47 "Reshaping the Identity of the City" Acts 19:21-41 | Sunday, May 3, 2026

And I'll ask you to take your Bibles and

turn to Acts chapter 19. You can remain

Acts 19 · chapter mention

standing as we read our text together

from Acts chapter 19. And then we'll

Acts 19 · chapter mention

have you be seated at that point.

As we come to Acts chapter 19, we're

Acts 19 · chapter mention

going to close out the chapter today.

And we've seen thus far God's done a

very powerful work in Ephesus.

The church was established there on the

clear and consistent teaching of the

word of God. And what it resulted in was

the decline in the magic oult. And what

we're going to see in our text today is

that the power of Christ also leads to

the decline of idolatry.

And so we're going to read verse 21

through verse 41.

Acts chapter 19 verse 21.

Acts 19:21

After these things were ended, Paul

purposed in the spirit when he had

passed through Macedonia and Teaya to go

to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been

there, I must also see Rome." So he sent

into Macedonia two of them that

ministered unto him, Teimoththeus and

Aras. But he himself stayed in Asia for

a season. In the same time, there arose

no small stir about that way. That way

refers to the Christian movement. Says

in verse 24, "For certain ma a certain

man named Demetrius, a silver smith,

which made silver shrines to Diana,

brought no small gain unto the

craftsmen, whom he called together with

the workers of like occupation, and

said, Sir, ye know that by this craft we

have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and

hear that not alone at Ephesus, but

almost throughout all Asia, this Paul

hath persuaded and turned away much

people, saying, that they be no gods

which are made with hands, so that not

only this, our craft is in danger to be

set at not, but also that the temple of

the great goddess Diana should be

despised, and her magnificence should be

destroyed, whom all Asia and the world

worshipeth.

And when they heard these sayings, they

were full of wrath and cried out,

saying, "Great is Diana of the

Ephesians." And the whole city was

filled with confusion. And having caught

Gaes and Aristarus, men of Macedonia,

Paul's companions in travel, they rushed

with one accord into the theater. And

when Paul would have entered in unto the

people, the disciples suffered him not.

and certain of the chief of Asia, which

were his friends, sent unto him,

desiring him, that he would not

adventure himself into the theater. Some

therefore cried one thing, and some

another, for the assembly was confused,

and the more part knew not, wherefore

they were come together. And they drew

Alexander out of the multitude, and the

Jews putting him forward. And Alexander

beckoned with the hand, and would have

made his defense unto the people. But

when they knew that he was a Jew, all

with one voice about the space of two

hours cried out, "Great is Diana of the

Ephesians." And when the town clerk had

appeased the people, he said, "Ye men of

Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth

not how that the city of the Ephesians

is a worshshiper of the great goddess

Diana, and of the image which fell down

from Jupiter? Seeing then that these

things cannot be spoken against, ye

ought to be quiet, and to do nothing

rashly, for ye have brought hither these

men, which are neither robbers of

churches, nor yet blasphemers of your

goddess. Wherefore, if Demetrius and the

craftsmen which are with him, have a

manner a matter against any man, the law

is open, and there are deputies, let

them imple one another. But if you

inquire anything concerning other

matters, it shall be determined in a

lawful assembly. For we are in danger to

be called in question for this day's

uproar, there being no cause whereby we

may give an account of this concourse.

And when he had thus spoken, he

dismissed the assembly.

The title of this morning's message is

reshaping the identity of a city.

reshaping the identity of a city. Let's

pray and ask God to bless his word one

more time.

Our father, we need the help and

guidance of your holy spirit to

understand the truth of your word. I

pray that you would give clarity.

I pray that you would bring conviction

that we would truly understand and

believe and apply the words of this

text.

I pray that as believers we would be

strengthened in our conviction for

evangelism.

And I pray for the lost that they would

be convicted of the grace and mercy of

Jesus Christ that they too might be

saved, forgiven, and forever changed.

It's in Jesus name I ask. Amen. Thank

you for standing in honor of God's word.

You may be seated.

Major cities are often identified by

what they're known for. I want you to

think about what Los Angeles is known

for. Hollywood, right? Disney, the

Lakers, of course. In Washington DC, it

might be government, monuments, and

museums. in Detroit, cars,

manufacturing.

Nashville is synonymous with country

music, right? San Francisco with Silicon

Valley and the 49ers.

