Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19980621.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part XLV: God's Program When His Servant's Witness Needs To Be Authenticated
(Acts 19:8-10, 11-20)
  1. Introduction
    1. When one's witness or teaching is not readily received because spiritual opposition undermines the credibility of the message or the messenger, the witness or teacher may be tempted to give up!
    2. In such a case, we have a Biblical precedent as to what God's program is in such times so that we can go on and be productive, and that program is revealed for us in Acts 19:8-20 as follows:
  2. God's Program When His Servant's Witness Needs To Be Authenticated, Acts 19:8-10, 11-20.
    1. The Apostle Paul witnessed directly in the Ephesian synagogue that Jesus was the Messiah, Acts 19:8.
    2. However, opponents to Paul's teaching directly undermined the credibility of the Christian faith, 19:9a.
    3. Accordingly, a program of God was revealed whereby the truth would go forward powerfully, 19:9b-20:
      1. What occurred between the opposition Paul faced in the Ephesian synagogue in Acts 19:9a and Acts 19:20 overcame the efforts of those who tried to undermine the Christian faith, for by verse 20, the Word of God reportedly "spread widely and grew in power." (NIV)
      2. If we examine Acts 19:9b-19, we can discern a program of God to counter opposition that seeks to undermine the credibility of God's messengers and their message.
    4. In viewing Acts 19:9b-19, we note a two-pronged effort by Paul and God to overcome credibility needs:
      1. Man's Part To Counter The Undermining Of Ministry Credibility Efforts - Paul did everything in his human ability to keep propagating the truth that was being attacked, Acts 19:9b-10:
        1. To minister as prudently as was possible to the weak, new believers, Paul withdrew his followers from those who sought to undermine his doctrine, and taught them in the school of Tyrannus, 19:9b.
        2. This location was key to reaching the whole province of Asia: traders moved in and out of Ephesus, thus being exposed to Paul's teaching in the school so the Gospel spread back to the whole area.
        3. Paul kept teaching this way for two years. Thus, the Gospel spread to the Jews and Greeks, 19:10.
        4. Paul supported this two-year effort by supporting his livelihood in making tents, Acts 18:2-3.
      2. God's Part In To Counter The Undermining Of Ministry Credibility Efforts - God worked miraculously through Paul's efforts to certify his message so that all came to respect his Lord, Acts 19:11-19.
        1. Luke records that God wrought unusual miracles through Paul's hands, Acts 19:11.
        2. Specifically, clothes or discarded, tent-worker labor aprons (simikinthia), placed in the city dump by Paul became sources of miraculous healings and exorcisms of demons by others in the community, Acts 19:12. So , as Paul was working to support his livelihood, God was using his filthy, discarded and hence ceremonially unclean work aprons to certify the validity of his message, a means that would have deeply riled the sanctimonious ire of Paul's Jewish synagogue opponents!
        3. So famous did Paul's discarded work aprons make him that unsaved exorcists sought to exorcise a demoniac through appealing to the name of Jesus whom Paul preached, Acts 19:14-15a. However, the demon in the demoniac revealed that there was no magic in the use of the names of Jesus or Paul as in cultism, but there was power in one's relationship to Jesus as Paul enjoyed: the demoniac thus overcame, disrobed and beat these Jewish exorcists so that they fled naked from the room, 19:15-16.
        4. Well, since the Jews had notoriously complained about the Greeks participating stark naked in their athletic events, the fact that these seven Jews fled naked became the hot topic of Ephesus, causing many to respect the name of the Lord Jesus that Paul was preaching, Acts 19:17.
        5. As a result, many saw the superiority of the Christian faith Paul promoted over cultism, and confessed their witchcraft and burned their articles of cultism, Acts 19:18-19.
Lesson: Our credibility is God's business, but our ministry effort under credibility fire is our business.

Application: So, when countered by underminers, (1) we should persevere in our tasks by (a) isolating weak hearers from the underminers, (b) by staying fervent in our witness, (c) and that continually while (d) working tangibly to suppor t our livelihood and welfare in the effort [such as tent-making]. (2) Then, let GOD certify our personal CREDIBILITY and that of our words as HE determines!