in verse 5? And they said, well, we were baptized into John's baptism. Or, excuse me, verse 3. And then verse 4, Paul says, well, John baptized with a baptism of repentance. See, what John the baptizer was doing, he would tell people, you need to repent. You're sinners. You need to repent. You need to be baptized, and you need to look for the one who's going to come after me. That was what John's message was. He was actually laying the groundwork, you know, for people who would ultimately come to understand who Jesus really is and what it is that he and the Father have in store for you. If you're to be a son of God or a daughter of God, then they're going to provide you a gift, a gift of the Holy Spirit. See, these people didn't understand that. They were in Ephesus. They were believers, or at least they had begun to believe or begun to see certain things about themselves. And so Paul said, well, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe, and the one who was to come after them, that is in Jesus.

And on hearing this, they were immediately baptized again. It says they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. And in this case, they spoke in tongues and prophesied, and together there's about 12 of them. And so you see an interesting little blurb here that Luke includes in this that shows us a lot, shows us, you know, there are levels of growing and understanding, and clearly you've got to come to understand something about your sins, something about who Jesus is, and something about how He can do something about it. He can solve your problems. He can forgive your sins. And then beyond that, as he taught these Ephesians, you can be a recipient of the Holy Spirit. You can become a son or daughter of God. You can have the hope of eternal life. And so it's fascinating to see what Paul did here in Ephesus. He entered the synagogue in verse 8 and for three months spoke boldly, arguing persuasively about what? Well, he already was teaching about Jesus and about the Holy Spirit and about the need to have that Spirit living in you, dwelling in you. But here he's persuading people about the Kingdom of God. That's our message. That's the message that we proclaim. The United Church of God teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, because those are both. They tie together with what God is doing with all of us. And when some, verse 9, stubbornly refused to believe, and when they spoke evil of the way, before the congregation, he let them, taking the disciples with them, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Terenas. And they continued there for two years, so all the residents of Asia, Asia being what you would say is western Turkey, maybe even beyond, all the whole area. Both Jews and grits heard the word of the Lord. So here it directly says two years. I'll point out to you in chapter 20, verse 31, Paul says, I was there in Ephesus for three years. So he obviously was there longer than just the two years he was doing this one particular task. But I'd like to jump back here into chapter 18, because you see a short section here about Apollos. And what is it we know about Apollos?

Maybe I'll ask you to think about that a little bit. I know that I only know one or two things about Apollos. What would any of you venture to say, maybe some of you surely know more than I do about him? What can we say about Apollos? Anything stand out? Maybe not. I would doubt that he probably didn't, as he should. Tom mentioned he was a good speaker. That's one. I mentioned two things that I think of. One was he was an eloquent speaker. He was very fluid. He was able to persuade. I'm sure he probably was well-educated. He was from Alexandria. And yet he was a good speaker. The second thing that I think of is that he's one of the three that Paul mentions whenever he's writing to the Corinthians and says, you all are divided. Some of you think you're following Peter, and some of you think you're following me, and some of you think you're following Apollos.

We all better be following Jesus Christ. This is where Apollos fits in here because verse 24 of chapter 18. Then came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos. He was a native of Alexandria, so he was from Egypt. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures, and so clearly he was very familiar with the Old Testament, which was of course what was available at the time. He was a Jew, it says. He was apparently well-educated. He was a good speaker, and yet he was, in verse 25, he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm, and he taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.

So he had a good start. He had the Old Testament. He had clearly the prophecies of the Messiah, who was to come, and now he has come. Of course, again, this is just 15-20 years after Jesus has come and died and been resurrected. It says he taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he only knew the baptism of John. See, he was limited in what he was able to preach, what he was able to teach, and even what he would tell people they needed to do.

And so, in verse 26, he spoke boldly in the synagogue and went Priscilla and Aquila.

This is a couple that had been in Rome and then came back to Corinth and met Paul there. This is earlier, I think, on the second trip. And as he was coming back on his second trip, he came back to Ephesus and Aquila and Priscilla came with him and they stayed in Ephesus. It appeared they were not only a stable couple who were able to help the church in many ways. In this case, they listened to Apollos at the synagogue and they said, we need to see if we can help him.