For Boulder, it could be a number of

things. Of course, at the top of the

list would probably be the Flat Irons.

That's kind of our staple. Everybody

recognizes that that comes from Boulder.

We're known for hiking trails, for bike

lanes, and for the buffaloos.

But I want to draw our attention this

morning to one particular fact that is

well known across the country. And that

is that Boulder is known as one of the

least religious cities in all of

America.

Top three for the last 20 or 30 years.

More than 65%

within our city limits identify as

non-religious altogether.

Out of that minority,

less than 2% are what we might call

gospelbelving Christians. That eternal

salvation and the forgiveness of sin is

by grace alone through faith alone in

Christ alone. Not of works, not of

sacrament, not of baptism, but of Jesus

Christ alone. Less than 2%.

That means that in the city limits of

Boulder, there are less than 2500

bornagain Christians.

That might seem astounding because we do

recognize that there is some gospel

influence here and there are some good

gospel preaching churches in Boulder.

But consider this for a moment that in

our congregation

less than 30% of us live in the city

limits of Boulder. And if that's true of

our church, it's bound to be true of

other churches here in Boulder as well.

Boulder's identity would be

overwhelmingly defined as non-religious.

And so we might ask,

can Boulder's identity

ever be reshaped from non-religious

to Christian?

Is it possible for Boulder to ever

become synonymous? Not with the Flat

Irons, not with non-religion, not with

the Buffaloos, not with bikes and trails

and the recreation that we get to enjoy

here. But what is it possible for

Boulder to ever become synonymous with

Christianity

in the name of Christ?

Or is it a lost cause?

While it may not seem possible right now

in this moment, what takes place in

Ephesus gives us some real hope because

Ephesus was known for the goddess Diana.

In the Greek, it's Artemis.

Ephesus was synonymous with this

goddess. Her temple was four times the

size of the Athenian Parthonon that we

talked about back in chapter 17. larger

than the size of a football field with

pillars ascending 60 feet up in the air,

many of which are still standing in the

ancient ruins of Ephesus today.

It was known for it. In fact, this

temple was one of the seven wonders of

the ancient world. And so, Ephesus was

known for Diana. But what we find is two

and a half years into Paul's ministry,

Christianity has begun to reshape

Ephesus.

The occult has declined as we saw last

week. And now we see that the silver

idol trade was collapsing. And there was

real concern that Diana and her temple

would come to nothing. And you know

what? Eventually it did. Because over

time by the end of the second century

Diana's or Ephesus was known as for

major Christian influences.

Some of the early church fathers were in

Ephesus.

John pastored in Ephesus. Timothy

pastored in Ephesus. And so there were

great leaders even in the initial days

following the apostles.

But then by the end of the 4th century,

Diana's temple was in ruins. It came to

nothing.

Ephesus became known for Christianity.

And if Christianity could reshape

Ephesus then, I want to assure you today

that it can re it can reshape Boulder

even in this time. Maybe not in our

lifetime, but if Boulder is ever going

to be reshaped and known for Christ, it

must begin here the same way it began

there.

How does Christianity

reshape a city's identity? That's what

this text shows us today. In fact, it

develops it in a couple of different

ways. First, it's going to show us how

Christianity did reshape Ephesus,

but it also shows at the same time how

Christianity did not reshape Ephesus.

And so, our message is going to be

broken up into these two points. how it

did reshape Ephesus and how it did not

reshape Ephesus. Let's begin with how a

city is reshaped. And here's what we

find that Ephesus's identity was

reshaped through conversion. It was

reshaped through conversion. Before we

get there, I want to note a key shift in

the book of Acts as we have studied

through this these first 19 chapters. In

verse 21 and 22,

it speaks of how Paul was purposed in

the spirit to return to Jerusalem. And

he said, "After I have been there, I

must also see Rome." This follows a very

similar pattern to Luke's gospel in

chapter 9 when Jesus said when it says

that Jesus set his face toward

Jerusalem. And from that point,

everything uh from Luke chapter 9

Luke 9 · chapter mention

through Luke chapter 24 was moving its

Luke 24 · chapter mention

way toward Jerusalem, culminating in the

death and the resurrection of Jesus

Christ and finishing with him sending

his witnesses out to proclaim the gospel

to the nations. And we see a similar

shift here. Remember the outline of the

book of Acts in chapter 1:8 says that

they would be witnesses in Jerusalem,

Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost

part of the earth. We saw Jerusalem,

Judea, and Samaria in the first eight

chapters. And then going into chapter 9

and primarily chapter 13 and on, it's

about the uttermost part of the earth.

