Neighborhood Study Guide

Acts 19:1-20

Introduction

Divisive. Boring. Disconnected. These words often come to mind when we hear about doctrine or theology. Wading chest-deep into the letter of Ephesians, we will meet serious theology and difficult doctrine. And the worst thing that can happen as we open up this letter is that we have a so what attitude or that what we read in this letter remains merely intellectual. Because, here is the thing. What we believe affects us deeply. And I dont mean what we believe intellectually. Belief is a deep knowing, at the core of our being, about what is truest in the world. And if we are prepared to believe what the letter to Ephesians says about God, the world and us, then it will change everything.

So, before we get to the theology of the letter to the Ephesians, we want to step back and look at difference that doctrine makes. We will do this by looking at the ministry of Paul to the city of Ephesus. In this way we will see the difference our doctrine makes. (See more details on the story of Ephesus on the website.)

In the passage below, we see the difference our doctrine makes to our spirituality.
Read Acts 19:1-10

19:1And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 3And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. 4And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus. 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [6]And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7There were about twelve men in all. 8And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. 10This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Questions 1. What comes to mind when you think of the word, spirituality? What does that word even mean? 2. Paul meets some disciples in verse 1. They have not received the Holy Spirit, but have been baptized into the baptism of John. How does Paul describe the baptism of John? 3. According to Paul, receiving the baptism of Jesus means receiving the Holy Spirit. What does this tell you about the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit? See John 16:7-14

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

In this story we discover that to be a Christian is to become filled with the Spirit. There is no faith in Jesus without a new spiritual life. Repentance means to change our mind and direction. But repentance in Jesus is more than simply trying to turn over a new leaf. Anyone can try to do that. But Christian conversion means turning to God with the power of new life which comes from trusting the living Jesus who saves us, turns us and fills us. This happens by faith trusting that Jesus is actually doing what we cannot.

Christian faith is not a moral effort, an intellectual exercise or a social commitment. It is a meeting of the living Jesus and his Spirit. This Spirit-filled life includes spiritual insight, spiritual power, spiritual authority, spiritual growth and spiritual sensitivity. However, when we walk into spirituality, we walk into tricky waters. There is a great deal of danger when we move in spiritual places. The following story reveals the Read 19:11-20

[11]And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, [12]so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. [13]Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. [14]Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. [15]But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you? [16]And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. [17]And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. [18]Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. [19]And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. [20]So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Questions: 1. What was the mistake of the the Sons of Sceva? 2. This story is naturally outrageous in our ears. We are rarely exposed to such direct spiritual attacks. However, spirituality is a topic frequently raised in our culture. What does this story tell us about the care we should take in spiritual matters?

Practical Questions

1. A good friend approaches you with a question. I know youre a very spiritual person. I was wondering if you could help me something. I just moved into an apartment with a roommate. And since I did, I have been having really bad dreams. At nighttime, the place seems really weird. Sometimes I get scared. Do you think that the place might be haunted? Could you come and pray over the place? How will you respond? 2. A family member invites you to come to a weekend retreat for leadership and business success. They tell you that it helped get them focused and empowered for approaching life on a whole new level. The literature talks about meditation, spiritual connection and tapping into energy. How will you respond? 3. If your neighborhood group was invited to engage in a local project with a local street ministry, to clean up a park and reach kids in a local area. What spiritual issues might be brought up by this project? How will prayer and spiritual discernment help you navigate it?