They heard him, they took him aside, and they explained the way of God to him more accurately. So they gave him more insight into understanding to what Paul was going to teach people at Ephesus. What they saw, you know, that he understood the baptism of John. He knew what it was that you need to repent of your sins. You need Jesus as your Savior. Did he understand that you needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? Did he understand that you need the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands?

Again, these were things that people were becoming. You know, we read this. We know that's what it says. You read Hebrew 6. You can read what the doctrines of the church are. That wasn't available to anyone at this point. And yet, Priscilla and Aquila were kind enough to be able to help Apollos to come to see, you know, oh, I need help. And apparently he was teachable. In verse 27, when he wished to cross over to Okea, when he wanted to go over, and again, you can see he's in Ephesus now, when he wanted to go over to Okea, over to Corinth, because that's where he was going to head, the believers encouraged him, and they wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

And on his arrival, he greatly helped those who, through grace, had become believers. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus. So again, he got his start down in Alexandria. He came up to Ephesus. He ran into Paul, or not directly Paul, in this case he ran into Aquila and Priscilla before Paul actually came back there, and they sent him on over to Corinth, because that's where Paul had come with them from when they came to Ephesus.

But see, I mention that because, see, whenever Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he starts off in the first chapter saying, you know, some of you are following Apollos. You're not focused on Jesus Christ. You're dividing. Of course, he said some were following me, and some were following Peter. You need to get your act together and realize Jesus Christ is the head of the church. You're not following men. And yet, see, when I see that reference, I wonder, well, where did he come from?

Well, Luke tells us where he came from. Again, this is pretty much the history, I think, of what you have about Apollos. You see in 1 Corinthians 3 about Paul planning an Apollos watering, but God gives the increase. That makes a lot of sense, or more sense even as we read through this. You see some extraordinary things that Paul did, and I'm sure I'd better move along here because, well, we don't have to go anywhere today.

Anyway, you see a reference to being anointed. But being anointed at a distance, being anointed through the use of an anointed cloth, says in verse 11, chapter 19, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases let them and the evil spirits came out of them.

You know, that's a reference to an anointed cloth, and all of us understand in James 5, it tells us if we are sick that we can be anointed, and that we can ask for God to help us, and we can ask for mercy, and yet an anointed cloth is another way that the Bible tells us that we might be anointed. We're still looking to God, we're still looking to Jesus Christ as our healer.

We're looking in faith to them. It's not so much the physical vehicle, but it's who we're contacting in that way. You also find kind of a humorous incident here.

Some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord over some evil spirits, saying, we adjure you by the Jesus that Paul preaches, several sons of the Jewish high priest named Siva. We're doing this, but in verse 15, the evil spirit said to them, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? And of course, as you read the next couple of verses, you find that it didn't turn out so well for them. Clearly, evil spirits were cast out by Paul and by others of the apostles, by the ministry of Jesus Christ. That didn't work with these Jewish exorcists, because the evil spirit knew better. The evil spirit clearly knew who Jesus was, and they were familiar with Paul, but they weren't going to be directed by others as to what they knew so clearly. They needed to re-examine their plan there. You also find, verse 18, many of those who were believers confessed. What's it say in the King James there? Mine says, they confessed and disclosed their practices. That's what my translation that I'm reading says, the New Revised Standard. What's it say in the New King James there in verse 18?

Telling their deeds. Okay, then maybe this is interesting. Disclosing their practices.

You know, it actually shows they were coming to a deeper understanding of their need for repentance, because they were practicing magic. They were dabbling in things that the evil spirits could also be involved in. And so it says, a number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly. When the value of the books were calculated, it was found to be 50,000 silver corns. So in verse 20, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. So this is during the time in this third journey that Paul is in Ephesus. And as I've said, he was there for three years. And so the time frame before all of this is happening, you know, it would appear, you know, it would be during that three years. And you see in verse 21, now after these things had been accomplished, Paul, and so here you find a verse that says, this is what Paul would like to do. This is not always what Paul was not always allowed to do, what he wanted. You know, he often found he was restricted. He was not allowed to go into certain regions or he was directed to go into Macedonia when he did during the second tour. So here Paul resolved in the spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go back to Jerusalem. And he said, after I've gone there, he was going to go to Jerusalem for a reason. Again, you don't see all of this right in this verse, but you see that this is what he would do as you follow the story here. After I've gone back to Jerusalem to take some of the supplies that have been put together for, you know, from the congregations here in Macedonia and Achaia and in Ephesus, or in what it terms as Asia here, you see the term Asia for Ephesus, at least same region, same area, that's where he was, they were sending supplies back to Jerusalem because of a great need. And so that was what Paul eventually would be doing. At the end of his third tour here, he would be taking this stuff back to provide it for the benefit of the brethren in Jerusalem and in that area. So he said, I need to be going to Jerusalem, and then after that, after I've completed that, I must also see Rome.

