The sermon, titled 'The War for Ephesus' by Peter Allison, examines Paul's ministry in Ephesus as described in Acts 19. Paul spent three months teaching boldly in the synagogue, reasoning and persuading about the kingdom of God. After facing opposition and hardened unbelief, he moved to the school of Tyrannus, where he taught for two years. His teachings, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit, led to significant spiritual and societal transformations. The sermon highlights the unusual miracles performed by Paul, the failed exorcism attempt by the seven sons of Sceva, and the subsequent fear and magnification of Jesus’ name in Ephesus. Many believers confessed their sins openly, leading to the burning of magic books worth 50,000 pieces of silver, showcasing a profound economic impact due to their changed lives. The uproar caused by the silversmith Demetrius, who feared for his trade and the temple of Diana, underscores the conflict between spiritual transformation and societal norms. The sermon emphasizes Christian warfare as a spiritual battle requiring the armor of God, teaching, boldness, and confession of sins. It concludes by urging believers to have a vision for God's kingdom, to maintain sound doctrine while remembering their first love, and to rely on spiritual rather than fleshly means in their battles.

Please turn to Acts 19. I'd like to begin reading at verse 8 as we pick up Luke's account of Paul's labors in Ephesus. And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelled in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest who did so and the evil spirit answered and said Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them overpowered them and prevailed against them so they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus.

And fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted up the value of them and it totaled 50, 000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying after I have been there I must also see Rome so he sent unto Macedonia two of those who ministered to him Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.

And about that time there arose a great commotion about the way, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with the workers of similar occupation and said, men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see and hear that not Only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised, and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship." Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions.

And when Paul wanted to go into the people, the disciples would not allow him. Then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him, pleading that he would not venture into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the people.

But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly, for you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are procouncils. Let them bring charges against one another.

But if you have any other inquiry to make it, to make it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. For we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar. There being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering. And when He had said these things, He dismissed the assembly." May God give us understanding to Keep His law and obey it with our whole heart. Father in heaven, Your Word is true.

We pray that You would impress its truth upon us. That we may believe it. That we may live by it. That we may walk in its light. May ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that they may proclaim your true gospel of grace, of the grace of God.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, American Christians used to sing a hymn in church that goes, Onward Christian soldiers marching out to war with the cross of Jesus going on before. You probably know that tune, song, it's quite well known. But it has recently fallen into disuse. One century ago, according to the hymnary, in the 1920s, it was in 76% of hymnals.

But in the past several years, for the past several years, it's been in less than 10% of the hymnals. In fact, one recent writer even put it in the list of top 10 songs that should not be sung anymore. He said some of the theological ideas are pretty sound, especially in the middle stanzas. The crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the Church of Jesus constant will remain." But he said, but this war declaration, which the singer proclaims ad nauseum, to be led and shielded by the very cross of Jesus Christ, is a confusing and dangerous image in a context that has so easily conflated patriotism with Christ's gospel." End of quote. Now there may be much better hymns such as, Mighty God, Extend Your Kingdom, and so forth.

But I think there's much more going on in the fading popularity of that song in our church culture. You see, much of the church is no longer at war. And it has lost what Christian warfare is. I think the writer was right about one thing. Christian warfare has become conflated with misguided, crusade-like patriotism, which wants to make the world safe for democracy through armed conflict with tanks and missiles and special forces engaging in wars of aggression all around the world." He's right about that.

But in rightly recoiling from that mistaken notion, All militaristic language has fallen into disuse. It sounds too much like the Islamic shihad, and no Christian wants to be anywhere near that, of course. But we are in a war. The Scriptures frequently speak of this war, and they use militaristic language. Romans 7, But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity.

That's militaristic language. Romans 13-12, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Or 1 Corinthians 9-26, thus I fight, Paul said, not as one who beats the ear. Or in 2 Corinthians 10, 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. And twice in the space of two verses, Paul told the Ephesian church, put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

And Paul told the Philippians, yet I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier. And in his letter to Philemon is addressed to the beloved Apphia and Archipas, our fellow soldier. Paul exhorted Timothy. In 2 Timothy 2, You must therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

He described himself as one who had fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith. And Revelation 12 also describes a war. A war in the spiritual realm. War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought.

