Bible Reading Plan – Day 311

₂₄At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. ₂₅He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he proclaimed and taught correctly the facts about Jesus. However, he knew only the baptism of John. ₂₆He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God. ₂₇Apollos then decided to go to Achaia, so the believers in Ephesus helped him by writing to the believers in Achaia, urging them to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who through God's grace had become believers. ₂₈For with his strong arguments he defeated the Jews in public debates by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

₁While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the interior of the province and arrived in Ephesus. There he found some disciples ₂and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit,” they answered.

₃“Well, then, what kind of baptism did you receive?” Paul asked.

“The baptism of John,” they answered.

₄Paul said, “The baptism of John was for those who turned from their sins; and he told the people of Israel to believe in the one who was coming after him — that is, in Jesus.”

₅When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ₆Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them; they spoke in strange tongues and also proclaimed God's message. ₇They were about twelve men in all.

₈Paul went into the synagogue and during three months spoke boldly with the people, holding discussions with them and trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God. ₉But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ₁₀This went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.

₁₁God was performing unusual miracles through Paul. ₁₂Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to those who were ill, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them. ₁₃Some Jews who travelled round and drove out evil spirits also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to do this. They said to the evil spirits, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” ₁₄Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this.

₁₅But the evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul; but you — who are you?”

₁₆The man who had the evil spirit in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off. ₁₇All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this; they were all filled with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was given greater honour. ₁₈Many of the believers came, publicly admitting and revealing what they had done. ₁₉Many of those who had practised magic brought their books together and burnt them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to 50,000 silver coins. ₂₀In this powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger.

₂₁After these things had happened, Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia and go on to Jerusalem. “After I go there,” he said, “I must also see Rome.” ₂₂So he sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, to Macedonia, while he spent more time in the province of Asia.

₂₃It was at this time that there was serious trouble in Ephesus because of the Way of the Lord. ₂₄A certain silversmith named Demetrius made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis, and his business brought a great deal of profit to the workers. ₂₅So he called them all together with others whose work was like theirs and said to them, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this work. ₂₆Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that gods made by human hands are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia. ₂₇There is the danger, then, that this business of ours will get a bad name. Not only that, but there is also the danger that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to mean nothing and that her greatness will be destroyed — the goddess worshipped by everyone in Asia and in all the world!”

₂₈As the crowd heard these words, they became furious and started shouting, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!” ₂₉The uproar spread throughout the whole city. The mob seized Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were travelling with Paul, and rushed with them to the theatre. ₃₀Paul himself wanted to go before the crowd, but the believers would not let him. ₃₁Some of the provincial authorities, who were his friends, also sent him a message begging him not to show himself in the theatre. ₃₂Meanwhile the whole meeting was in an uproar: some people were shouting one thing, others were shouting something else, because most of them did not even know why they had come together. ₃₃Some of the people concluded that Alexander was responsible, since the Jews made him go up to the front. Then Alexander motioned with his hand for the people to be silent, and he tried to make a speech of defence. ₃₄But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted together the same thing for two hours: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”

₃₅At last the town clerk was able to calm the crowd. “Fellow-Ephesians!” he said. “Everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell down from heaven. ₃₆Nobody can deny these things. So then, you must calm down and not do anything reckless. ₃₇You have brought these men here even though they have not robbed temples or said evil things about our goddess. ₃₈If Demetrius and his workers have an accusation against anyone, we have the authorities and the regular days for court; charges can be made there. ₃₉But if there is something more that you want, it will have to be settled in a legal meeting of citizens. ₄₀For after what has happened today, there is the danger that we will be accused of a riot. There is no excuse for all this uproar, and we would not be able to give a good reason for it.” ₄₁After saying this, he dismissed the meeting.

₁After the uproar died down, Paul called together the believers and with words of encouragement said goodbye to them. Then he left and went on to Macedonia. ₂He went through those regions and encouraged the people with many messages. Then he came to Achaia, ₃where he stayed three months. He was getting ready to go to Syria when he discovered that there were Jews plotting against him; so he decided to go back through Macedonia. ₄Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, went with him; so did Aristarchus and Secundus, from Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; Tychicus and Trophimus, from the province of Asia; and Timothy. ₅They went ahead and waited for us in Troas. ₆We sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later we joined them in Troas, where we spent a week.

₇On Saturday evening we gathered together for the fellowship meal. Paul spoke to the people and kept on speaking until midnight, since he was going to leave the next day. ₈Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting. ₉A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window, and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus got sleepier and sleepier, until he finally went sound asleep and fell from the third storey to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. ₁₀But Paul went down and threw himself on him and hugged him. “Don't worry,” he said, “he is still alive!” ₁₁Then he went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. After talking with them for a long time, even until sunrise, Paul left. ₁₂They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

₁₃We went on ahead to the ship and sailed off to Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had told us to do this, because he was going there by land. ₁₄When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ₁₅We sailed from there and arrived off Chios the next day. A day later we came to Samos, and the following day we reached Miletus. ₁₆Paul had decided to sail on past Ephesus, so as not to lose any time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to arrive in Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost, if at all possible.

₁₇From Miletus Paul sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. ₁₈When they arrived, he said to them, “You know how I spent the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ₁₉With all humility and many tears I did my work as the Lord's servant during the hard times that came to me because of the plots of some Jews. ₂₀You know that I did not hold back anything that would be of help to you as I preached and taught in public and in your homes. ₂₁To Jews and Gentiles alike I gave solemn warning that they should turn from their sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus. ₂₂And now, in obedience to the Holy Spirit I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ₂₃I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me. ₂₄But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

₂₅“I have gone about among all of you, preaching the Kingdom of God. And now I know that none of you will ever see me again. ₂₆So I solemnly declare to you this very day: if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible. ₂₇For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God. ₂₈So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he made his own through the blood of his Son. ₂₉I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. ₃₀The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them. ₃₁Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

₃₂“And now I commend you to the care of God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the blessings God has for all his people. ₃₃I have not wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. ₃₄You yourselves know that I have worked with these hands of mine to provide everything that my companions and I have needed. ₃₅I have shown you in all things that by working hard in this way we must help the weak, remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.’ ”

₃₆When Paul finished, he knelt down with them and prayed. ₃₇They were all crying as they hugged him and kissed him goodbye. ₃₈They were especially sad because he had said that they would never see him again. And so they went with him to the ship.