October 31, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 1 Kings and Acts? Here’s today’s reading:
Acts 19 (NIV)
Paul in Ephesus
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”……Continue Reading
How caring is our God and not One who cares about numbers, that he puts 12 guys on Paul’s path so he can set them right. He also allows them to speak in tongues and prophesy so they would know they needed to take this step and belief in Jesus was necessary for their salvation and the Holy Spirit was real. And how amazing that Paul could operate with such power and perform such miracles. And the sons of Sciva learned that it is relationship with Jesus that matters not saying the right words. And what a great example we have of true repentance and the transformational nature of the ministry of Jesus in our lives for people to turn away from sin and false worship. My prayer is that such a repentance would come over our region, especially at this time where darkness has a holiday, that the light of Christ would pierce the darkness and everyone would see and turn to Him. And when people turn from sin, others will be affected and will try to cause trouble for the truth. And we always need to be cautious if we ever find ourselves in a crowd and we are following and don’t even know why we are there. And may cooler heads prevail in our day and the rule of law and not the bias of emotion win the day.
Acts 19
Psalm 18; 2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33; Acts 19
There’s an interesting juxtaposition here between the different responses to the gospel of those who didn’t just practice witchcraft and idolatry but also profited from it. Earlier in this chapter a great many people burned their sorcery books that totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver, not to mention the cost of not profiting off of sorcery anymore. But these people saw the far greater value in pursuing a life with Jesus and correctly recognized it was worth the cost.
On the other hand we see towards the end of the chapter how a group of silversmiths almost started a riot because their business was threatened by the gospel.
May we continue to recognize that the Kingdom of God will cost us everything but is worth so much more, and may we act accordingly.
Acts 19
Acts 19
Such a small group of people had such a huge impact upon the towns they preached in, both positive and negative. We should all be so very grateful for these saints who sacrificed everything to share the gospel so we could understand God’s plan of salvation through Jesus and be saved.
You cannot serve two masters. Interesting to see men start a riot because Paul’s teachings were cutting into their business. They had no strong feelings about God or the gods they made statues of, but they were aware of the money they made from them. We see all too often people putting money before morals even today and it’s sad that they don’t see eternal purpose, eternal impact, and that there is so much more beyond the limited dollars they will make with their limited time on earth.
Acts 19
When reading about the silversmiths and the shrines of Diana, which apparently were worldwide at the time, I couldn’t help but think of the many “industries” or even “compassionate” organizations that are getting very wealthy by nefarious and deceptive means right now, and they are beginning to panic and causing chaos to prevent revelation of the truth (I will refrain from mentioning which, but I think many know what I am referring to.) we cling to our customs and habits even once we learn of their ineffectiveness or even harm. And those who profit off our ignorance continue to lie to us to maintain the status quo.
I think of pastor’s teaching about Gideon and how the first step in obedience is tearing down our altars.