Now, surely Paul didn't realize, if that was his intention, he didn't realize exactly what was going to transpire to cause him to go to Rome. You know, that was yet to be worked out by God. He was not just going to be able to jump on a cruise ship and travel through the Mediterranean, go up and meet Caesar in the palace. That wasn't going to happen. He would go to Jerusalem, he would suffer a great deal, he would have to defend himself before the Jews. He would then be in captivity and, in a sense, have to be protected by numerous levels of Roman officials so that he could then be taken as a captive on a boat during a bad time of the year to eventually get to Rome. So, you know, that's kind of what the rest of the book is about.

But, let's see, let's drop down. While he was in Ephesus, you see there in verse 21 and 22, kind of Paul's thoughts. He's saying, I need to go back to Macedonian. Now, who's in Macedonian? Well, the people in Philippi, the people in Thessalonica, and the people in Berea, the people where he had established churches before, I'd sure would love to go back. I'd like to go over there. But, see, he wasn't always just allowed to go. You see him restricted at times. And it almost seemed like, well, I can send some of my co-workers. I can send Timothy, or I can send Silas, but I'm not allowed to go. So, it says in verse 27, he sent two of his helpers, Timothy, and Erastus to Macedonian. So, he sent them up to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, while he stayed for some time longer in Ephesus. And so, you have someone of a general description here of Paul in Ephesus and kind of what he was thinking he ought to do or needed to do. And he was able to send some of his helpers to visit the churches to see how they're doing. You find at this time that Paul is getting wind of problems that the people in the area of Galatia are having. And he's going to write his book to the people in Galatia. He's going to write it here from Ephesus. Let's see if we can take a look at this. He's hearing about this.

Actually, he may have even written this book to Galatians a little bit earlier. I mean, I'm going to kind of run into here because I'm not exactly sure from what studying I've done, you know, to know if you can clearly see exactly, you know, the time frame that they're all very close together. He was hearing out of Galatia problems where Judaizers were coming up into the area and they were telling the congregations, you all need to be circumcised. You can't be Christians without being circumcised. That's in essence what we find when we take a look at the book of Galatians. He is writing against the Judaizers who were plaguing the church, plaguing the congregation in Galatia. And you see Galatia being there in kind of the middle part of Turkey where Antioch and Derby and Lystra are. Those areas, that's where the area of Galatia would be. And of course, he's going to write to them and explain to them just how they are justified. That they are justified by faith, not by their works, and certainly not by the circumcision that the Judaizers were trying to get them to, you know, ascend to.

Maybe we could turn back to Galatians.

Galatians, just in chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1.

You find Paul actually writing this book and telling them, well, look, the Gospel that I spoke to you about Jesus Christ and about the Kingdom of God and about your need to turn from sin and for you to obey God and serve God and be led by the Holy Spirit. That's a Gospel that you need to stick with. You need to stay stable and not let the Judaizers, which he's going to talk about a lot here through the rest of the book, not let them convince you otherwise. So here in Galatians chapter 1, he says in verse 3, I am just stunned that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to another Gospel, a different Gospel. Not that there is any other Gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.

But even if we are an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a Gospel contrary to what we proclaim to you, let that one be accursed. As we've said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims you a Gospel contrary to what you've received, let that person be accursed.

See, was he concerned about these brethren in Galatians? Did he want them to be confused or to be traumatized by those who would say, and this would be primarily Jews, who would say, no, you have to be circumcised. You have to be circumcised in order to really be accepted to God or by God, of course, like us. That's what they were saying. And of course, that's what he's having to write the whole book of Galatians to them about. How is it that you're justified? You're justified by faith in God. And of course, you obey and you serve God with your whole heart, and you have turned from sin. But see, you are justified by faith. And so, it's interesting to see in verse 6 the way that Paul writes, I'm astonished you're so quickly deserting the one who called you. How did we become a part of the Church of God? Well, God called us. He drew us to Jesus Christ, and He placed us in the Church of God that Jesus is the head of.

