Daily devotion – Friday 17th September 2021
Paul in Ephesus
Act 19:10 “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”
The common length of time for most Sunday morning Church gatherings is approximately one hour and half hours – 90 minutes all up. This encompassing worship, corporate Bible reading and prayer, announcements, and the teaching of God’s Word. Anything over that time and people begin to squirm.
The patter of Paul’s evangelistic ministry in Ephesus was similar to that in Corinth. Paul began in the synagogue, but when the Gospel was rejected, he moved to a secular venue.
The Apostle Paul used the lecture hall of Tyrannus the period he was in Ephesus to teach. It was a secular building and the only location available for Paul to proclaim the Gospel in that city.
Paul stayed two years teaching in Corinth and three years preaching in Ephesus. Paul’s use of the hall of Tyrannus is particularly remarkable. The accepted text reads that Paul lectured/taught/ preached daily there for two years.
Paul’s teaching was a combination of argument (apologetics) and persuasion so that his approach was serious, well-reasoned
and convincing.
Whilst arguments are no substitute for the Holy Spirit, but then trust in the Holy Spirit is no substitute for arguments. The Spirit of truth brings people to faith in Jesus Christ not in spite of evidence but because of the evidence when He opens their minds to attend to it!
But the Bezan text adds “from the fifth hour to the tenth,” that is, from eleven in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon.
Assuming that Paul kept one day in seven for rest and worship, a daily five-hour teaching, six days a week, for two years comes to 3,120 hours of Gospel proclamation!
Is it no wonder Luke comments that “all residents of the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the Word of the Lord?”
How I would have loved to be able to sit under Paul’s teaching there in Ephesus each day.
Let us in the short time we gather have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit today desires to teach and fill us with.
But even more, don’t settle for just 90 minutes each week, here at CCSH we have another hour of teaching Sunday evening, more teaching Wednesday evening along with prayer, ladies and men’s studies as well.
Let us all be serious about the study of God’s Word and let us seize every opportunity to grow in a greater knowledge of how wonderful our Lord is as He speaks to us through His Word.
Ninety minutes today seems like a ‘fast food drive through’ compared to the five hours each day Paul proclaimed the Gospel to hungry hearts and listening ears!
I am sure the spiritual maturity of the Ephesian believers was something to behold given the food that they received through Paul’s diligent and daily teaching.