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Acts 19:6-12  PAUL PREACHING THE GOSPEL AT EPHESUS 

Introduction:

	Verses 6 and 7 of our text deals with miraculous spiritual gifts being 
bestowed on  the newly rebaptized converts.  Verses 8-12 deal with miracles done 
by the Apostle Paul while he was at Ephesus.  

I.  Miraculous spiritual gifts bestowed upon the rebaptized converts

	In our previous text Paul encountered some professed believers at Ephesus 
who were unsaved.  After Paul explained the plan of salvation to them they got 
saved and were rebaptized.  Their first baptism was invalid because they were 
unsaved at the time they were baptized.  They were rebaptized in order to have 
valid baptism.    
	Baptism does not help to save an individual.  Neither does it help to keep 
one saved.  But it is the will of God that each person who is saved obtain a 
baptism that is valid in the sight of God.  In order for one to have valid 
baptism he must be saved, he must be immersed in water, he must not be baptized 
in order to get saved, but because he is already saved and he must be baptized 
by an agency which is authorized from heaven to do so.  Today that means that he 
must be baptized by a scriptural New Testament church.  He must be baptized by 
the kind of church whose origin dates back to the time of Christ.  .  
	In our text today the Apostle Paul bestows some special spiritual gifts 
upon those rebaptized Christians.  These were spiritual gifts which they did not 
get when they were saved.  These were spiritual gifts which they did not get 
when they were baptized.  They did not get them even when they got valid 
baptism.  We will see in our text just when they got these special spiritual 
gifts.  
	V. 6, “And when Paul had laid [his] hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came 
on them...”  The Greek word, which here is translated “Ghost” is frequently 
translated “Spirit” in the King James version of the Bible.  It would be better 
translated “Spirit” in this verse.  In these modern times the word “ghost” does 
not call to mind eternal Spirit God.  Rather it calls to mind the spirit of a 
human being who has died.  There can be no doubt that in this verse of scripture 
it refers to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.  It refers to the Holy Spirit 
of God.   
	When the Apostle Paul laid his hands upon those rebaptized believers in 
Christ, the eternal Holy Sprit of God came upon them and gave them special 
miraculous spiritual gifts.  (V. 6), “...and they spake with tongues...”  This 
is the same kind of miraculous gift which was bestowed upon the members of the 
church at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus.  
Back in Acts chapter 2 it is said that Jews from some 14 different nations were 
present in Jerusalem.  If each group spoke in a different language then there 
were 14 different languages were represented in that city.  But the native 
tongue of the Christians was a dialect of the Hebrew language.  Yet when they 
spoke the Jews from the foreign countries understood the Christians in the 
native language of the foreign nation from which they had come.  This was indeed 
a miracle from God.  The Christians had never learned those foreign languages, 
but when they spoke they were understood by their listeners in their own foreign 
languages.  Paul laid his hands upon these newly saved and rebaptized people and 
they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak and be understood in a language 
which they had never learned.  
	(6),  “...and prophesied.”   In addition to being given the gift of 
tongues, these newly saved and rebaptized people given the miraculous gift of 
prophecy.  That is, Paul laid his hands upon them and it was the Holy Spirit of 
God which gave them the miraculous gift of prophecy.  They were given the power 
to foreknow certain things about the future.  They were also given the special 
gift of being able to declare and to explain the meaning of new revelations from 
God.  This was an ability which they did not previously.  This is an ability 
which they did not study and practice and develop over an extended period of 
time.  It was an ability which was given to them instantly when the Apostle Paul 
laid his hands upon them.  
	Luke does not say whether or not there were any additional miraculous 
gifts from the Holy Spirit given to these men at this time.  So far as we know 
the miraculous gift of tongues and the miraculous gift of prophecy were the only 
two special gifts given to them at this time.  It does seem reasonable that they 
may have also been given the gift of miraculous healing even though Luke says 
nothing about it here in this record.  I will not say that they were given the 
gift of healing nor will I say that they were not given the gift of healing.  I 
will just say that we cannot know for sure one way or the other.  
	V. 7, “And all the men were about twelve.”  It appears that Luke was 
uncertain about to the exact number, but he did give an approximate number.   

