welcome back welcome to class number eight ocho today we will begin in lesson four and we'll go as far as we can uh i know that we're a little behind time but i wanted to be sure that you understood what was going on in the book of acts that oftentimes we read it and we lose track of the time we don't see we'll see in this we get on one verse and periods of months have passed by and we don't we don't play it in our mind and we don't see how long it took for certain things to to uh manifest itself and so we don't get the full value of what the these apostles were going through and i want you to remember something the book of acts is continually being written and so the things that were applicable in those days are still applicable to these days and that's the reason why i give you my testimony and oftentimes you have your own testimony and you have to remember recall it to mind remember the things that the lord has spoken to you about in the past that have come to pass so that you know it's a real thing and that this isn't just somebody writing a book just to keep busy so to speak all right let's pray father we thank you lord god that you continually open up our eyes to the truth to the understanding of your word we thank you father you give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation concerning the knowledge of you lord god we thank you father god for the men and women that went before us lord god prayed and preached the gospel and have presented it to the place where we are now father where we are that generation which prepares and presents it so that the people behind us the newer generation father will have something to build on and we thank you for that father in jesus name amen all right quickly last class we looked at paul and how i'm going to go fast because there's a lot less than four is long and i want to be sure i get most of it in so last class we looked at paul and how it was how it was by revelation now we talked about the gifts of the spirit there's discerning the spirits we saw that paul waited two weeks that this damn soul was running around uh prophesying hey listen this is a man of god and listen to them and and she was drawing her attention to herself and eventually the devil would use that right so it was two weeks before paul got the picture that this lady wasn't didn't have the same agenda that he had right and so he cast the demon out of her and two things though we should have learned from that number one not everyone that looks like they are helping you has your agenda in mind and that we need to be listening for god to speak to us individually right we need to allow the spirit of god to manifest some of the gifts in us so that we can discern what is really happening what's going on what's who's doing what all right but we don't want to get spooky but we do want to be wise right all right second of all paul as we do had the authority from god to cast out demons in jesus name and we're going to talk about that a little bit in lesson four all right god can work even in the worst of circumstances we learned we learned that paul was in jail and got supernatural dropped off the chains and swings open all the doors so much so that the keeper of the prison wanted to commit suicide and paul had to yell out stop don't harm yourself nobody's left okay but the point here is that god supernaturally does things and we have to remember that though we see less and less of it because of our where we're at faith and and how in america we've become dependent upon uh our own natural ways of doing things and and the world system functioning providing for us but i will tell you that in in foreign lands where they don't have what we have here in america and they become more dependent upon god you see some of these miracles and some of these manifestations happen more often all right so we find out that paul meets aquila and priscilla uh he mentors them who in turn meant their apollos right powers was a young man that had gotten saved and knew about the baptism of john we're going to talk about that in a few seconds and we know that they in turn meant a power so all three become used of god to bring uh many to christ paul while in corinth writes the two letters to the thessalonians they're only a couple of months apart and we also saw the favor of god working in paul's life as the jews brought him before galileo who was a deputy of a chia if you look on your map you'll see where chia is and he and this deputy throws the whole bunch out he says uh you you're bringing this stuff up to me this is trivial stuff it has nothing to do with me get out and so just the favor of god on paul's life puts him in a place where he can escape that that little uh trial that he's facing so along the way paul stops at ephesus he has equivalent and priscilla remain there and they sit up house and we know that they have many bible studies there and churches grew out of their household and he takes a boat back to caesarea and then to jerusalem and so today we will once again see how luke writes and the way he writes can be a bit confusing at times because we don't see the time element we don't see whether he's there or he's just telling it as he's heard it all right so let's turn to the book of acts chapter 18 and we'll pick it up in verse 22. and when he had landed accessory and gone up and saluted the church he went down to antioch now we left off here at the end of lesson 3 right so paul arrives in caesarea luke writes he went up to greet the church and then went down to antioch most scholars agreed that he first went to jerusalem and then he went to antioch in other words he hit caesarea hit jerusalem then went up to antioch so if we look at our maps we'll see that if we land in caesarea and we go down to jerusalem and go up to antioch uh by the way that that there that's a lot of traveling in one verse right i mean you have to remember there's miles and miles and miles and and paul is basically doing the walk and he's walking and not only did he have to walk not only did he have to sleep outside but he also had to be aware of robbers and thieves and animals that we're about we have to remember that this wasn't walking down uh the