And if we drop on down to verse 11 and on down through the end of the first chapter here, you see Paul defending the fact that he was a servant of God. And what he had received, he hadn't just gotten it from Peter and James and John in Jerusalem. He said, I got this from Jesus Christ. Verse 11, I want you to know, brethren, the Gospel that I proclaim to you is not of human origin, for I didn't receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I simply received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. And of course, we can go back and read how God did that, how Jesus interacted with Paul to do that. So, I'll just point this out that Paul was needing to fend off the Judaizers in one part of mid-Turkey. He also, if we go back to chapter 19 of Acts, he also is hearing things because he had sent Timothy and arrested us into Macedonia. And what we find is that they would later go not only through Macedonia, but down into Achaia, where Corinth was. And we will find that Paul now is starting to write the book of what we know of as 1 Corinthians. Because not only is there chaos happening back in Galatia, but over here in Corinth, on the other side of the Aegean Sea, in Corinth, you've got people going ever which direction. They're divided. They can't figure out who to follow. Apollos is there, and he's approving of Apollos. He's approving of what Apollos taught. And he knew that some of the people were familiar with Peter. See, what did we find in the book of 1 Corinthians? I want to go to 1 Corinthians 16. See, this is the setting for this book. 1 Corinthians 16.

As he had sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, he wrote the book of 1 Corinthians, which I think we would say if we study all the letters of Paul, it's the most corrective of all of his letters. It's the one that seems to be most stern, and maybe he was alarmed by what he was hearing out of the church there in Corinth. Now, were they the Church of God? Yes. Did they have problems? Yes. Were they correctable? Mostly. Yes. And was he concerned about them? Did he so deeply want to see them respond in an understanding of repentance?

Now, we're going to see. Let's look at 1 Corinthians, and then later 2 Corinthians. That's exactly what Paul wanted. But what I wanted to show you here in 1 Corinthians 16, it says in verse 5, he's writing this at the close of this letter that he has put together for the Corinthian church. He says, I want to visit you after passing through Macedonia. See, we read he was wanting to go to Macedonian Icea, but I'm going to stay a while here in Ephesus. He says, I want to visit with you after passing through Macedonia, for I intended to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I'll stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may send me on my way whenever I go. And I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits, but I'm going to stay here in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. But he says in verse 10, if Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am. Therefore, let no one despise him. See, obviously, he was writing this letter, having been in Ephesus at the time when he wrote it and sent it. But see, what was he going to write them about? Well, when you read through 1 Corinthians, the whole thing. It's a giving instruction, but it is also correcting them for the first three or four chapters, or correcting them for their being divided. And what he said is, when you're divided, when you cannot all look to Jesus Christ and believe that he is working in your lives, well then, you are suffering for that, and you are really just simply carnal. That's what he says here in chapter 3. You can read through chapter 1, 2, and 3, but he says in chapter 3, he says, verse 2, I fed you with milk and not with solid food. For you were not ready for solid food, and even now you're still not ready. He says, you need to grow up. In verse 3, you're still of the flesh, for as long as there's jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving according to human inclination? For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another says, I belong to Apollos, are you not just simply carnal? He says, if you're just following men, see, and unfortunately, brethren, that could affect us. If we're just following men, we don't have much to stand on. We have to be focused. He goes on to say, who is Apollos? What is Paul? We're simply servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord is signed to each of you. He says, I planted in Apollos water, but God gave the increase or growth. So neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. So clearly, he was concerned about the fact that they were bickering and quarreling and jealous of one another and saying, I'm right, you're wrong. You know, that kind of squabbling, unfortunately, in the Church of God, and we've done too much of that. You know, you'd think we'd read. I mean, this is pretty graphic information that he gives in these chapters 1, 2, and 3, and even into 4 of 1 Corinthians. He says, don't do that. Grow up! Chapter 5, of course, he's addressing a immorality issue. Chapter 7, he's writing instruction on marriage. We all are familiar with chapter 12 being about the gifts of the Spirit and certainly chapter 13 being about the most excellent gift of all.