II.  Miracles done by Paul at Ephesus

	V. 8, “And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of 
three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of 
God.”  Luke tells us that Paul spent three months at Ephesus witnessing for 
Christ in the Jewish synagogue.  This was the same synagogue in which he had 
been so well received during his first visit to Ephesus.  These were the same 
Jewish brethren who had pled with him to stay with them longer when left and 
went on to Jerusalem.  These were the brethren to whom Paul had promised to 
return and tell them more about Jesus.  This was also the same synagogue in 
which Apollos had so eloquently witnessed about Jesus and had won some of them 
to the Lord.
	  But these people who had at one time seemed to anxious to hear the 
gospel message were now cold and indifferent to Paul and his message.  Instead 
of listening with great interest to him as they had done on his earlier visit, 
now they were very argumentative with him about what he had to say.  They 
disputed with him on every issue.  Let me say to you that it is very hard to 
teach anybody anything unless they are willing to be taught and these people 
were no longer willing to be taught.  
	  V. 9, “But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil 
of that way before the multitude...”  Paul had witnessed to them on his first 
visit and these did not believe at that time.  Apollos had witnessed to them 
after Paul left and had won some of them, but the ones spoken about in this text 
did not believe Apollos.  Now that Paul had returned and had spoken to them in 
the synagogue every sabbath day for three months, these still did not believe.  
To the contrary.  By this time they had become entrenched in a hostile attitude 
of opposition to the gospel message.  Luke says that they were hardened.  They 
were hardened in their hearts.  Their hearts were hardened against the gospel of 
Jesus Christ.  Men who are exposed to the gospel will respond in one of two 
directions.  They will either be drawn closer to the gospel and to Christ or 
they will be hardened against it.  Luke says that they not only were hardened 
against the gospel, but they spoke bitterly against the gospel message and 
against the whole Christian movement.  That is, they spoke against the 
Christians and they spoke evil against the Christ.  
	(V. 8), “...he departed from them, and separated the disciples...”  Paul 
departed form the synagogue, but he did not depart from the city.  As he had 
been compelled to do in other cities prior to Ephesus, Paul had to stop going to 
the Jewish synagogue there at Ephesus and settle for carrying the gospel to the 
Gentiles of that city.  Paul took the ones who had become believers in Christ 
under his witness and under the witness of Apollos and he stopped attending the 
Jewish synagogue.  In this city there was a definite split between the Jewish 
religion and Christianity.  
	But, as I said, Paul did not leave the city.  Instead he was allowed to 
use the facilities in a privately owned school which was located in that city.  
The school was owned and operated by a man named Tyrannus.  According to secular 
records the schools  of that day taught classes until about 11:00 o’clock in the 
morning and then dismissed school for the day.  Wouldn’t the students of our day 
like that in the schools which they attend?
	It generally believed that Paul did not teach during the morning sessions, 
but rather that Tyrannus himself taught his classes as usual.  However, after 
his classes were ended for the day the Apostle Paul was given the use of his 
facilities for the rest of the day and Paul well took of advantage of that 
opportunity.  Can you not see the hand of God in this opening the door of 
opportunity for His faithful servant.  Let me tell you that God can open doors 
of opportunity to any Christian who is willing to be used of God to present the 
gospel message to the unsaved. 
	But even with this new door of opportunity being opened to Paul, it still 
was not an easy job witnessing to the unsaved.  (V. 9), “...disputing daily in 
the school of one Tyrannus.”  There was still a lot of resistance to the gospel 
message.  The people were not easy to persuade.  Even there in the school of 
Tyrannus there were those who challenged and disputed with Paul about his 
message. 
	 But it does seem from this passage that the disputes were not carried out 
in a spirit of anger and bitterness as they had been in the Jewish synagogue.  
There Paul was able to carry on his efforts daily for an extended space of time.  
He did not feel compelled to leave the city.  V. 10, “And this continued by the 
space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the 
Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”  In that two year period of time Paul was 
able to deliver the gospel message to a lot of people who came to the school of 
Tyrannus from all parts of Asia Minor.  He reached people with the gospel 
message who would return to their native cities and carry the gospel to those 
cities.  So from Ephesus, Paul reached many cities with the gospel in which he 
never set foot.   

III.  God endorsing the message of Paul by working miracles

	V. 11-12, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that 
from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the 
diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”  Note first 
that God worked miracles by the hands of Paul.  That is, the Apostle Paul would 
lay his hands upon the sick and call upon God to heal the sick and God would 
heal the sick.  This gave overwhelming testimony to the people that the message 
which Paul delivered to them about Jesus is from God.  The miracles testified 
that Jesus indeed is the Son of God.  He is the promised Christ who could 
cleanse a sinner of his sin.  
	Even when some apron or handkerchief which had been in contact with Paul’s 
body were carried to other places and laid on a sick person God miraculously 
instantaneously healed that sick person.  

III.  A mighty lesson for us today

	Listen, the Apostle Paul is no longer around today.  But there is just as 
great a need for Christians to carry the gospel message today was there was in 
Paul’s day.  And one does not have to be a preacher to carry the gospel message 
to somebody who is lost.  In fact, God never intended that only preachers should 
carry the gospel message to the lost.  Everybody who is saved should carry the 
gospel message to the unsaved.  Christian people very often are willing to give 
the name of their doctor to a friend and recommend that they give  
	It is not uncommon for a Christian to recommend his doctor to a friend.  
He will say, “Call his office and set up an appointment.  I think he can do you 
a lot of good.”  Why should not he be able to recommend The Great Physician to a 
lost soul?  You can say, “He saved me.  He will save you if you will trust Him.”
	It is not uncommon for a Christian to recommend a certain product to a 
friend.  For instance, a lady might say, “I cook mine in Crisco.”  Why should 
not she be able to say, “The Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul.  I recommend that 
you trust in Him and be saved.”
	Since moving to Tyler, Sis. Davis and I had a neighbor to recommend a 
certain garbage pickup service to us.  We changed and we saved some money.  If 
people can recommend a garbage pickup service, why should not a Christian 
recommend the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Friend to the lost?  

Conclusion:

	Speaking of recommending Jesus to the unsaved, let me do that right now.  
I assume there may be someone in this service who is unsaved.  Let me recommend 
Jesus to you.  As one who once was lost and on the road to hell I know that it 
is to be afraid of dying and going out into the fire.  But I called on Jesus and 
asked him to have mercy on my soul.  Jesus saved me and gave me peace with God.  
I recommend that you call upon Jesus and ask Jesus to have mercy on your soul 
and take you to heaven when you die.  
	Also, there may be someone here tonight who has been saved, but who has 
invalid baptism.  For instance, if you were unsaved at the time you were 
baptized, even though you are saved now, your baptism is no good.  It is 
invalid.  God does not count one as qualified for baptism until he is saved.  So 
if you were baptized before you were saved, but now you have trusted Jesus and 
you are genuinely saved, yet you need to be baptized.  Your first baptism did 
not count.