streets of new york city manhattan this was this was walking in land that animals roamed around that thieves hid themselves out all right and so there was all that that paul had to endure as he went along the way not only did it take time to travel from place to place but they spent some time there greeting the brethren there was they went along they were shaking hands and often paul you know paul i had a friend of mine he was an evangelist and and he would he would witness jesus at the drop of a hat i don't care we're going through a toll booth or whether we were in a store or whether we're just cashing a check or just whatever we were doing buying a burger he would be witnessing to somebody that was behind the counter or somebody that was in the toll booth it didn't matter because that was his calling and that was his love and that's what he loved to do paul was in the same manner he was about spreading the gospel all right so let's pick up in verse 23 now we found out in verse 22 that he went to caesarea and then with daniel in verse 23 and after he had spent some time there talking about antioch uh he departed and went over all the country of galilea and fl and frederick in order to strengthen all the disciples in other words he was going back he didn't just leave them uh as an evangelist we go in the vengeance goes in and spreads the gospel gets people saved then it has to be the people that come after the teachers the pastors all right the prophets okay uh all these men uh and of course paul was an apostle right so we have the five-fold ministry operating through paul's life right now so paul returns in verse 22 and leaving again in verse 23 but the expanse of time took place which is not quite spelled out and that's what i have to i want to remind you over and over again as you're reading the book of acts it took time now why am i stressing that because in our lives there are things that are happening that take time in order for them to manifest and we as just to be about our father's business on a day by day uh avenue so that we can accomplish what god wants to accomplish it doesn't always happen i didn't get saved in a day and chances are you didn't get saved in a day it took years and years and years of god dealing with us before we finally came and saw the light all right so so paul is back on the road again he heads back through tarsus greeting the believers along the way but he's on a mission a destination paul knew one of his main stops was going to be ephesus but he also wanted to check up and encourage the churches in galadia and victoria this journey may feel like it's about a short period of time because it luke doesn't express that time well but the journey many feel is about four or five years in length simultaneously we have a new person entering into the ministry his name is apollos all right and so though the book of acts is about the main character who is paul the spirit of god does reveal that just it wasn't just paul who spread the gospel that it was many people just as it is today now we we know we have pastors that that have charged over hundreds of thousands and we know that people have conferences where hundreds of thousands show up at the conferences and we say those are the people that god has called no he's called you and i we're to be about our father's business one-on-one it has to be right why because god cares about the one then when jesus said does not the good shepherd lead the 99 for the one okay so we are the one that he's using to get to the one and the one is important to him and it should be important to us all right verse 24 in acts 18 and a certain jew named apollos born at alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures came to ephesus in other words he also was a studyer of the old testament scriptures he could see the scarlet thread running through it it had been revealed to him all the things about jesus throughout all the prophets that had spoken and he knew right in verse 25 this man was instructed in the way of the lord and being fervent in the spirit he spake and taught diligently the things of the lord knowing only the baptism of john up to this point and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when aquila and priscilla had heard they took him unto them in other words they took him under their wings and they began to meant to him right uh and expounded unto him the way of god more perfectly now that sounds like it's old testament you know like old times but i want you to remember what i told you about a man named joe sparks who god had put in my life to mentor me four to five hours a day every day for a year and a half that took dedication on his part that took a vision on his part he had to see that there was a purpose to what his work was doing right so that he would love to do it that he wouldn't grow weary in well-doing about it and we know that priscilla and aquila did not grow weary in well-doing right we have to grab ahold of those same attributes and i want us to see that here so that when we have the opportunity we will do likewise in verse 27 and so when when he was disposed to pass into achieve the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him who when he was come help that much which he had believed through the grace for he mightily convinced the jews that publicly showing up by the scriptures that jesus was the christ in other words all the things that he had learned in the old testament just like paul did all the things that he had learned he was now able to show them the thread that ran through all the prophets through all the time to the old testament that led up to jesus and why he had to go to the cross and that he would they would preach he would preach jesus christ crucified right all right so in ephesus at the time paul is is in galatia apollos becomes known to the church uh because of his eloquent speech and his boldness we have to remember that he was an intelligent guy his gifts and abilities do not get in the way of his learning however he is humble enough to accept teaching from the priscilla in other words though he knew a lot he wasn't a uh don't tell me i know it all he was i'm i'm open to what the spirit of god showed so he was a real man of god and we have to remember that all right i say that because in those days women often took a backseat to man especially in the area of the ministry and so we see that priscilla had a great amount of open doors for her to be able to preach and teach her and equal it together were a good team together apollos learned the revelations he needed so he could be effective for god and eventually leaves ephesus and goes to achieve all right now if we look at our maps this area is where current and athens are located we go into acts chapter 19 now verse 1. follow follow along what we're doing here now acts 19. and it came to pass that while apollos was at corinth paul having passed through the upper coast came to ephesus and finding certain disciples paul had come out of the upper region okay so he was finding certain certain disciples paul had come out of the upper region was which was the galadia region all right if you look at your map you see gladiator i want you to understand that when he left the lady and got to ephesus it was no small trip it took him days all right and he stops at ephesus here we see he fulfilled his word to the ephesian church from his pressure his previous visit when he said hey listen i'm going but i promise you i'm coming back on the next trip and here he fulfills his word and we have to see that that paul is a man of god and fulfills the word that he has given and he does everything within his being so we have to have the same thought you know one of the things that i was strange i could see myself in in it i was in a bathroom getting ready to go to work i was shaving getting ready and uh and the spirit of the lord just said to me just like i'm speaking to you i heard his voice just inside of me just like i'm hearing it now he said if you can't keep your word you will never understand me keeping my word so in order for us to be able to understand how much god does go back keeping his word we have to learn to be able to keep our words so that when we look at god we say he's more of a more of a being than i am and if i'm doing everything i can to keep my word he has the ability to keep his word he will keep his word and that's how faith grows all right all right so paul remains in ephesus approximately two and a half years while at ephesus paul begins to teach concerning the baptism in the holy spirit he spends paul spends about three months in the synagogue preaching the word concerning jesus but finally the jews were had their heart hardened so much and spoke evil of jesus so much that uh and the plan of salvation didn't make any sense to them all they knew was the the law circumcision and doing their thing right so with that paul leaves the synagogues and begins to preach in a school called tyrinus tyranus all right like tyrannous rex i guess so right tyrannus was a school where philosophers and science teachers came to give dissertations paul would get up when it was his turn and preach jesus this he did for over two years and once again i want you to see that uh in acts 19 10 it says and this continued by the space of two years so that they all which dwelt in asia heard the word of the lord both jews and gentiles i want us to see that not everything that we intend to do to have a quick turnaround to see the manifestation of what we're doing oftentimes in people's lives we have to sow we have to continue to sow we have to continue to water we have to live the life before them so that everything that they see that is attached to what we had spoken to them is god grace mercy love okay so you just day by day take the land jesus said to the jews when they went into the new land he says i'm not going to give you the whole thing he said you won't know what to do with it all he says you're going to take it little by little and so you know in our vernacular we get line upon line precept upon precept faith to faith and we move in that direction and we don't give up just because someone didn't get saved the first time we spoke about jesus i have a friend that i have to continually preach the gospel but when it came time to calling up for prayer he called me he said i need i need you to pray so i'm taking that as an open door and as soon as we get a chance to get together i will through the grace of god share some more word all right but don't give up all who dwelt in asia heard the word of the lord jesus how did it happen that they heard everywhere ephesus was a thriving city it was a port city with people coming from all over there to sell their wares to buy new materials so they can take it back to their homes and uh in other lands to be able to uh manufacture whatever it is that they were manufacturing and only to bring it back not only did they sell where they met where they lived but they came back in because there was a great call for it and so with all these people coming and going the gospel was being spread remember i said that in the beginning when we talked about ephesus it was one of those times where god just takes advantage of the place and and sees it as an opportunity to spread the gospel and we as one have to be willing that we're in that place at that time we spread it wherever we can right so god is pretty smart and economical too all right uh hold your place in acts 19 here i'm going to turn to first corinthians 15 if you want to you may turn there so you can see and we're going to talk about what's written in verse 32. it says after the manner of men i fought with these beasts at ephesus what advantage it to me if the dead rice not let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die so who was paul talking about who are the beasts at ephesus all right uh remember he's writing to the people at current all those that receive inspiration from satan not god but from satan paul discussing in his letter to the corinthian church his experience with the ephesian people he says the peace what was paul referring to their worship and dedication to the god diana there was a huge temple dedicated to her it was supposed to be one of the seven wonders of the world because of its beauty oftentimes we are struck or awed by something huge and magnificent looking and we we almost attribute a god atmosphere to it because of its beauty but we have to remember that satan was beautiful he had all the all the jewels that were upon him he had good great vocal cords and that he used to magnify all the worship that was coming up to the lord he used to magnify it before and he began to see these guys are coming to worship me look how beautiful i am and so he lost it you follow what i'm saying and so he knows how to uh do things he knows how to create things so that they can give the impression of being godly all right but this this obviously is this goddess diana did not exist it was a manifestation of the devil and people bought into it all right these people at ephesus number two there was huge wealth that was there those that are rich usually feel that they have everything and life is under control and they don't have any need for god do you ever jesus said it's easier for the camera to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven now when he was talking about the eye of the needle he was not talking about that little thing that you saw it the eye of a needle was a hole in the wall when at nighttime in most big cities they would close the gates so that they could uh they wouldn't be stormed during the night while they were sleeping and so they would close the gates and they'd only have to use a few guards and that there was a hole in the wall for people that were traveling and managed to reach there after dark after the gates were closed and there was a hole in the wall and if the people had camels the camp is to unload the camel the camel used to have to crawl in on his knuckles to get through the hole they would have to carry all the baggage through the hole and then the camel would stand before he stood up they would load the camel back up and they'd have the camel stand back up and so jesus says it's easier look at all that work just to get through a doorway and the name of that doorway was called the eye of the needle so what jesus was saying it was easier and the people that around him understood it what he meant it was easier for them for the for the people to go through that eye than it was for a rich man to get saved why because he was counting on his will all right i heard kenneth copeland saying i think i said this to you once before the hardest time to use our faith is when everything is going well because we don't see any need to use our faith we declare our faith when things are not going well right all right the third thing the the magnificent masterpieces of art like lucifer was corrupted he looked at his own beauty so the ephesian people looked excuse me looked on themselves beauty unmatched anywhere at least in their own eyes right and number four of course the jews hated christianity and paul those so-called religious people were dabbling with many of the things themselves the very things that paul was preaching against these jews should not have been even if they were adhering to the to the old testament laws and the traditions they shouldn't have been doubling but they were all right uh as we said paul stopped going to the synagogues and brings the disciples that is the believers away from the doubters and the blasphemers he takes them into a place where their faith is not always being attacked they have a chance as a young person as a babe in the lord to be able to identify with what's being said the word gets a chance to go from their head and to their thinking to fall into their heart where faith resides and they allow and it's allowed to to develop in their heart so paul stops going to the synagogues all right and goes to the school of torrence where ironically some of the jews came and listened now listen the jews left the synagogue and came to where paul's going because he said this guy's got something don't know what but it's there's something about the anointing that's on him there's something about the way he's preaching it there's something about what he's saying that we need to hear more of all right and so we have to be in that place that we're always looking to speak the good word because we never know who's listening and what that means all right so we picked back up in acts 19 verse 11 and 12 and god brought special miracles by the hands of paul so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchieves or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the ego spirits went out of them in verse 13 through 16 we're going to read it now hopefully you caught up with me then certain verse 13 then certain of the vagabond jews exorcist took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the lord jesus saying we adjure you by jesus whom paul preached and there were seven sons of one skiva and there was there was a lot of people doing it because the devil was using a lot of people but there were certain seven sons of this man skeever who was a chief priest which did so and the evil spirits answered and said jesus i know and paul i know but who are you and the man in whom this evil spirits was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded these jews practiced casting out devils the priests now listen they believed in devils in those days we are the ones that have a hard time understanding into the spiritual realm but they understood the spiritual one very well and they knew about casting out devils all right and he said uh who are you to do this all right now where devils really the word what that was really cast out by those that practiced exorcism matthew 12 26 jesus said if satan cast out satan he divided against himself how shall then his kingdom stand so when they probably what they probably observed was satan pulling tricks on them so that they would follow a person who seemingly had these powers satan is slick he'll get somebody to speak over somebody that has a demon and then he'll instruct that demon not to torment that man any longer so that this man would look like he did cast him out and therefore he is somebody that they should listen to now when they began to listen to that person then satan would lower the boom on them right he would gather them in and then he would get them to believe ungodly stuff unrighteous stuff all right