Not-So-Quiet-Time: Acts 19
At-Home Bible Guide for the Week of 2/8
Day 1: Verses 1-10
Much of what Paul and the other disciples were doing in Ephesus was helping people who needed to continue to learn and grow. In the last chapter, Apollos was instructed by Priscilla and Aquila. Now, as Paul passed through the same city, there was a group that had believed in John’s message to repent and trust that God’s Messiah was coming. They had responded in faith, but they had not learned about the death of Jesus, his resurrection, or the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is a journey to know Him better through the Bible. So Paul followed up this experience by preaching the Word for months. Ask God to help us learn his Word and continue to grow.
Day 2: Verses 11-20
The sons of Sceva were trying to do God’s work without a real knowledge of God. They were imposters who were overpowered by demonic powers. This experience showed the followers of Jesus that were not playing a game. The life of discipleship costs everything. So they brought out the tools of their pagan practices and burned them in sight of all (19:19). Today, we pray that “the word of the Lord [will continue] to increase and prevail mightily” (19:20). And this means that our anti-Christian practices need to be destroyed as well. What does God’s Word teach about what we listen to, read, or watch?
Day 3: Verses 21-27
Not everyone likes the change that the gospel brings. In Ephesus, it threatened industry and wealth, along with the reputation of the city. In following Jesus, we must be willing to count everything else as loss. Pray that God would help us stand for Him when the world says He is not worth it.
Day 4: Verses 28-34
Here we see a worship-battle. The people cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (19:28). They understood that Paul and the other Christians were saying that Artemis and other idols are nothing (1 Cor 8:4). And the truth is that the gospel does make exclusive claims. If Jesus is Lord, I am not. And Allah is not. And Artemis is not. We cannot follow Christ and live for someone or something else. Ask God to help you follow Him alone regardless of what others think or do.
Day 5: Verses 35-41
This riot ended when the people were presented with the possibility of consequences from the Romans: “we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today” (19:40). They didn’t understand that there is an authority higher than the Romans. Jesus said to fear the One who can kill the body as well as the soul (Matt 10:28). Pray that God would help us to live our lives following and fearing Him. We must care most about what He thinks of how we live.
Catechism Connection: 1-3, 28, 38
We exist to glorify and enjoy God (WSC 1), and the Word of God in the Bible is God’s way of showing us what to believe and how to live (WSC 2-3). Living the life of faith matters because Jesus is “coming to judge the world on the last day” (WSC 28) and believers will be “acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and will be made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity” (WSC 38).
Monthly Memory: Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
Day 1: Verses 1-10
Much of what Paul and the other disciples were doing in Ephesus was helping people who needed to continue to learn and grow. In the last chapter, Apollos was instructed by Priscilla and Aquila. Now, as Paul passed through the same city, there was a group that had believed in John’s message to repent and trust that God’s Messiah was coming. They had responded in faith, but they had not learned about the death of Jesus, his resurrection, or the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is a journey to know Him better through the Bible. So Paul followed up this experience by preaching the Word for months. Ask God to help us learn his Word and continue to grow.
Day 2: Verses 11-20
The sons of Sceva were trying to do God’s work without a real knowledge of God. They were imposters who were overpowered by demonic powers. This experience showed the followers of Jesus that were not playing a game. The life of discipleship costs everything. So they brought out the tools of their pagan practices and burned them in sight of all (19:19). Today, we pray that “the word of the Lord [will continue] to increase and prevail mightily” (19:20). And this means that our anti-Christian practices need to be destroyed as well. What does God’s Word teach about what we listen to, read, or watch?
Day 3: Verses 21-27
Not everyone likes the change that the gospel brings. In Ephesus, it threatened industry and wealth, along with the reputation of the city. In following Jesus, we must be willing to count everything else as loss. Pray that God would help us stand for Him when the world says He is not worth it.
Day 4: Verses 28-34
Here we see a worship-battle. The people cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (19:28). They understood that Paul and the other Christians were saying that Artemis and other idols are nothing (1 Cor 8:4). And the truth is that the gospel does make exclusive claims. If Jesus is Lord, I am not. And Allah is not. And Artemis is not. We cannot follow Christ and live for someone or something else. Ask God to help you follow Him alone regardless of what others think or do.
Day 5: Verses 35-41
This riot ended when the people were presented with the possibility of consequences from the Romans: “we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today” (19:40). They didn’t understand that there is an authority higher than the Romans. Jesus said to fear the One who can kill the body as well as the soul (Matt 10:28). Pray that God would help us to live our lives following and fearing Him. We must care most about what He thinks of how we live.
Catechism Connection: 1-3, 28, 38
We exist to glorify and enjoy God (WSC 1), and the Word of God in the Bible is God’s way of showing us what to believe and how to live (WSC 2-3). Living the life of faith matters because Jesus is “coming to judge the world on the last day” (WSC 28) and believers will be “acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and will be made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity” (WSC 38).
Monthly Memory: Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
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