PAUL THE APOSTLE 4
PAUL THE APOSTLE 4
After an extended stay back at Antioch, Paul set out with Timothy and others on his third missionary journey, first visiting the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, calling on the churches there and strengthening the Christians (CP Ac 18:23). Paul then went to Ephesus where he encountered about twelve men who had received John's baptism but knew nothing about the baptism Jesus instituted or the baptism in the Holy Spirit. After baptising them in the name of Jesus and laying hands on them they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the evidence of which was that they spoke in tongues (CP Ac 19:1-7). Paul preached the Kingdom of God for three months in the synagogue in Ephesus until the Jews hardened their hearts and began to agitate the people against the Christians. Paul then moved them from the synagogue to a Gentile school run by Tyrannus, where he taught them for two years. From there God's word went out into the whole of Asia, to both Jews and Gentiles (CP V 8-10).
After the seven sons of Sceva, the chief priest at Ephesus, were badly beaten, wounded, and stripped naked by a demon-possessed man they tried to exorcise, the church in Ephesus experienced a great revival (CP V 13-20). What happened in V 17-20 should be carefully noted because sadly, many Christians in the contemporary church are still involved in black magic, sorcery and idolatry in some form or another. They are simply called by other names: astrology, signs of the zodiac, horoscopes, fortune telling, etc. But they are strictly forbidden in scripture (CP Lev 19:26; De 18:10; 2Ki 21:1-2, 6; Isa 47:1, 13; Jer 10:1-2). Those involved in these practices need to be warned against them, for if they continue in them, they will forfeit their place in God's eternal Kingdom. This warning also applies to those Christians who have not yet destroyed the idols they worshipped before becoming Christians. They must be destroyed, or those Christians too will forfeit their place in the eternal Kingdom, for linked with the command in scripture not to worship idols, is also the command to destroy them (CP Ex 23:24; 34:12-13; De 7:4-6, 25-26; 12:1-3). Idols in the contemporary church can also take the form of wealth and material possessions, fashion trends, celebrities, sports, occupations, even one's spouse or ministry in the church, etc. When the revival at Ephesus ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit that after he had been to Macedonia and Achaia, he would go back to Jerusalem, and then on to Rome. He sent Timothy and Erastus before him into Macedonia, while he stayed on a bit longer in Asia (CP Ac 19:21-22). Paul's ministry in Ephesus was so powerful it caused a recession among the idol-makers. They no longer had a ready market for their wares. Paul had led so many idol worshippers to Jesus, that the silversmiths in their anger would have undoubtedly killed him had they been able to lay hold of him. Paul made his way to Macedonia, where he visited the churches they had founded at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and other places, greatly encouraging them, before going to Macedonia and then to Greece (CP Ac 19:23-20:2).
Paul stayed in Achaia for three months ministering at Athens, Corinth and Cenchrea. During his time in Macedonia and Achaia, Paul arranged for every church in the region to take up a collection for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, which would be taken to them when he returned to Jerusalem. This is not recorded in the book of Acts, but it is recorded in Paul's epistle to the Romans, and both of his epistles to the Corinthians (CP Ro 15:25-31; 1Cor 16:1-4; 2Cor 8:1-9; 15). Paul was so aware of what could happen to him at Jerusalem that he asked the church in Rome to pray for his safety, and also that the Jewish Christians accept the Gentile offerings. As Paul was about to sail from Corinth to Syria, the Jews laid in wait for him, so he went back to Philippi and sailed from there to Troas where Timothy and others were waiting for him. He stayed seven days in Troas. On the day before he left, the local Christians were gathered together in an upper room to have communion, and Paul preached to them. It went on for hours - until daybreak the next day. At midnight, a young man, Eutychus, who was sitting in the alcove of a window, dozed off and fell three floors to the ground. He was pronounced dead but Paul went down and embraced him and his life was restored (CP Ac 20:3-12). Paul then journeyed to Miletus. He was hastening to get to Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost, although he knew through the Holy Spirit that bonds and afflictions awaited him there (CP V 13-16 with 22-24).
From Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church to come to him (CP V 17). Paul's farewell speech to the elders and his final parting from them is recorded in V 18-38 (CP V 18-38). After leaving Miletus, Paul and his companions set sail for Syria, landing at Tyre, where they met some Christians and stayed there for seven days. Knowing through the Spirit what Paul would suffer in Jerusalem, they urged him not to go, but when the seven days were up Paul proceeded to leave. All the brethren at Tyre, together with their wives and children, accompanied Paul and his companions to the beach outside the city, where they held a prayer meeting before Paul and the others boarded ship and went first to Ptolemais, and then to Caesarea, where they stayed with Philip the evangelist, and his four daughters (CP Ac 21:1-9). While there, Agabus the prophet came from Judaea, and taking Paul's belt, he bound his own hands and feet with it, the while saying that the Holy Spirit was showing how Paul would be bound like that by the Jews at Jerusalem, who would then deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Paul's companions together with the local Christians begged him not to go, but Paul responded that he was ready to die for Jesus' name. Obviously he interpreted the warnings not as prohibitions, but as tests of his willingness to suffer for Jesus' name. They then continued on to Jerusalem, where they were warmly greeted by the brethren (CP V 10-17). This signifies the completion of Paul's third missionary journey which began in Ac 18:23 and lasted about five years.