But the primary focus for Theophilos,

the man to whom this narrative is

written, he is a Roman official.

And so Luke is showing how the gospel

came to Rome through Paul's ministry and

through the witnesses of Jesus Christ.

And so from this point forward, the

narrative is going to shift toward

Paul's journey first to Jerusalem where

he is arrested and tried in the likeness

of Jesus Christ and then is sent to Rome

where the book ends with him preaching

freely even while under house arrest.

But eventually Paul will lay down his

life there and be beheaded for the

gospel. And so I want us to understand

that now we are shifting toward the

final section. But before Paul departs

from Asia, he wants to visit and before

he goes back to Jerusalem, he wants to

visit the churches in Macedonia and

Aaya. He wants to uh confirm them and

strengthen them in their faith. And then

he's going to head for Jerusalem. And so

it tells us in verse 22 that he sends

Timothus and Aras on to Macedonia and

Neaya before him, but he stayed in Asia

for a while. And notice in verse 23 that

it says, "And the same time there arose

no small stir about that way." You know

what that means? This was a huge

disturbance that took place particularly

it broke out over the Christian faith.

We'll not take the time to read every

verse in this text again. We've already

done that. And so I'll just summarize

some of the story. There's a silver

smmith by the name of Demetrius

and he makes a profitable living

crafting shrines for the worship of

Diana. He calls a group of craftsmen

together that are joined in the same

occupation and he voices his concern

with them over the economic impact of

Paul's ministry.

It was having a huge impact on their

business. And he says to them, "Sers,

you know that by that you know that by

this craft we have our wealth." It says

there in verse 26, "Moreover, ye see and

hear that not alone at Ephesus, but

almost throughout all Asia, this Paul

hath persuaded and turned away more uh

much people, saying that they be no gods

which are made with hands."

It's kind of like what we read from

Psalm 115 this morning when the writer

said that the gods of the idols of the

people, the heathen, that they are gods

made with hands. They have eyes but they

don't see. They have ears but they don't

hear. They have noses but they don't

smell. They have a mouth but they can't

breathe through their throat. They're

idols. The word idol literally means

vanity, empty. And so he's saying that

Paul is is going around all of Asia

saying that these gods that we worship,

these shrines that we make out of silver

every single day and every single week,

that they're not really any gods.

They're they're just they're fake. And

so what is this going to do? But we

understand this, of course, that this

tracks with what Paul preached at Athens

because he said there that we know that

the gods of this world that are made

with men's hands, God's not like that.

God is not made with men's hands. But we

also understand that Paul didn't just

preach that idols aren't real, that

they're not real gods. Paul preached the

gospel of Jesus Christ. He preached that

all are sinners and have come short of

the glory of God. That there is none

righteous, know not one. He has he

preached that all of us in our sin stand

condemned before a holy God. But you

know what else he preached? that Jesus

Christ is the son of God who is sinless

and he came to earth and he lived a

sinless life and he died on a cross and

shed his blood to make an atonement for

the sins of all mankind that we might be

sprinkled clean from our sins that we

would be forgiven and washed and made

pure and holy. He said that that that

Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.

And that he proved his power over death,

hell, and the grave. And and he called

them to turn from their idols to faith

in Christ so that they might be forgiven

and have eternal life. That is what we

call the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Paul preached that message in such a

way that was so persuasive that

throughout all of Asia, people were

turning away from their idols and

turning to faith in Jesus Christ. They

were converted from idolatry to

Christianity.

And notice the impact this had in verse

27.

Demetrius says, "So that not only this,

our craft is in danger to be said it

not, but also that the temple of the

great goddess Diana should be despised

and her magnificent should be destroyed,

whom all Asia and the world worshipeth."

So many converts were experiencing such

real change that it risked running the

craftsman out of business. Not because

they they came and smashed all the

idols, but because they simply stopped

frequenting the shops. It was no longer

important to them. They stopped going to

the temple and giving offerings for

Diana and worshiping Diana. And so they

are desperately concerned that all of

their craft and their wealth and the

worship of Diana is going to come to

nothing because of how many people are

being changed by the message that Paul

preaches.

See, Christianity

began to reshape Ephesus through real

conversions that brought real change to

people's lives.