so do we get the picture here hence the reasoning for what looked like casting out devils so we see these boys these seven young men sons of skiva uh that the devil did not like what they did now he didn't mind them coming up and saying come out of this man you foul spirit but the moment that they used the name of jesus it stopped everything it separated everything now god correction satan does not allow anyone to exalt the name of jesus it's contrary to his kingdom in fact jesus just got done saying if it divides his kingdom it shall not last and so the very very beginning when these guys started using the name of jesus he jumped in he was not going to allow this to go by not from someone who was not authorized to use the name of jesus right in fact these guys were looking more about what was in it for their own agenda than it was for the devil satan was not going to allow people who who he tolerated in the past get bold by using the name of jesus so satan didn't want the name of jesus being glorified so satan says jesus i have to listen to paul because of jesus i have to listen to but you turkeys you birds i'll show you who has to respond to you all right and with that he jumps up and beats up the seven young men and strips them naked and they go running out naked yelling and screaming right all right so we're in acts 19 let's pick up and i know i'm going fast but i want to try and get through as much as i can i'd like to be able to finish up close to the end of lesson four acts 19 verse 15. i'm going to read verse 15 and 16. and the evil spirit answered and said jesus i know paul i know who were you and the man with whom the evil spirit was leaked on them and overcame them all right so look at what it says in the new testament mark 16 17 and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out their wealth they shall speak with new tongues now when jesus says in my name we have to realize that as paul was given the authority to cast out devils that there are devils that don't have to listen to people that are not authorized to use the name of jesus but once we become born again we have the right to use the name of jesus he gives us the right to use that and that power is ours it's from jesus it's not our power but it's given to us right and the moment that we begin to line up our mouth our words with the power of god uh which is in heaven as long as we line them up the power of god flows so when we say to the devil i bind you in jesus name we have to be faithful enough to believe that that spirit has no choice but to listen to what we're saying because it's not us it's the authority that's coming out of our mouth that is backed by heaven and the devils know it they see it they look at you and they see the seal of the holy spirit once you're born again and they know this is one that's authorized to use the name of jesus right all right verse 17 and this was known to all the jews and greeks also dwelling at ephesus and fear fell on them all in the name of the lord jesus was magnified and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds many of them also used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found that 50 000 pieces of silver now let me tell you something 50 000 pieces of silver would be in the millions would be in the millions today all right and so that's how great a change took place once they saw what was going on in verse 20. so miami grew the word of the lord and god prevailed now listen this took over two years i want to remind you again don't get in a rush or quit because your timetable isn't being fulfilled all right isn't being met get out of the timetable business god has his own timetable we ought to just walk by faith using god's timetable there's a lot of things that i can get disappointed in in my own life when it doesn't happen that at the time i thought it would happen but the bottom line is god is not obligated to get on my time table he only has to do his timetable he just has to fulfill his word it says i'm a covenant keeping god and i plan to keep the covenant and there's things that i have to move things that i have to change before i get to that place where what you're asking for is manifest it's motivating me what you desire what you speak and what you desire in the name of jesus is being manifested it also has to move things so give god the opportunity and timetable to move them all right the people saw the difference between paul and the those so-called exorcists they suddenly knew who to believe when they heard when they heard the word pre-being preached they saw the devils cast out they saw a young man that was hurt getting healed devils cast out and they saw the seven son of skeeva so they were able to separate the two they were not dummies right so as a result money believed they began to destroy the books which uh showed them how to practice black magic that's what those books were all about it wasn't just the regular books they weren't just looking to have a bonfire there they didn't you know i don't know if they roasted marshmallows in those days but they weren't just looking to have a bonfire these were books that pertained to black magic all right they had a bonfire big enough for epic church to have a weenie roast everyone cooking at one time that's how big this fire was suddenly in the name of jesus was being lifted up and believed on now while no one can pinpoint exactly when paul wrote the epistle to the galatians it most certainly was after one of his visits that's why many believe it was at ephesus that paul wrote the book of galatians here he is at ephesus we said that he was there for two and a half years he's doing all this he did the thing with tyrannus in the tyranus area he was he's doing all these things casting out devils healing people right doing all these things within a two and a half year period of time uh he sits down and he writes the epistle to the to the people at galatia right he just had to come from he had just come from preaching here a year or so back and in this epistle he challenges the galatians remember what had happened he was there preaching as soon as they as soon as he left other people came in and right in verse chapter 1 of