And then a little later, after the dragon is cast out, he's enraged with the woman and he went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, and who are her offspring that Satan is making war with? Those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So Satan's at war. The question is, are we at war? This chapter that we've read, it's a lengthy passage.

We're not going to look at all of it in detail this morning, but this passage describes the war on Ephesus. And that's why I wanted to read the whole thing. It begins with what we have called the Ephesian Pentecost that we looked at last week and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on these twelve disciples. Disciples who are confused and we saw they were ignorant about a number of important things, but they're just like Jesus' disciples, were often confused and ignorant and fighting among each other about who was the greatest and so forth. It begins with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit because you see this is the power for engaging in this battle.

This is the foundation. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we would be like the Israelites that were defeated by the Amorites at the border of the land of Canaan. Without the power of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost, the church doesn't have any power to wage this war. And without that power, there is no hope of success. Because as Paul told the Ephesians, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood.

But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. That's what we wrestle against. We are flesh and blood and we act in the flesh. But the arm of flesh is wholly, wholly unable to even wage this war, let alone win. And that's the point of verses 14-16 in the Seven Sons of Scythia.

We strategize and we plan, but human knowledge and ability is insufficient to bring victory in this assault. We see that in verses 21 and 22. This is a spiritual war. It's waged with spiritual weapons for a spiritual kingdom, but whose soldiers are people of flesh and blood. So this morning I want to look at how Paul and the Ephesian Church waged war for Ephesus.

What did they do? And what did they also what did they not do? What did they do? And what did they not do? As they wage this war that's spelled out here in these couple chapters for The city of Ephesus.

The city that is a capital city of ages. A major city. It's a major, at that time, commercial center, major religious center with the goddess of Diana. It was one of the great wonders of the world. It was much, much bigger than the Parthenon.

It was an economic powerhouse. So this is a very strategic city that Paul established a base in. And Luke gives us quite a bit of detail about what went on in this church, in this war for Ephesus. And this is one of the places that Paul spent the longest of any place that he was. He was here for three years.

And so the first thing that we see Paul doing is teaching. Faith supposes knowledge. No one can believe in a God about whom they know nothing. No one can trust in Christ's sacrifice to atone for their sin and propitiate the wrath of God if they know nothing about Christ and His work or the law and the wages of sin. No one can use armor which they don't know exists or don't know how to use.

No one can walk in a way about which they know nothing. As Charles Hodge said, knowledge lies at the foundation of Christianity. And that's why teaching is the heart of the Church's commission in our day. Teaching. To go out into all the world God says and make disciples of the nations baptizing them and teaching teaching them to observe everything that I've commanded you it's the foundation of Christianity Paul went first to the existing church, the synagogue.

And this is the pattern throughout Scripture. The Word is first revealed to the church, and then to those outside the church. Judgment begins with the church, the house of God, and then extends to those outside the church. Mercy is extended to the household of faith first, Galatians says, therefore, as we have opportunity to good to all, but especially those of the household of faith. And only after they have rejected the message did Paul withdraw.

But he persisted there teaching and reasoning for three months. And while he was there, he spoke. This is obvious, right? How else do you teach? He spoke.

But it's worth mentioning because the Bible says that he spoke. He was there. It says, he spoke in the synagogue. It's worth mentioning because faith comes by hearing the Word. There are other ways that people have been saved, or they will tell you, but ordinarily faith comes by hearing the Word.

And even where God uses tracts or books, the motivation to read those tracts and to read those books often comes through people talking to them about those materials. Someone may read a Bible, but often the Bible was given to them by a friend or a family member who they knew well or who they respected, or somebody who had simply spoken to them. The spoken word is what the Lord uses. And it's powerful. There's a very famous atheist.

It's not his profession, but that's what he is. He's a self-proclaimed atheist. And after one of his shows, a Christian came back. And actually he came back and he waited until he was available, waited until the crowd had dispersed. And then he spoke to him and he complimented him.

He said, I came to your show the previous night. And he thanked him and complimented him on his ability in what he had done. And then he said he wanted to give him the Scriptures. And he gave to him a Bible. He didn't really say a lot more.

But you know that atheist, that hardened atheist, the hair halfway down his back, was moved to the point of tears because this man had spoken to him and given him a copy of God's Word. Sometimes there's even a long time between people speaking and a person reading the Bible. But those words will remain. Some people will say, well, that they were converted simply because they read a Bible. There was nobody there.

But why would they be curious about what's in it? Curious enough to pick it up and read it. Because probably somewhere in the past, they heard a Christian testify to the Scriptures. Or they heard some enemies of Christ mention the Scriptures in their refutation of a believer's testimony. You see, speaking is generally always involved.

But Paul spoke, but he also spoke boldly. Boldness is necessary because it's so easy to find reasons to be silent. Sometimes little children who are normally quite talkative become completely tongue-tied in front of a stranger when you want them to say something or in some other social situation. And then you become embarrassed because they don't say anything as their parents. Well, often we're really no different.

We can talk and talk and talk until it comes time, until there's an opportunity to testify to the truth of God's Word, and then we somehow find it difficult. And so we need boldness. We need boldness especially in speaking where people may not agree with our message as where Paul was. Because it's easy to be intimidated when you're around people who you know don't agree with what you have to say. That takes boldness.

And boldness in this situation is the result of fearing the Lord more than fearing the opinions of other people. So Paul spoke, he spoke boldly, and Luke says that He reasoned with the Jews, showing the rationality of the Scriptures and the irrationality of everything else. He demonstrated from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. But you see, the system of truth that's revealed in the Scriptures cannot be taught merely by recitation of abstract propositions. It can't be taught just by making statements.

The truth of the scripture must be taught just as God teaches it in His Word, in history, in types, in allegories, in prophecies, in Psalms, and in the didactic assertions, and in exhortations, and in warnings, and precepts, and Proverbs. You see, we must communicate the truth to others with the same facts and with the same types with which God has communicated it to us. And of course, the Gospel of the Bible can't be understood apart from understanding the story of the Bible itself. To understand the Gospel, we need to understand the history of creation, of the Fall and of God's dealings with His ancient people. We must be acquainted with the types because they spoke of Christ and they pointed to Him.

We must be acquainted with the experience of the saints as it's recorded in the Psalms. We must know the history of Christ as predicted by the prophets and recorded by the evangelists, the writers of the Gospels. You see, the Scriptures all tie together logically. And I think one of the reasons, though not the only reason, but one of the reasons so many people who grew up in churches have turned away from the faith is because the faith that they were taught was disconnected from the system of truth in the Scriptures. And it wasn't defending and wasn't presenting as an eminently rational and logical faith.

A faith that permeates every area of our life, our thinking. It affects every decision that we make. All too often, the Gospel is presented as just enough fire insurance and a little bit of wisdom to make your life go more smoothly. But it's so much more. There has not been enough reasoning from the Scriptures demonstrating the coherent system of truth that is revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

It all ties together in a very coherent way. There has been too little reasoning from the Scriptures to justify the way that we live and Why we do the things that we do in our ordinary lives? Why couldn't God just forgive everyone? Why did Christ have to die? Why do we baptize people and go to church twice each Lord's Day?

Why is a six-day recent creation a vital doctrine? Of what practical importance is it? And what does it have anything to do with our day-to-day living? How can it be wrong to kill unborn babies but write for the civil magistrate to execute murderers? Why should there be laws about sodomy and homosexual marriage?

Isn't that interfering in people's private lives? Why must we wear clothes in public? Why should stores be closed on the Lord's Day? And businesses shut down? Why must we tell the truth and not take other people's money nor the government's money?

Why should parents fund their education and not the government? And so on and on. You see, Everything we do in every area of our life is tied to this coherent system of truth that is taught in the Scriptures. And there hasn't been enough reasoning from the Scriptures in our day. It's a tightly woven system of truth.

It's the only logical coherent system that can account for the laws of logic themselves, that can account for the fundamental axioms of everything from mathematics, physics, and chemistry to the morality of music and art. And of course, much of the New Testament wasn't written at this time. And so Paul would have been primarily reasoning from the Old Testament scripture, showing that Jesus was the Christ. Paul was reasoning, but he was also persuading. This word means persuading here means to cause to come to a particular point of view or course of action.

It means to obey or follow someone. Paul is persuading. He's moving them to come to a particular course of action. The purpose of persuasion then is to produce obedience. Paul was seeking to persuade these Jews to enter the Kingdom of God and walk in the way.

And that takes time. It just takes time. It takes time to answer all the objections that unbelievers raise. For example, one of the most common objections or common responses in reasoning with unbelievers about the Scriptures and the inherent circularity involved in any ultimate standard of truth, which is what the Scriptures are, is that we'll say something like, well, why couldn't I write a book and claim ultimate authority? And when challenged regarding the truth of something, then I could just appeal to what I have written.

How would that be any different from what you are doing is what they ask me. Of course, it's absurd. It sounds absurd and it is. But you see, it takes time to work through all of the implications of what they are proposing and explain why and is rational and internally contradictory. This letter to the Ephesian church in Revelation shows that the Ephesian church was strong in doctrine.

The Lord told them, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. They were able to apply the Scriptures. They had strong doctrinal knowledge. They have persevered and they have patience.

They had labored for His namesake and they hadn't become weary. And He said they also hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. They had good doctrine, but knowledge puffs up. And God told them also that they had left their first love, and He urged them to do the works that they had done at first. He said, nevertheless, remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent.

Now this doesn't mean doctrine is wrong, but it does mean that we who want to do as Paul did and reason from the Scriptures and understand and be able to apply this coherent system of truth that's taught in the scriptures, we have to guard against becoming puffed up with that knowledge. It doesn't mean that doctrine is wrong, it's very important. God has strong rebukes for those who have tolerated erroneous doctrine. But it also means that we need to remember our first love and remain humble. That we are what we are, not because we understand the doctrines of the Scriptures, but we are what we are because of the grace of Jesus Christ and only that grace.

So Paul stayed three months in the synagogue reasoning and persuading, But then he left. And Luke gives three reasons why Paul left the church. And they are three key reasons for leaving a church. The first is that they did not believe the truth, the key doctrines of the faith. This doesn't mean they rejected everything immediately.

They likely retained many important truths. But they didn't believe some essential doctrines, that Jesus is the Christ. They are really denying the One all their Old Testament types and shadows pointed to. And you see, since the truth is one coherent system, when we deny any significant part of that truth, eventually leads to denying everything. And I just love a very, very old cartoon that came out of Answers in Genesis.

I don't remember who did it. But it's a picture of somebody reading a Bible and you see the printed text, you know, on the page and I think it was probably Genesis 1 or something to deal with creation. And this person wanted to pick out one little word that they wanted to take out of the text. And so they start pulling it. And what happens by the end of the cartoon strip is that they keep pulling and they keep pulling and it never ends.

And pretty soon all the print is off the page. It's quite a good cartoon. It gets the point across very well. When we deny one area of doctrine, we won't end up, one area of significant doctrine, we will end up ultimately denying everything. Now, just this unbelief is not a reason to leave.

That's a reason to speak boldly, reasoning and persuading with those who do not believe. But doing this will either lead to two things. It will lead to either of two things. It will lead to a softening, or it will lead to a hardening. And that's what happened in this case.

Some did not believe and they hardened their own hearts. And at that point they are no longer willing to listen. They're no longer willing to learn. They're no longer willing to reason anymore. A hard heart is a heart that doesn't believe and doesn't want to believe, and it's not at all concerned that it doesn't want to believe.

