The “all” in your ministry

Acts 19:1-10

I bet you know someone who reads the last chapter of a book before beginning to read the book, you may even be such a person, but for me I can’t, it would ruin it for me.  But looking at these first ten verses of Acts 19, it seemed wise to begin at the last two verses and work back to the beginning.  Doctor Luke recorded, that Paul spent two years teaching at the hall of Tyrannus, but little is known about the hall of Tyrannus and so far they have not been recovered, we can only assume that it was a place where people met to share and teach.  What took place over those two years of sharing about the Christ, who Paul met on the road to Damascus, is revealed by doctor Luke in verse 10, “This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” 

Now if you knew me well, I sometime let the salesman come out and have the tendency to over sell, but we do not find that to be true in Scripture, for we are told these truths in the Bible; “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)  And look at what the apostle Peter shared with us on this subject; “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV)  So when the good doctor uses the word “all” the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks, he meant all.  What a work of God, you nor I can fathom such a thing, it comes back to my favorite saying; “But God.”

Now getting back to verse one where doctor Luke tells the story; “And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.”  (Acts 19:1-7 ESV)

Having twelve men to mentor must have been of great encouragement to Paul and yet the desire of his heart was to see the Jews come to Christ, so for three months he went to the synagogue and spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.  What can you and I learn from this?  What often looks like an opportunity can fall short of God’s plan, and how true that was, and when the Jews began to speak evil of the teaching of Christ before the congregation, Paul withdrew from them and took the disciples with him. 

Often, we are reluctant to leave a ministry, and for a good common sense reason, but that will lead you into many conflicts God never desired.  Learning to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and to ask God to increase and to let you decrease so that He can use your body to reach the “all” in your ministry is very important.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice