ESTABLISHING A CHURCH Acts 19: 1-10
Our text records the establishing of the church in Ephesus. In Paul’s day, it was a city of about 200,000.
Every Christian longs for God’s church to be established and extended as His word spreads mightily and prevails. Our text shows that for that to happen, there must be evangelizing, empowering, and equipping.
The church must be preaching the gospel, it must be empowered through God’s Spirit, and pastor-teachers must be equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. All three were happening in Ephesus.
I. To establish a church there must be the evangelization of the lost.
Fulfilling his earlier promise to return to Ephesus if God willed (18:21), Paul returned about a year later. He found about 12 men whom Luke describes as “disciples” (19:1) who had “believed” (19:2).
However, as Paul talked with them, he discerned that something was not quite right.
A. The inquiry
Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed.
The Holy Spirt is one of the benefits sovereignly and eternally bestowed upon any believer at the moment of his conversion.
Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
B. The ignorance
The men replied that they had not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit.
As a result, Paul explained to them that the one of whom John prophesied had come, namely, Jesus. No doubt he told them of His death on the cross as the substitute for sinners, of His resurrection from the dead, and of His ascension into heaven. When they heard the gospel, they believed in Christ and were baptized as a confession of their faith.
Some who need to be evangelized already believe and are in the church.
You’re saying, "What? If they already believe and are in the church, aren’t they saved?" Not necessarily! The question is, WHAT do they believe? These men believed in the message of John the Baptist, but they had not heard how Jesus had fulfilled John’s preaching. Even though Luke calls them "disciples" (19:1), it is clear that they were not disciples of Jesus.
In a similar way, there are many in our churches today who believe in God, and perhaps even believe about Jesus, but yet are still not truly saved.
All who truly believe in Jesus Christ should confess their faith through believer’s baptism.
II. To establish a church there must be the empowerment to live.
This empowering is done through the Holy Spirit of God.
After these men believed and were baptized, Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them, causing them to have the miraculous ability to speak in a language that they had not previously learned.
However, this text has led to much confusion in modern Christian circles, primarily because interpreters do not keep in mind the transitional nature of Acts.
Some things which are practiced in Acts are not commanded by later epistles to the church.
Let me make two statements about the working of the Holy Spirit today:
A. All who have truly believed in Jesus Christ have received the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:9, Paul asserts, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Even the carnal Corinthians had God’s Spirit dwelling in them (1 Cor. 6:19).
Paul later wrote to the Ephesians, telling them that when they believed, they had been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as the earnest of our inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14). If a person does not have the Spirit indwelling him, he is not saved.
B. Those who have received the Spirit through faith in Christ must learn to walk in the Spirit’s power.
While every genuine believer in Christ today receives the indwelling Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion, walking in the Spirit’s power is not an automatic process. If it were, Paul would not have commanded us to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) and be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).
Sadly, there are many who profess to know Christ, but their daily lives are more characterized by the deeds of the flesh than by the fruit of the Spirit.
III. To establish a church, there must be the equipping to labor.
When Paul finally ran into stiff opposition in the synagogue, he withdrew with the disciples and reasoned daily in the school of Tyrannus.
This school from what I could find was from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Now, if Paul did teach for five hours every day for two years, it adds up to 1,500-1,800 hours of teaching, a substantial amount!
You cannot equip others without pouring your own life into theirs.
You need evangelism, empowering by God’s Spirit, and equipping for a church to be established.
Sound doctrine is the essential foundation for establishing solid churches.
Nothing is so calculated to produce so flabby a Christian life and character as the absence of sound doctrine. I have never met a sickly Christian whose weakness did not include a lack of sound doctrine.
Years ago in Kentucky there was a rather illiterate old lady up in the mountains who had an expression –"nor nothing." Instead of saying, "Not anything," she always said, "Nor nothing." On a certain occasion she went to church where they had one of those liberal preachers. After the service was over, the little lady came up to the preacher and said, "I surely enjoyed your sermon. It did not have no doctrine in it, nor nothing."
People today do not want the healthy doctrine of the Word of God. Some church members would not know the difference if the pastor took a text from the Koran on Sunday and preached from it.
Doctrine is important because it is what you believe and what a person believes is what He lives. False doctrine promotes false living.
In our day, doctrine is being set aside, and experience and emotions are exalted. But if experience and emotions are not rooted in sound doctrine, they will not be Biblical and will not sustain us or keep us from serious error.
To establish any church, so that it is a vital force in future generations, we must devote ourselves to the teaching of God’s Word.
From Paul’s own example we see that there is
A. There is a BIBLE TO ENTHRONE
1. It is our SWORD.
2. It is our STANDARD
More and more today people say, "Let’s not argue about what we believe. It is only doctrine.” However, over and over the New Testament stresses the importance of sound doctrine.
B. There are BELIEVERS TO ENGAGE
The men who received the teaching went into the outlying areas and established churches. The result was that "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:10).
I believe as well as others that during this time the seven churches of Revelation were founded at this time
Conclusion
Wouldn’t it be exciting if we could substitute "Northern Georgia" for the word "Asia" in verse 10.
For that to happen, we must commit ourselves to evangelizing the lost, we must daily rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to live, and we must equip the saints for the labor of the ministry.