He said, if you had this, you wouldn't be arguing over all these other things. 1 Corinthians 13 is a chapter about love, the love of God. That love being absolutely complete, absolutely permanent, absolutely supreme. He said, this is the way to go. Chapter 15, of course, he's writing about the resurrection. And so this is what we see Paul writing from Ephesus to a Church that he very much wants to see repent and change. And what we find as we continue following along this story here, he is in Ephesus, like we said, over several years, three years it would appear. And he gets messages back and forth. And sometimes you see, I think you can see here that Timothy comes back. He's able to give a report or he's sending Timothy to them. And actually, you see this in 1 Corinthians, but you also see that he would also write 2 Corinthians. See, he sent 1 Corinthians to them and he hoped that they would receive this correction because he was having to correct them because they were wrong. He says, I hope you see that I'm doing this for your good. I am trying to help you. And you actually see that written about more so here in the second book of Corinthians because he wrote this second book. And I want to read a little bit of it because it's truly wonderful to see the love that Paul is expressing for the Christians that he knows are struggling. And yet he wants them to respond. He wants them to repent. He wants them to improve. He wants them to grow. He says, I'm going to come there eventually. Actually, if you read through the whole book, he says, I want to come there eventually. I'm not coming right now. I don't think you're ready to see me. And he said, I certainly, when I come, I hope I can come in gentleness and not with a stick. He didn't want to have to continue to be as harsh as he had been because he was harsh, at least firm, in what he had to say to them. But here in 2 Corinthians, if we take a look at that, you see him encouraging in the first four chapters, you see 2 Corinthians 2. Let's go to that. He says in verse 1, I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. So he says, I don't want to be not accepted by you. I want to be received. You may not realize it, but it's to your benefit for you to listen to what God is saying to you through me. He went on to say in verse 2, if I cause you pain, who is there who could make me glad but the one whom I paint? He says the one that could really cause my heart to just be thrilled is you. I would love to just see you respond in a positive way. And I wrote as I did in verse 3, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice. For I am confident about all of you that my joy would be the joy of all of you.

For I roach you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears and to cause you pain, or excuse me, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. See what kind of concern did Paul have? You see him writing with such passion, with such concern, with such desire to see them bounce back. And of course, you see later as you read through the book, you see that they are responding. He's getting a report that they are responding. He's oh great! I'm actually glad. And of course, he's writing here in chapter 7 about godly repentance.

And later on, even though he's defending himself as a servant of God, he still is concerned about these people who seem at least some were repentant and some were still standoffish. I want us to look in chapter 12.

Again, we most often read chapter 13, verse 5, at the Passover.

Examine yourself to see whether you're living in the faith.

I mean, that's clearly a verse that we can read, and it is applicable to the way we apply it, but see the setting of what he was saying, if we understand that, then we can read 2 Corinthians, and 1 Corinthians for that matter, with better understanding. We see that he was appealing to them here in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 14. He says, Here I am ready to come to you this third time.

See, he had been there on the first or the second trip. He apparently had been there another time. He was wanting to come this third time. And I do not want to be a burden to you, because I don't want what is yours, but I want you. Children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.

If I love you more, am I to be loved less? Let it be assumed that I did not burden you. In verse 20, he says, I fear that when I do come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish. I fear that there may be perhaps quarreling, still, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. See, this is what he said. You know, I see that some of you are responding, and you're opening your heart to me, but I see others of you still quarreling, and jealous, and angry, selfish, and in disorder. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and that I may have to mourn over many who previously sinned, and have not repented of the impurity, and sexual immorality, and licentiousness, that they have practiced. See, he was really apprehensive. I don't really know whether I want to come and see you, because I don't know whether you're receptive, and I don't know whether you've repented in chapter 13. He says, this is the third time I'm coming to you. So again, he's writing this from Ephesus, and he was saying while he was there, I'm going to go up into Macedonia, I'm going to come down into Achaia, and he does. If you look on the map, you see that that eventually is what he does. But these are letters that he was writing, and there was actually a lot of stuff going on, even in Ephesus. If we go back to Acts 19, you see that not only did Paul labor over the growth of the members of the congregations that he was so concerned about, he also, here in chapter 19, starting in verse 23, about that time, no little disturbance broke out concerning the way. This is, again, while he's in Ephesus. And there's big uproar that occurs. And Demetrius and others who are making their living out of selling idols, little images of Diana, because the temple of Diana are there, and they're all complaining. These are not church members necessarily, but they're complaining. Well, look, you know, you're preaching. You're preaching, verse 26, saying that God's made with hands are not God's. Duh, yeah, that's for sure. And of course, you know, the main thing they could see is that this is ruining our souvenir business. You know, that's exactly what was happening. And verse 29, the city was filled with confusion. And I think I read this to you before, verse 32, some were shouting one thing and some another, and the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn't know why they were even together. It was a riot. That's just like today. Just like today. You know, you see people in different parts of this country, they don't have any idea why we're out here. We're just out here. We're out here to create a little confusion or a lot of confusion. That's exactly what Paul was running into. And actually, you read, and I won't read all of this here, verse 28 to verse 31. You know, Paul wants to go out there and mix it up. They say, nah, we'll put you in the back. You're not going to help anything with this. And eventually, you see, it calms down some. But in chapter 20, verse 1, after the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he would leave for Macedonia. So eventually, he had written Galatians, he had written 1 and 2 Corinthians. He was now going to leave for Macedonia. And around this time, he also, as he goes up into Macedonia, which is where Greece is, and he's been called Greece here in verse 3, I guess it is, he's also going to write a letter to a church that he's never been to. He's going to write a letter to the Christians who make up the congregation in the world capital of Rome.

This is when he would be writing the book of Romans. And again, trying to pin these down exactly is not something I can do, and I think if others could, then you probably have it written a little more clearly. But it appears that this is where he was also sending a letter to Rome, and clearly the book of Romans is longest. It is one of the most expansive books. It covers a great deal of territory. And you see, let's jump back here to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. You see, as Paul was writing this book to a church that he had not visited, he'd not yet been able to get to Rome, because he's saying even in the book, I want to come to you, but I haven't been allowed. It says here in chapter 15 of Romans verse 22, for this reason I've so often been hindered from coming to you. I haven't been able to come to you. I'm writing you a letter. I'm going to tell you, and certainly the book of Romans is a remarkable book, and chapter 8 is one we've highly recognized regarding the Holy Spirit and how it is to work in our lives. Of course, chapter 6 and 7 and 8 are all about baptism and repentance and turning from sin and being led by the Holy Spirit. But here it says in verse 22, I've so often been hindered from coming to you, but now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you there in Rome when I go to Spain. So here he's talking about other places he also wants to go, that he needs to proclaim the gospel. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you once I've enjoyed your company for a little while. Verse 25, at present, however, I need to go to Jerusalem. I need to go to the Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints. See, I've got stuff that we've been collecting for some time, materials, food, other supplies that we need to take to Jerusalem. For, verse 26, Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints of Jerusalem.

And they were pleased to do this, and indeed they ought, they owe it to them. For if the gentiles have come to share in the spiritual blessings, they also ought to be of service to those in material things. And so when I have completed this, when I've gone back to Jerusalem and taken this supplies, the need is great in Jerusalem, then he says, when I have completed this and have delivered it to them who what has been collected I will, but set out by way of you, by way of Rome, to Spain. Again, this was Paul's intention. This isn't what happened, but this is his intention. And I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Jesus Christ. See, that's what you see at the end of the book. You can tell where he's writing it from. He says, I'm heading into Macedonia, I'm sending this, I've not been there, I want to see you, I am concerned about you, but you don't see, in a sense, you know, the same kind of a personal attachment, because how could you, then you would have to the congregations of Thessalonia and Corinth, or even what he would even later write to Ephesus or Philippi.

