1. Impacting our community Lorna Laister 17th February 2019

2. Ephesians 4:1-6 Good News Translation (GNT)
The Unity of the Body 4 I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you. 2 Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. 3 Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.

3. Imagine – no jails; no court cases; no children being abducted; nobody evading taxes; no extortion; no corruption and no load shedding!!
Can you imagine what that would be like?
Well one time it did happen
In 1904 there was a great revival in Wales. A revival of church services, of the Holy spirit working in people’s lives; a revival where many people came to Christ and were saved.
Wales is a little country west of England. Ministers had been praying that God would give them power in their preaching for a while and BAM!! God came through!
The thing about this revival is that it was incredibly dramatic. It had enormous effect on the population, and triggered revivals in several other countries. It is said that GLORY filled the land
"The movement kept the churches of Wales filled for many years to come, seats being placed in the aisles in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Swansea for twenty years or so, for example. Meanwhile, the Awakening swept the rest of Britain, Scandinavia, parts of Europe, North America, the mission fields of India and the Orient, Africa and Latin America."[1]

4. The Welsh revival later spread to America, though in a more limited fashion. Listen to an article in the Denver Post, dated January 20, 1905.
“For two hours at midday all Denver was held in a spell…the markets of trade were deserted between noon and two o’clock this afternoon, and all worldly affairs were forgotten. Going to and coming from the great prayer meetings, thousands of men and women radiated this Spirit which filled them. Seldom has such a remarkable sight been witnessed—an entire great city, in the middle of a busy weekday, bowing before the throne of heaven and asking the blessing of the King of the Universe.”

5. I. FIRST, NOTE THAT THEIR LIVES CHANGED SO DRAMATICALLY THAT IT AFFECTED THE LOCAL COMMERCE  
24 An idol maker named Demetrius had a profitable business, for himself and for others, making silver shrines for Artemis (also known as Diana by the Romans), one of the deities worshiped in Ephesus. 25 Picture this: Demetrius calls a meeting of all the artisans who are similarly employed in idol making. Everyone in the idol industry comes together.
When Paul came to Ephesus in Acts 19,
EPHESUS was in like a stronghold of pagan superstition.
But within two years of ministry in Ephesus, Satan’s stronghold was crumbling. The result was that they had a big bonfire in verse 19, as we saw last week. Christians brought their books on magic and their astrological charts and horoscopes and occult charms and burned them in a public square of the city. Chris told us this last week.
So let’s study this passage and see two things about them that enabled them to have such a remarkable impact on their society for Christ, and two things they didn’t do that protected them from ruining their impact:
In most cities, the Jews stand in opposition to the Way; but in this instance, the outsiders cause the disturbance.
SLIDE

6. Diana Goddess of earth and nature Mother goddess
The patron goddess of Ephesus was Diana, known as Artemis to the Greeks. Diana was the goddess of earth and nature, or as we would say today—ecology, as well as the mother of birthing, or the “mother goddess.” As I told you last week, the temple to her glory was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens.
But this religion wasn’t localised; it extended throughout the Roman Empire with more than 30 shrines to her—and Ephesus was the capital city of this religion. Every year, during a week in spring, Diana’s followers made a pilgrimage to Ephesus for a week of immorality and debauchery in her name.
As they did, they would purchase silver replicas of Diana and the temple made by local silversmiths to take home and place on their family altars.
And this religion affected the whole city. The temple was a place where- if you were a criminal – you could seek refuge. We would say that this religion was “above the law”

7. Acts 19:26-27
26 You’ve heard about this fellow Paul. Here in Ephesus, he’s already convinced a large number of people to give up using idols. He tells them that our products are worthless. He’s been doing this same kind of thing almost everywhere in Asia. 27 It’s bad enough that he is slandering our fine and honourable profession, but do you see where this will lead? If his lies catch on, the temple of Artemis itself will be called a fraud. The great goddess of our region, the majestic deity who is revered here in Asia and around the world, will be disgraced.
Let’s read on.
Demetrius: Men, we are all colleagues in this fine line of work. We’re making a good living doing what we’re doing. But we’d better wake up, or we’re all going to go broke.
Demetrius was apparently the leader of the local silversmith’s guild, who made the little silver souvenirs and idols of Diana and the temple. It was a booming business that made these tradesmen wealthy, as Demetrius pointed out in verse 25.
Demetrius was basically saying, “Either Christianity is stopped or we’ll go bankrupt.” What caused him to say that? For two years a large number of people had come to faith in Christ. But the occult was so ingrained in their culture that many of the believers were still holding on to the old life, and that was sapping them spiritually.
You see – the revival was so strong that it was affecting the city. And now it was affecting the trade

8. II. SECOND, NOTE THAT THE EPHESIAN CHRISTIANS HAD A REPUTATION FOR WHOLE- HEARTED COMMITMENT.
Reading on:
28 The crowd goes wild with rage. They start chanting.
Crowd: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!
29 Soon the whole city is filled with confusion, and a mob forms. They find Paul’s Macedonian travel companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and drag them to the theatre. 30 Paul wants to go confront the crowd and protect his friends, but the disciples hold him back. 31 Even some provincial officials of Asia who are friendly to Paul send him an urgent message, warning him to stay away from the theatre.
32 Enraged voices are shouting on top of each other, some saying one thing, some saying something else. The crowd is completely out of control. Most of the people don’t even know what caused the commotion in the first place.

9. Acts 19:33
33 Some of the Jewish people push a man named Alexander to the front of the crowd, hoping he can calm the disturbance. He raises his hands to silence the crowd and gets a few sentences out; 34 but then the crowd realizes he’s a Jew, and once again they start chanting.
Ok this verse seems to be a red herring – a distraction - nothing to do with the story
But actually it is very important!
This man Alexander was a Jew. His fellow Jews wanted him to say – hey actually we’re not with Paul on this. We are Jewish but not Christian. They didn’t want to be associated with Christian people.
You see, they wanted a religion and a belief in God, but they didn’t want to be associated with what they deemed to be getting TOO excited about God! I suppose if there’s one thing people fear more than anything in the world, it’s for a Christian to be totally sincere about his belief; to be labelled a fanatic. You can be all out for cricket or rugby…You can be a fanatic about a hobby…You can be passionate about a political party…but God forbid that you get excited about Jesus and live for Him with all his heart and try to be like Christ.
Alexander represents that sector of religion that wants to have “a form of godliness” but is shocked to be associated with anything so radical as really taking their belief seriously.

10. CHRISTIANS RESPECTED THE RELIGION OF THE EPHESIANS
Town Clerk: My fellow citizens of Ephesus, everyone in the world knows that our great city is the caretaker of the temple of Artemis! Everyone knows that we are the home of the great statue that fell from heaven! 36 Our status as the economic centre of the idol making industry is not in danger, so please, calm down. Don’t do anything rash. 37 The men whom you have seized aren’t temple robbers, nor have they blasphemed our great goddess. 38 If Demetrius and the artisans who share his important trade have a legal complaint, don’t bring it here to the theatre; take it to the courts—they’re open today. 39 If you need to charge someone with a crime or launch an inquiry, take the matter to the regional judges. 40 We need to do this according to regulations, or we’ll all be charged with rioting. This kind of behaviour can’t be justified.
However Alexander didn’t get a chance to speak. The Ephesians didn’t care what religion the Jews were- they did not belong.
And for two solid hours 25,000 Ephesians worshiped their goddess, and they chanted praise to her with delirious passion. The Ephesian citizenry weren’t against passion in religion; they were simply anti-Christian.
Ok those are 2 things the Christians did do.
Their lives affected the whole city and they were wholehearted about Jesus
III. LAST, NOTE TWO THINGS THE CHRISTIANS IN EPHESUS DID NOT DO
Reading on verse 35 to 40
35 Finally the town clerk manages to calm the crowd. READ SLIDE
This town clerk had some sense about him. He said, “Okay, Diana is great. Nobody can overthrow a goddess as great as ours, so we don’t need a commotion that might jeopardize our status as a free city. These Christians haven’t committed any crimes, so if you have a problem with them, go through the legal recourses of the courts and the legislature.” Now this guy was really a typical politician—His main goal was to maintain the current status of the city in its relationship with Rome and not upset any apple carts—and to maintain his own position, I’m sure!
But what’s neat is how this guy became an unsuspecting biographer of early Christianity. Without realizing it, this non-Christian, pagan politician tells us a lot about how Christians acted in Ephesus and why they made such an incredible impact.

