Hey. You're listening to Cut for Time, a podcast from Faith Church located on the North side of Indianapolis. My name is Claire Kingsley. Each week, I'll sit down with one of our preaching pastors to discuss their Sunday sermon. Cut for time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation, and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from the sermon on Sunday.

Thanks for listening. Hi, Tom. It's so good to have you back on Cut for Time. Yeah. Good morning, Claire.

Good to see you. Good morning. Welcome back from vacation. We missed you. Thank you.

I'll I know Jeff and Joey did Cut for Time last week, and so maybe people we just need to switch it up more often because I think people enjoyed that. So anyways, it's you and I, and you're the the exciting piece of all of this now. So We're in trouble. So, Tom, you made a great joke. It made me laugh at the beginning because, last time we interviewed for Cut For Time, you talked about the trouble of preaching from some a summary passage.

And you made a joke probably. It just felt like, well, this shows how much they trust me. This is what they gave me. Right? And then this past week, you joked again because they gave you 21 verses to teach from, which I don't know if we've had a passage that long in acts that we've tackled in the last year and a half.

So, that's a lot to cover. So you've had a lot to teach from, and we have plenty to talk about today. Before we do, why don't you give us your best summary from 21 verses that you were trying to cover on Sunday? Sure. So acts 1921 to 41, which is the last half a full half of that chapter is the close of time of Paul's time in Ephesus.

After this riotous event occurs, Paul leaves Ephesus, And the riot, is occurs, when some craftsmen who made little idol souvenirs that people would take home with them after visiting, the the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. These craftsmen became very concerned because, their spokesman noticed that their business seemed to be trailing off, and they identified the problem as being, Paul and the teaching of Christians that, these idols weren't really gods. So this economic impact, as well as their concern for their allegiance to their goddess, spurred them to take action. And so they got each other worked up and began shouting one of the slogans of the city, great as Artemis of the Ephesians. And so the whole town hears about the uproar, and they rush into this huge theater, which is right down the street from their shops.

And it was a theater in which, the the city was accustomed to meet for their democratic, governing meetings. That's the way these Greek cities work. They had a direct democracy. So they would meet in that theater to conduct their regular and sometimes a special meeting, business. And, I think the rest of the city kind of assumed that there was something important going on they needed to be there for.

And so they gather in that theater, and things are pretty chaotic. A lot of people aren't even sure why they why they are there. And, finally, some of the more elite, high class folks, in the city and in the state, gained control of things. And what looks like it could, have led to the death of some Christians, ends up taking a turn for the better and, things simmer down. But it's it is the end of Paul's time there, and I I think most of the people I read think it was because of all this trouble.

Paul felt like, he could not even go back to Ephesus later. So when he travels through, later, we'll see that he calls the elders of the church out of the city rather than going to Ephesus to see them. Okay. Let's talk about just what things general observations from your time studying the text as a whole. What did you see that maybe, we didn't have time to talk about in the sermon, but if somebody on their own time went to look at these verses or this the chapters as a whole, like, what's surrounding it, what would they observe?

Sure. So, I really didn't have time to deal with it much on Sunday, but the first two verses in the section, Acts 1921 and 22, make a statement about Paul being, moved in his spirit, and people aren't sure whether that means Paul's spirit or the holy spirit. But, anyway, Paul, as he has, earlier in acts, he came to conviction about where God was calling, him to to move as far as his ministry to go next. And, that this passage gets introduced with a statement that Paul reaches this conviction that he's it's time for him to, go to Rome now. So he's expanding.

You know, he's thinking ahead, planning ahead, and, the kind of this kind of introduces the last section of the book of acts where we transition away from these 3 missionary journeys that we have been studying, and we start on this long trip, towards Rome. Mhmm. I think one of the, interesting things I, enjoyed in this study was zooming out a little bit and thinking about, how Luke was structuring acts, and and some of that, really comes out quite nicely in Acts chapter 19. As the church is growing, we've already seen the controversies over, you know, whether these new gentile believers need to be circumcised and whether they need to offer sacrifice in the temple and so forth. And and we work through those compromises, and we've seen, the the church, take on this gentile flavor and recognize that some of the Jewish practices have been fulfilled in Christ and and so forth.

