Author: joemarino (Page 6 of 51)

This passage is centered around the battle between idolatry and the gospel. The gospel had slowly but surely been taking ground in the city of Ephesus for quite some time and now the idolatry that lurked in the shadows of that dark culture was rearing its ugly head.

The passage in front of us today is a case study in making war on the darkness. Any time the gospel advances into a new area – whether it is a new culture or a new place deep within our hearts – the darkness will reveal its ugly head.

When I read this portion of the book of Acts, I cannot help but to think of the Great Commission. The Great Commission (Matt. 18:18 – 20) is basically Jesus’ final words to his disciples before he ascended back into heaven.

The apostle Paul was definitely a man of grit and grace. He had the grit to endure insurmountable odds and he also had the grace to face his worst enemies with a heart that still ached for their eternal salvation. Do you ever stop and wonder where all of Paul’s grit and grace came from?

At first glance, the text in front of us could be a passage that we look at to gain some insight on how to do gospel centered evangelism. Although there are many helpful things, we can look at from this text that are important for doing evangelism, I think the thrust of the text is centered around repenting from idolatry.