by Tim Green
bringing salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek.
I received news from Ephesus, about a Jewish man named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was named after the Greek god Apollo, who was the sun-god and shepherd-god, associated with music, prophesy, poetry and hunting. Apollos was an eloquent speaker, well versed and with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been informed about the "Way of the Lord" and with great spiritual fervour he spoke and taught accurately about the Messiah. However, he was only acquainted with the baptism of John. He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him speak, they took him aside and explained to him the "Way of God" in fuller detail. We were known as "The Way" or the "Disciples of the Way" and the "Church of the Way." Jesus was referred to as the "Way of the Lord" or the "Way of God." Converts were referred to as believers, disciples, brothers or saints. We never used the term, Christians.
Apollos wished to cross over to the Province of Achaia, mostly Greece. So the brothers wrote a letter to the disciples there, urging and encouraging them to accept and welcome him heartily. When he arrived, he proved to be a great help to all those who through grace had come to believe. He powerfully and conclusively refuted the unbelieving Jews in public, showing and proving by their Jewish Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, by the will of God. Grace be to you and Shalom - peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, sympathy and pity. He is the God of all comfort and encouragement. Who comforts us in every trouble, tribulation and affliction. So that we may also be able to comfort those who are in any kind of trouble and distress, with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God Himself. For just as Christ's own sufferings fell upon me. Just as they overflowed upon me and I experience them. So through Christ, comfort is also shared to others by me.
For I do not want you to be ignorant and uninformed, brothers, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in the Province of Asia. How we were so utterly and unbearably crushed, that we despaired even of life. I was so pressed with hardships that I no longer wanted to live. I wanted to die. We felt within ourselves that we had received the very sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of trusting in God, Who raises the dead. That our faith may rest in the power of God and not in the wisdom of men. God did not want us to put our faith in ourselves but rather in Him, and in Him alone. For cursed in the man who puts his faith and trust in man.
Therefore we do not become discouraged. For our light, momentary affliction is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but we look at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing in His resurrection from the dead. Seek the rich treasures that are above, where Christ Jesus, the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds and keep them set on the higher things that are above and not on the things of the earth.
Cassius got to meet many of my friends in Rome when they came to visit me while I was under house arrest. He saw how strong our friendships were and the tight bonds between us. He got to see how a spiritual father encourages and exhorts his spiritual sons.
Amen - so be it.
Unusual Miracles. #16
While Apollos was in the city of Corinth, I went through the upper inland districts and came down to Ephesus. I found some disciples there in the city of Ephesus, so I asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed on Jesus as the Messiah?" They answered me saying, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." I was shocked to discover that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit. "In that case," I said, "into what baptism were you baptized?" They replied, "The baptism of John."
So I began explaining to them, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, from turning from sin towards God. He continually told the people that they should believe in the One Who was to come after him. That is, in Jesus Christ the Messiah, and be obedient to Him." On hearing this, they were baptized in the waters, in the name of the Lord Jesus. When I laid my hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, that they began speaking in tongues and prophesied. In all, there were about twelve of these men.
I went into the synagogue and for three months, I spoke out boldly, engaging in dialogue and trying to persuade people about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When some became more and more stubborn, not believing. When they hardened their hearts by discrediting and speaking evil of the "Way of the Lord" before the congregation, I separated myself from them. I took the disciples with me and went on holding daily discussions with them in the lecture room of Tyrannus. We started daily at ten o'clock in the morning and finished at three in the afternoon. I continued to teach like this daily for the space of two years, so that all the inhabitants of the Province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the message of the Lord Jesus.
God did unusual and extraordinary miracles through my hands. Towels, aprons and handkerchiefs were brought to me and laid upon my body. When these garments that I had touched were laid upon the sick, their diseases left them. Even evil spirits came out and left those whom the aprons and handkerchiefs touched. Virtue was imparted from my body onto these towels, aprons and handkerchiefs giving them healing powers. I had heard stories of how Peters shadow had healed the sick. Insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them, bringing divine healing.
Some of the Jewish exorcists who travelled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over those who had evil spirits. They would say, "I exorcise you by the Jesus Whom Paul preaches!" One time, seven sons of a certain Jewish chief priest named Sceva were doing this. But one evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know and Paul I know. But you? Who are you?" Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, overpowering them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding. When this became known to the residents of Ephesus, the fear of the Lord fell upon them all, Jews and Greeks alike. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to be held in high regard.
Many of those believers, who had earlier made professions of faith now came and admitted their evil deeds. A considerable number of those who had engaged in occult practices threw their scrolls in a pile and burned them publicly, in the sight of everyone. When they calculated the value of the scrolls that were burnt, it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver, drachmas. Thus the message, the Good News of the Messiah continued in a powerful way to grow and spread throughout the world.
Some time later, I decided by the Holy Spirit to pass through the Provinces of Macedonia and Achaia, most of Greece and then go to Jerusalem. "After I have been there," I said, "I must visit Rome." I had a yearning deep within me, a small voice urging me to go to Rome. I had to go to Rome. By faith I was on my way to Rome. I dispatched two of my helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to the Province of Macedonia. But I remained in the Province of Asia for awhile. It was at this time that a major disturbance arose concerning the "Way of the Lord." There was a silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis, also known as the goddess Diana. She was the goddess of fertility. This craft provided a large amount of work and business for the craftsmen.
Demetrius called a meeting together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said to them, "Men, you understand that this line of business provides us our living. You can see and hear for yourselves that not only here in Ephesus, but in practically the whole Province of Asia, how this Paul has turned away a considerable crowd by saying that man-
made gods aren't gods at all. Now the danger is not only that the reputation of our trade will suffer, but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to be taken lightly. It could end up with the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the Province of Asia and indeed the whole world, being counted for nothing and her glorious magnificence may be degraded. And that she may fall and be brought down from her divine majesty!"
Hearing this, they were filled with rage and began bellowing, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was in an uproar. As one man, the mob rushed into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, my travelling companions from the Province of Macedonia. I wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples wouldn't let me. I was determined to go down there and rescue my spiritual sons. I would have taken the beating for them. My love for them ran deep. I will most gladly spend myself and be utterly spent for their souls. Some of the officials of the province, friends of mine, sent a message to me,