And so I think Luke uses some of the parallels that he sees in history to show us that the thread of what God is doing in the lives of his people and and his, the community of his people, it can be traced from Jerusalem to Samaria to Ephesus. We're we're on the border of the of the ends of the earth as the acts chapter 1, talks about. So in in, if he in, Acts 19, we see that Paul runs into these disciples of John who have believed in in some sense and, then they're baptized, but they don't receive the spirit that that that was poured out on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem until Paul lays hands on them. And we see the same thing in when Philip went to Samaria, the Samaritans believed, but there was no expression of the Holy Spirit until Peter and John came to Samaria and laid hands on them. So I think what Luke is showing us in in that is that here's the Holy Spirit.

Jesus poured the spirit out in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and now here's evidence that that same spirit, the same work of God has spread to Samaria, and then now we see it spread, to Ephesus. This is the focus of God's work. And Yeah. There's a couple other expressions of that, but I think it's pretty cool, in the ministry of Jesus when he was on earth. Luke tells us that there were crowds of people around him.

I think this is in chapter 6 of Luke, might be chapter 9, but crowds of people would push around him just hoping to touch him. Yeah. And everyone who touched him was healed or or delivered, and then makes specifically says everyone. And then you see the same thing in Jerusalem. Peter is walking through the streets, and the the the people that are ill or possessed, they're they're brought.

They come, and they line the streets, and they just wait. And when Peter's shadow passes over them, they're all healed. You know, this wonderful expression of the kingdom of god being present. And so you come to Ephesus, and you have this strange story about cloths being taken from Paul, handkerchiefs and aprons. Joy called them sweat cloths.

And, you know, if Paul touches them, they take him to the ill and the possessed, and they're all healed. You know, this another incredible, expression of the the spirit of god coming. And then, you you have the the, story about the sons 7 sons of the seabah practicing magic. And similar again to what happened in Samaria with Simon, the magician, you see the Samaritan church purified. You see the Jerusalem church purified with Ananias and Sapphira, and you see the church at Ephesus purified from the pagan, magic that was so prevalent in that society.

So I really enjoyed seeing the way Luke stitched together those parallels, in his history to show us God moving out, and accomplishing a beautiful spread of the kingdom through the ministries of Peter and Paul. Yeah. So there's no mistake about who's in action here, you know, who's doing these actions and who's doing the healing because, yeah, this repetition just helps validate, like, this is the true spirit. This is the work of God instead of like, oh, it's Artemis just doing it's doing her thing right now over here. It could be explained in a different way.

This repetition shows, yes, this is the work. This is how it's meant to spread and God is going with going ahead. So Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Cool. Thank you for doing all that work for us, Tom, the heavy lifting. So now we get to just be able to look back and see, the beauty of that. So thank you. Yeah.

Clara, thank you. Alright. So you said that you had to make a few adjustments from first hour to second hour. So what are some of the things that second hour people might not have heard in your sermon? Sure.

Well, when my wife, Dawn, came to the the second hour, and she, on the way home, told me that I made Artemis sound so good that, you know, maybe I had should have been a little more specific and said, that this is what the people in Ephesus believed about Artemis rather than Artemis was caring and Artemis was loving and so forth. So, hopefully, people pick that up. I got a kick out of that. But, the the the point that, one of the points I had to leave out was that Artemis, the the worship of Artemis was, so strong in Ephesus. I think I mentioned that there there were 2 cities in the Roman Empire known for their allegiance to their patron deities, and that was Jerusalem with, the allegiance to Yahweh and Ephesus with the allegiance to to Artemis.