See, these are the books that he was writing on this third tour, and he would eventually go, if we go back again to Acts, we'll get through the end of this trip here pretty quick. Here in Acts 19 or Acts 20 we are. It says in verse 2, when he had gone through these regions, that would be of Macedonia, and given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, he stayed there for three months, he was about to set sail for Syria, in a plot, you know, he always had to kind of run away from the people who were persecuting him. Verse 6, we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we met in Troas. And you see the discussion here of Eudicus falling out of the loft, needing to be revived, because Paul apparently was taking a keynote from Gerald Waterhouse and speaking for endless periods of time, apparently all evening and all night, and, you know, he probably had to break and have pot luck during that, and several other things going on, but you can read that. Verse 13, he went ahead to the ships that sailed, here he's going, you know, along the coast, he's actually come down into Corinth, he's coming back, he's going along the coast, and amazingly, he doesn't really even want to go back to Ephesus, but if you'll recall, they kind of ran him out of town. You know, they had this big uproar over the statues of Diana, and even though he wanted to get in on it, they wouldn't let him, the church wouldn't let him, they said, no, look, they'll kill you, we don't want you out there, until he eventually goes on, and so here you find him coming back, verse 16, Paul decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not have to spend time there. He was eager to be in Jerusalem as possible on the day of Pentecost. So you see, the Holy Days referred throughout the book of Acts, and certainly through Paul's writing, you know, obviously, they were not only just being mentioned, but being respected and observed, and so in verse 17 from Miletus, he sent a message to Ephesus asking the elders of the church to meet him there in Miletus. Miletus appears to be on the coast, pretty close to Ephesus, so they would have to travel down there. And when he came to them, you see from verse 18 on down to the end of the chapter, you see Paul's discussion with the elders from Ephesus, and you see him, you see him, in a sense, warning, encouraging, uplifting them, but in a sense, saying goodbye. He says, I know I'm not coming back. I know you'll never see me again. Here in verse 25, I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. And therefore, I declare to you this day that I will never say that I'm not responsible for the blood of any of you. You're the one who's going to have to paddle your own canoe. I've tried to lay the foundation. I've tried to point you to Jesus Christ. I've preached the kingdom of God. He says, verse 27, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Did he proclaim the plan of God, the purpose of God? That's the big picture. That is the trunk of the tree. That's what we all want to be focused on. He says, keep watch over yourselves. Keep watch over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God that He obtained with the blood of His own Son. And I know after I'm gone, savage wolves are going to come in and not spare the flock. And even some of you, even from your own group, verse 30, will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow Me. Follow them. Brethren, don't go for that. That is ridiculous. Therefore, be alert.

Remember in verse 31 that for three years I didn't cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. That's where He says I was in Ephesus for three years. He had certainly done different things while He was there, but He was there for a lengthy period of time. In verse 36, when He finished speaking, He knelt down with them, all of them, and prayed. And there was much weeping among them as they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because He had said that they would not see Him again. This is His return trip. He's going to get on the boat from there and jot around the northern coast of the Mediterranean there and then down to Jerusalem. And I'm not going to take time to read through this. You can read down to verse 16 of chapter 21, which is just His trip and where He went and who He saw. He would greet the church, then He would pray with them usually, and then move on. But He also had a mission. He says, I know I need to go to Rome. I want to go to Spain, and I need to go to Jerusalem to deliver these supplies. But actually, Paul is warned here, look, when you get there, it's not going to be pretty. And verse 12 of chapter 21, when we heard this, we and the people urged Him not to go to Jerusalem. The brethren didn't want Him to go because they were hearing that, you know, you're going to run into real problems. You've run into problems in Lystra, you've run into problems in Ephesus, you've been thrown out of several places, even Jerusalem isn't receptive to you. But in verse 13, Paul answered and said, what are you doing? Why are you crying and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of Jesus Christ. See, he was, in a sense, bent on going. He says, I don't care what happens. And interestingly, in verse 14, since he couldn't be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, the Lord's will be done. They couldn't prevent Him from going, but they could just wish Him well on it says He went on to Jerusalem, talks about where they stayed. So, Paul had an interesting third trip, and yet a trip where he had been in Ephesus much of that time and had been concerned about the problems that the Galatians were suffering from the Judaizers and the Corinthians from sin, and then others of the congregations that he would get good messages about. And he wrote Galatians and 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and Romans. It appears from this location. And of course, there are other letters that he's going to write, and we'll be able to talk about those later, but these were all done on his third trip. And so, he has gotten back to Jerusalem. He's gotten back home. He's gotten back to an area that he's familiar with and comfortable with and is going to be bound and taken into captivity there. That's what we'll read next time.