A hard heart doesn't believe, doesn't want to believe, and is not at all concerned about the fact it doesn't want to believe. A hard heart produces a conscience that is seared. It produces someone who no longer senses any shame over the sin in their lives. A hard heart doesn't tremble at God's warnings. A hard heart is deceived about their sin and is prone to either justify it or to completely ignore it and to react in anger toward those who would dare to confront them about these matters in their heart.

That's a hard heart. A hard heart produces a dulled mind that's not able to understand truth. Now this hardening is a slow and gradual process. See, sins that are repeated routinely without repentance produce a hard heart that is set in its disobedience. Continually resisting the truth over time leads to a hard heart that becomes more and more confirmed or set in its rejection of the truth.

And attempting to discuss further is simply throwing one's pearls before a swine, which we are not to do. It's attempting to give truth to people who despise it. The third criteria of leaving a church is the active opposition to the truth. They moved from not believing and even became hardened against the truth to active public opposition against the way the Christians were living. They publicly slandered the believers.

This sort of talk is rampant in social media. Social media doesn't create the problem, but it is a vehicle for this. It's filled with those who are hardened in their hearts against the truth and slander those who walk in the way. And so it's at this point then that Paul took the believers and he left the church. And with those disciples, he started another church that met in the school of Tyrannus.

There's a time to leave and a time to stay and there's a time to leave. God called the believers to come out from the apostate Jews in Jerusalem in Revelation 18. He said, come out of her, you people, lest you share in her sins and you receive of her plagues. Come out. Because if you're there in the midst of a hardened church that is speaking evil of the way, then you become, you share in her sins, and you will receive of her plagues.

So there is a time, a right time to leave. So that's the first point. Now we won't be as long on the other ones. But this is the first thing that Paul did was teaching. The second thing he did was engaging in spiritual warfare.

And that implies prayer and fasting. And that's the only way to deal with powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places. The third thing though is that they were a church that confessed their sins, telling their deeds so that they could pray for one another. This, brothers and sisters, is a key, vital characteristic of a victorious church. A church where there is No confession of sin is not a church without sin.

It's a church where sins are concealed. And where sins are concealed produces rot. It leads to hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Sterile, lifeless, doctrinal purity with no Holy Spirit power. A church without confession to one another is a powerless church.

It will never even conquer indwelling sin, let alone a city like Ephesus. You see, this is what they were doing. I didn't point that out, but in Verse 18, the many who believed came confessing and telling their deeds. They came confessing and telling their deeds. They were a confessing church.

Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. There is healing in confession. Healed people are strong in the Lord. So there's power then in confession. Where there's confession of sin and extension of grace and forgiveness, then that fosters a culture of courage and boldness.

Those who are covering their sin and concealing it become weak and afraid. This boldness is a godly boldness. It's not based in our pride or in our ability, because those who are confessing their sins are recognizing they don't have any. They're crucifying their pride and acknowledging they have no ability. But this is a godly boldness in the power of the grace of God.

And see, that's an encouragement and a help to others to also do the same, to follow suit, to confess their sins, and to receive the healing of grace. You see, the sins we hide, God uncovers. But the sins we uncover, God hides and He casts them behind His back. For though Christ was crucified, Paul said, in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. We also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God towards you." You see, a church that confesses is a powerful church.

Strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, not our own. The next thing we see is that they impacted the economy. Not by boycotts and demands and marches and so forth as their thinking was transformed their desires Were changed and they no longer purchased magic books They burned the ones they had it says the value of what they burned was 50, 000 pieces of silver now if those were Greek drachmas, that would be over $200, 000 that they destroyed. Slightly less if they were Roman denarii. They didn't try to resell them, to recover the money.

They burned them. And so the demand for silver had fallen because these Christians, these believers, had stopped buying the silver idols of Diana that the silversmiths made. And they were experiencing a notable downturn in their business of idol making. That's real change. That's spiritual victory.