So this is probably the strongest, most appealing pagan, expression of, religion in the Roman Empire. And so it's pretty pretty neat to see how Christianity, less than 25 years old, only been in Ephesus for a couple years, with Paul and his team's ministry and the growth of the church. And yet in that short time, the Christians are having an impact on society, and it's not because they picketed or they organized boy boycotts or passed laws, to protect themselves. Rather, they just had such a strong allegiance to Jesus that, as Joey said the week before, it changed the way they they behaved and the way they spent their money, and it became noticeable to those around. So I think that impact of early Christianity is pretty encouraging.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. That's powerful. It's a great just a great testimony to the gospel to say how powerful even just a short time as compared to a legacy of Artemis.

Right? That's the job. Yeah. Yeah. So I would like to end kind of in the same way that you ended your sermon.

Just, you introduced, Matthew 11 verses 28 and 30. Just, what made you choose that verse and, use that kind of as your summary, point to this acts passage? Yeah. Thanks for asking that question, Claire. I quite honestly really struggled to decide how I was going to land the sermon, what kind of a practical application or encouragement we could take from the passage.

There is a couple ways to go. But I found myself recognizing that as I go through life, I get really busy and consumed by the daily activities of life that it it's not long before I can recognize that I've really, honestly, crowded god out of my life, and I'm, I'm pretty bent on doing things my way, achieving, what I I want to achieve, and enjoying what I want to enjoy. And I kind of started recognizing myself in this mob that was taking a a pretty logical notion that things we make with our hands aren't gods. And, realizing, wow. You know, there's a lot of ways that I go through life and take things that are produced by human hands and kinda convert them into gods.

And it's it's the same struggle Paul mentions in Romans, chapter 1, you know, where we tend to worship the created things rather than than the creator. So in realizing that, I thought, well, you know, we we can spend whole days where just by the busyness of life, we're shouting out this quiet, persistent hound of heaven that is, after us and trying to convict us of the of our emptiness and need for something beyond ourselves. And, you know, in so many ways, we we drown that out. So I thought, you know, this this is the way this speaks to me. We need to feel that need and hear hear that sweet, sweet invitation of Jesus to come and find peace and rest.

Yeah. It is a sweet invitation. And, I I love it in any version, you know, like NIV, ESV, CSV, whatever. But I do really also love the message translation, and I don't. Have you read that version of it?

No. What I have it memorized in, I'm not even sure. I'd like to hear it. I could tell you were just speaking from your heart. I listened to it over the podcast, though, and just hearing you, yeah, say the verses, I could hear that sweet invitation from the Lord.

So thank you. So this is the message translation. It says, are you tired, worn out, burned out on on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you will recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me and watch how I do it. This one's my favorite. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you will learn to live freely and lightly. Mhmm. That's good. Thank you, Claire. Yeah.

So anyways, thank you, Tom, for bringing us back to that and just fixing our eyes back onto Jesus and our need and our status full satisfaction found in him. And, honestly, I really I really respect you. And so hearing you say even, just setting the example for all of us, it's, like, just so humbling. I don't know. There's part of me being young.

I'm just like, certainly, I'll have it figured out in, like, 30 or 40 years. Right, Tom? And you still say you even you need that invitation. Not that I actually believe I'll get it figured out, but I hope. You know what I mean?

Like, I know I'm not going to, but there's hope that, like, maybe I'll have it figured out. So just your humility in saying that even this invitation is something that you your heart needs daily. It speaks to me and, yeah. So, anyways, thank you for that. Good.

Clara, my privilege. I I should say here in pastor appreciation month that when I, work to prepare a sermon, I'm reminded of of how hard our pastors work, for us. So I appreciate the opportunity to to share, but it also reminds me of how much I appreciate, our pastors pastors and all that, you, their families, and and they invest in us. So thank you so much, Claire. Thank you.

I appreciate your kindness and saying that. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, Tom, for your time today. We appreciate you.

Yeah. Thank you, Claire. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of cut for time. If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following their sermon, you can email them to podcast at faith live it out dot org or text them into our faith church texting number, and we'll do our best to cover it in the week's episode. If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you to share with others.

Thanks for listening. We'll be back again next week.