galatians verse 6 we see what paul was facing he says look i'm i'm marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of christ unto another gospel anything that preaches jesus christ not crucified that everything that he did was for you if there was anything that they tried to add to that and that goes for us we cannot add our good works in any form to that to that sacrifice that jesus performed right he performed it he did it all it was all conclusive our pastor says jesus plus anything is nothing jesus plus nothing is god is salvation right all right so he said you turned away from the gospel that others have preached speaking of the laws and circumcision as we study the time frames of these things it all begins to make more sense paul doesn't sit around his desk in antioch now listen i want you to see what paul is doing and oftentimes i know that there are things we read and we don't identify with them until we're confronted with those circumstances and now we have choices we have what i call the fork in the road will you obey what the word says or will you do what's convenient for you all right and so uh they had a multifaceted purpose first being to correct and encourage the particular church a person secondly just as important was to establish truths principles and lifestyles for the whole church to follow so we have to be living what it is we're preaching everything that comes before us we have to we have to measure it to the word of god all right part f part f in your outline acts 19 verse 21. we're moving right along here we'll run out of time but we're moving along verse 21 after these things were ended paul purposed in the spirit that he had passed through macedonia cheer to go to jerusalem saying after i have been there i must see rome paul had accomplished many things in ephesus and had decided he wanted to continue his journey through macedonia and if you look at your map you'll see macedonia it's on the other side but it's before greece all right it's attached but it's before all right so in verse 22 paul sends timothy and rattus on ahead as point men in today's language in other words he sent them in there he said you prepared there are certain people i want you to meet when you meet them line up some line up some conferences line up some things line up places for where we're going to be staying go ahead and do all these prepare the things from my arrival line up meetings right he wanted to go after speaking perhaps taking up offerings for the believers in jerusalem he wanted to go to thessalonica current and then return to jerusalem there was every place he was going he notified them in advance i'm coming take up the offering that you want to send back to jerusalem the jews back there was suffered mightily just as christians might be suffering today in these last days when you mention the word of christ the devil goes crazy because he knows his time is near all right and so whatever he can can do to suppress the believer the name of jesus he will do because it only he thinks will prolong his time here on the planet he you know he's facing a thousand years in hell and then even though he's gonna be free for a season uh the lake of fire is in his future right all right uh not knowing paul was going to leave ephesus that uh those that were angry because their livelihood was on the verge of collapsing a man named demetrius in other words as he's leaving a man named demetrius he was a silversmith now remember what the silversmiths create in those days idols they drew they had idols of diana's beautiful uh idol i don't want to go any further all right uh he gathered together others of his trade along with anyone else who made their living off the temple and began a riot they seized two of paul's companions who were in macedonia now we have to see that that luke is writing all this about so that we can see wisdom often times we have to use wisdom when we're in the midst of a circumstance or situation paul attempts to intervene but the brethren fearing of paul's life prevent them from going to them they dragged these believers out into the theater probably the size of our convention center can you imagine them taking your ride and taking them into jacob jaffet's center in new york and putting us in the middle right uh and began to hurl accusations against this new teaching often when we were we are in situations like this we have to become totally dependent on god to deliver us there's no other way and so we have to prepare for that all right that we don't allow circumstances and situations to change the way we speak and live and be what we believe god raises up a man one man in this case a city clerk he speaks with such wisdom that the whole place quiets down and once this guy gets up and starts saying listen to me folks listen everybody quiet and so he had such authority that that people began to be quiet and begin to listen he said as i said before up to this point paul wanted to try and rescue his friends but god knowing that it would be do no good and perhaps lead to harm or paul because it would only incite them even further because paul was the real guy that they were after all right has this man remind them of the proper way to deal with this he says bring them up on charges before the pro council he urged the crowd to go home before the romans do something nobody will like in other words as long as they were quiet and had their own meetings they could condemn whoever they wanted to condemn it didn't bother the romans as long as they could collect the taxes but if they thought that there was some kind of uprising being taken place soldiers would come in and they would not ask who's saying what and where what side you want they would just come in and they would just come in and just roll over everybody that was there and so this man was saying we don't want the roman soldiers to come up and do that so he urges the crowd to go home they disband and turn loose those two disciples they cease so we see here that that god is intervening in the lives of these two people that were getting ready to be condemned right paul most scholars believe wrote first corinthians from ephesus also as we said before all this notewriting paul had already decided to visit macedonia and achieve first corinthians 16 8 says but i will carry at ephesus until pentecost so two things we see here are first that his plans were cut short because he left before pentecost and second that the letter first let the first letter to the corinthians must have been written from ephesus by they had before they had it in hand uh before he departed ephesus in other words how they would get these letters from place to place there was no u.s post office he didn't run down and drop it in the mailbox he handed to somebody that he knew that was going to travel to that area for the purpose of either selling goods or buying raw materials to come back and to make some stuff of his trade do you follow what i'm saying so far and so he was a believer so he would say when you go back to this particular city look up this particular person and give him this letter do you follow how i'm saying that okay so paul travels up to the rest of chia until uh a congressional the rest of the asia until he reaches troas if you look at your metro it's just on the water's edge just before he goes over to macedonia and we pick it up here in acts chapter 20 and verse 1. and after the uproar was ceased paul called unto him the disciples embraced them and departed the food to go to macedonia and when he had gone over those parts he had given them such exhortation he came into greece in other words he went into macedonia and spoke to them and came into greece all this took place in one verse so we have to see that there's a time element that's involved here and then it's always taken paul time to do things and there he bowed for three months and when the jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into syria he he purposed to return through macedonia that was rather than just get on a boat he went back to the way he came uh avoiding what these guys would plan to do they wanted to kill him now how'd they find out only through the spirit of god and god will let us in on the plans of the enemy if we are taking the time to listen all right again don't get spooky but be wise all right and verse 4 and they're accompanied him into asia's supporter of barrera and of the thessalonians uh erakitis and secundus man these boys these boys had a tough time i'll tell you gaius of derby and timothy of asia and antiochus of trophthrotromus traumas these gone before carried for us at drois now listen while a macedonian current property writes the second letter to the corinthians now remember the first letter was there was a man sleeping with his father's wife he had to deal with that he had to deal with men and women that were yelling back and forth in the synagogues and so there was a lot of things that paul had left this led acknowledges the response to the first letter but some were stirring up the people and paul would deal with them uh when he arrived while that current paul was determined to go by boat back to my leaders on his way to jerusalem right and paul learns that the plot to kill him and decides to go back through macedonia this plot was probably sending a paul taking a boat so paul chose a different route god gives us wisdom often times i'm taking a rap and i'm going someplace and suddenly uh i can almost see like there's a little slow down up ahead of saying i take this other road is it two minutes longer but i know i'm moving i'm not doing bumper to bumper traffic and god only knows i miss all that and god only knows if someone wouldn't have ran into me had i continued on you don't know and i don't know but when god leads us to a different path we have to assume that it's for our good right so while in current though paul writes his letter to the romans his plan is to go to jerusalem with the offerings that he's been picking up and then head back out to visit the church of rome and perhaps head down to spain verse 6 acts chapter 20. and he sailed away from philippi after the days of the unleavened bread and came unto them to throw us in five days where he bowed seven days in other words now we have talking about five and seven that's 12 that's 12 days that's two weeks time we eat luke is writing it like as a drop in a bucket but for you and i two weeks diamonds is pretty good from philippi we sailed now once again we see that luke who's writing the book of acts says we that means he's now joined up with paul and he is leaving and going with paul uh as they leave philippi and sail back to asia and land in troas so we're still in acts chapter 20 let's go to this is part g now of the outline we're going to go in verse 7. upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread paul preached them to them ready to depart on tomorrow and continue the speech until midnight and there was many lights in the upper chamber and they were gathered together and there was a widow there was a window a certain young man named eutychus being fallen deep into sleep as paul was preaching that was paul was being long-winded and this man just this young man he just fell right out he sunk down to sleep and fell out the window paul went down fell on him embracing him and said trouble not yourselves for his life is in him now they knew that this man had fallen out of the wind and he was dead but here we have paul working the miracles of god verse 11 and when he therefore has come up again and had broken bread and eaten and talked a long while even to the break of day so he departed and they brought the young men alive and were not a little comforted so when they were having prayer meetings and we see that this young man falls asleep and paul through the power of god resting on him goes down by the direction of the spirit of god and lays on him and boom life comes back into him it almost sounds like fairy tales but i have heard testimonies from people outside of the usa that are pretty spectacular and they said that it was not uncommon for the blind to see the death to hear and on occasion even someone being raised from the dead so i think what we'll do is we'll stop here for now and we'll pick it up as they begin to visit uh as they begin to talk about what's happening in troash god bless you we'll see you there next time