11. III FIRST, THE TOWN CLERK POINTED OUT THAT THE CHRISTIANS DIDN’T ACT DISRESPECTFULLY OF THE EPHESIANS’ RELIGION.
37 The men whom you have seized aren’t temple robbers, nor have they blasphemed our great goddess. (The voice)
37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. (NIV)
These men you’ve dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess. (Msg)
Did you notice what they didn’t do?
SLIDE
the Christian faith is not spread by coercion, but by the power of God’s Word, the influence of the Spirit and human logic.
the Christians’ showed respect for the Ephesian’s religion, .the town clerk pointed out that they didn’t knock blaspheme their religion. Knocking other people’s belief is not an effective tool of evangelism.
The Gospel is spread by a loving, heart-felt presentation of the Gospel, using the Word of God, and trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

12. IIII. THE SECOND THING THEY DIDN’T DO WAS TRY TO CHANGE THE EPHESIANS BEHAVIOUR BY POLITICAL ACTIVISM, BUT BY SPIRITUAL MEANS.
All he did was teach the truth daily and send out his converts to witness to the lost people in the city. As more and more people got converted, fewer and fewer customers were available.”
WARREN WIERSBE
Paul had never tried to arouse opposition by staging anti-idolatry marches.
Another author, James Montgomery Boice, said this,
“How did Christianity triumph? How did Christians win the day?…The Christians did not circulate a petition to see if they could get 51% of the Ephesians to sign it saying, “Diana is no goddess, and the God of the Old Testament is the true God.” The Christians did not have a mass rally. They did not send Christians into the amphitheatre to do their thing. They did exactly what Jesus Christ had done and what he sent them into the world to do. They preached the gospel so that men and women got converted, and once they were converted they taught them how to live for Jesus Christ.”
This is not to say that Christians do not get involved in politics. There are times we have to make a stand against immorality and save innocent lives. We are saying that effective EVANGELISM is by winning people one-by-one heart by heart. internal change wrought by conversion

13. So the question is – can we change our communities the way the Christians in Ephesus said?
The only way we can is God’s way—by living holy lives ourselves, not by half-hearted commitment and not through politics, activism, or civil disobedience.
The church needs to take its cue from Ephesus. They swung the sword of the Spirit and turned Satan’s kingdom upside down. And they allowed God to change hearts through the power of Jesus Christ. America needs revival; Grafenwoehr needs revival; Grace Baptist Church needs revival; I need revival, and so do you.

14. Revival in our communities
All big revivals start as little revivals in individual hearts.
Revivals start as Christians start getting things right with God and forsaking their sins and surrendering things that keep them from experiencing God’s best.
Lastly, revivals start when Christians start sacrificing for the sake of the Gospel.
1) But all big revivals start as little revivals in individual hearts.
They start as Christians get GROUNDED and SETTLED in the Word of God. That’s why faithfulness to church is so important to hear the Word preached. That’s why faithfulness to daily reading and obeying God’s Word is so vital. Remember what I said about the revival in Wales? The pastors pleaded with god to give them power to preach in his name. And BAM! God came through
2) Revivals start as Christians start getting things right with God and forsaking their sins and surrendering things that keep them from experiencing God’s best.
Peter commands us in 2 Peter 3:14 to “…be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” How do you stack up to that standard—without spot and blameless?
3) Lastly, revivals start when Christians start sacrificing for the sake of the Gospel.
The Ephesians built a big bonfire and burned things of great value monetarily. What things does God want you to throw on the fire of sacrifice for God?
That’s how revival starts—when God’s people implement these three things in their lives INDIVIDUALLY—ONE-BY-ONE. And then that spreads to another believer, then another, then another, then another.

15. Mahatma Ghandi Be the change that you want to see in the world.
The future depends on what you do today.
You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
So the answer is yes!! A resounding YES!!!
So what about you?
What does this mean to you?
What does it mean every day?.
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16. When we read the book of acts I believe that we see Christians living like Christians should.
It doesn’t mean we are to be perfect, it means we are to be “all in” and passionate
Mahatma Ghandi was an amazing man. He had a whole lot of respect for Christianity. But not for Christians.
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
What a sobering observation.
What a damning observation!
However let’s not end on this note
Let’s end on a positive.
My story of being close to “ Jesus”
May we each experience a revival of repentance and commitment today.