See, that's not coming because of some edict or because you got some law passed or because you wore out, made yourself obnoxious and somebody passed a law to get rid of you. That's real change. It's coming out of the hearts of people, changing how they buy things and what they buy. So many times in the Old Testament, kings would remove idols. Good kings would remove idols, but the high places remained because the people continued to sacrifice at them.

And so you could have this wonderful king who did a lot of good things, but the heart of the people was never changed. And as soon as he died, the nation was as bad off or worse than before he was king. Asa removed Maaka, his grandmother, from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image. And he cut down that image and burned it, but the high places were not removed. Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of his father Asa.

He did not turn aside from them doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But the high places weren't taken down. Why? Because it says the people offered sacrifices and burned incense there. There was no real change in the people.

The emphasis was this was a change from the inside out and it produced an impact on the economy. We have government schools today because professing Christians send their children to them. If all of the Bible-believing Christians who attend evangelical churches in this county were to remove their children from government schools, the Montgomery County public schools, government schools would collapse for lack of people. You see these Ephesian Christians were serious about their faith. It changed their buying habits and it affected the economy so much that the silversmith guild was afraid of going out of business.

They also befriended the Roman officials. Paul says that these officials of Asia were his friends. Their attitude was not that politics was dirty and all politicians were liars, so don't have anything to do with them. Paul was friends with these officials of Asia. They were also committed to long-term discipleship.

Paul continued teaching for two years in the school of Tyrannus. And he stayed three whole years in Ephesus. Paul was committed to raising up leaders. He invested in their training and he used these leaders to extend the reach of the church. He sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia while he stayed in Asia.

These are men that he had trained up, that he's discipled through these many years that he's been teaching and before. Timothy has been with them since his first journey. Or second journey, sorry. But Paul also discipled this way the regional church as well. When Demetrius brings his case to his fellow guild members, he says that their problems were not limited to Ephesus, but Paul was having an effect throughout all of Asia.

Meaning that whole section there, what we would call Turkey today. At least the western part of it. Luke says that all who dwell in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And the seven churches in Revelation are in close proximity to Ephesus. In fact, they form an upside down U or a horseshoe, about like the circuit that one would travel as you went around from church to church.

Ephesus on the coast. Smyrna. Pergamum. Thyatira. Sardis.

Philadelphia. Laodicea. They're listed in a circle. Paul's ministry was influential in planting all those churches. So in closing here, I'd like to leave you with just three reminders from the example of the Ephesian church in their war on Ephesus.

And we will come back and look at some of this in more detail. But three things in the high level. One, they had a vision for the Kingdom of God. May the Lord give us a vision for His Kingdom and for the advancement of His Kingdom that we're not looking just in our own self, our own church, but that we're looking out as they did. They had a vision for the Kingdom.

Secondly, may we be zealous for the truth and sound doctrine without forgetting our first love. Without forgetting our first love and the works that we do at first. And third, may we fight with the armor of God and not the arm of flesh. May we fight with the armor of God and not the armor of flesh. May we fight with the armor of God and not the armor of flesh.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, We thank you that you have given to us Detailed instructions on what our purpose is and how we ought to go about it We pray that everything that we do might be tied in to our vision for your kingdom. Whether we are sweeping the floor, or cleaning a bathroom, or changing a tire, or fixing broken plumbing or broken electricity, or driving, or doing any other great and wonderful thing. In whatever role Lord you have called us, as fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, as laborers, as overseers, Whatever Lord, may we see our labor and know and understand how it ties in to our calling to advance your kingdom. And may that be our prayer, that your kingdom might advance.

And may you give us grace that we may never seek to wage this in our own strength, with our own abilities, with our own understanding, apart from your armor and the power of your Holy Spirit and the tools and the resources that you have given to us in Christ. Grant us Lord grace to pray for great victory and to work for those victories and to hope in those victories for you have promised that even the very gates of hell cannot and will not Prevail against your church We thank you that you are the mighty God in Jesus name amen.