Let me ask you this. What does it look

like when you convert a gas vehicle to

an electric vehicle? Do you just take a

sticker and slap it on there that says

electric vehicle and boom, it's now an

electric vehicle?

No. You've got to remove the gas engine

and all of its components and you got to

replace it with an allect electric drive

train. drive train drive train. Sorry, I

said that three times and it still

sounded wrong every time. You got to

replace the whole engine that runs the

whole system. And so too, real

conversion is not just wearing the label

of a Christian.

It is when God brings real change to

your heart. when you stop frequenting

the places that you used to go and you

stop buying the things and wasting your

money on the things you used to waste it

on. It's when you let the bottle go and

you let the drugs go and you let the

magic go and the clubs go like we talked

about last week was happening here in

Ephesus. It's also where you let the

worship of the old gods go completely.

That's what real conversion is.

How do we know that? Because God

promised first in J in Jeremiah chapter

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

31 and then in Ezekiel 11 and Ezekiel 36

that the day was coming when man was so

broken that he could not save himself.

So God was going to send his servant. He

calls him to be the Messiah of the

world, the savior of the world. It says

at that time that God would sprinkle his

people clean from their sin. That he

would remember their iniquities no more.

But it also says that at that time he

would remove their heart of stone that

is hardened and rebellious and rejecting

of God. And he would replace it with a

heart of flesh. Can you imagine the

difference between holding a stone and

holding like a a a sticky figure that a

kid has, you know, where you can maybe a

squishy ball where you can move that

around and it's pliable versus a stone

that's rock hard. That's the image that

God is getting. that that there here's

the reason why we sin against God.

Here's the reason why we rebel against

God. Because we have a heart that is so

hardened toward him that that there's

nothing that can break us and bring us

to be soft toward God. God says a heart

change has to happen. I've got to remove

the heart of stone and I've got to put a

heart of flesh in there. But then God

also said this. I'm going to put my

spirit in them and my spirit will cause

them to walk in my ways and keep my

judgments. If you're in here this

morning and you said, "All my life I've

struggled to obey God." Let me ask you,

have you trusted Jesus Christ as your

savior? Because if you have not, you

still have the old heart and that's why

you struggle so hard to obey God. But

through Jesus Christ, you can experience

a full conversion and a full change of

your heart where God removes the old

system and puts in a whole new engine

that drives a whole new way in your

life. That's what God wants to do in

Christ. Real conversion will bring real

change to us for these Asian believers.

It was putting magic shops and idol

stores out of business in a way that

eventually led to Diana's temple being

left in ruins.

Today,

real conversions

can put bars and dispensaries and clubs

out of business.

Real conversions can render other

temples needless.

Why? Because when you come to faith in

Jesus Christ, it so changes you that

they no longer get your business. And as

more and more people convert to Jesus

Christ, there are fewer and fewer people

frequenting those businesses and

therefore it renders them needless

anymore. That's what was going on in

Ephesus.

How did this take place? It was through

the simple conversion to faith in

Christ. As Paul preached the word of

Jesus Christ, as he proclaimed the

gospel, people changed. Let me say this.

Conversion doesn't mean you'll be

sinless,

but it does mean you'll be different.

It'll bring change in your life. Can I

ask you, have you been converted to

Jesus Christ? I'm not asking if you go

to church. I'm not asking if you've been

baptized. I'm not asking if you if you

carry the label on you as a Christian. I

am asking you if you have been born

again by faith in Jesus. If you have

been born again of the Holy Spirit of

God, is he changing you? Because in 1

1 Corinthians 5:1

Corinthians 5:1 17, the Bible says, "If

any man be in Christ, he is a new

creature. Old things are passed away and

behold, all things are become new."

Scripture knows no convert who does not

change.

And so you might ask today, well, how

can I be born again? How can I have my

my heart changed out to where I can love

God and serve God? How can I have his

spirit who changes my life? The Bible is

very clear. You must repent and believe

on the gospel of Jesus Christ. You must

acknowledge before God that I am a

sinner and I stand condemned before a

holy God. and there's nothing I can do

to change my own life. There's nothing I

can do to be good enough after

everything that I've done against God.

And so, you have to recognize I can't

save myself.

But you must also believe that Jesus is

the savior.

You must believe that he came to earth

from God, perfectly one with God, and

died on the cross for your sin. that he

paid the price for all your sin in full

with one sacrifice. You must believe

that he rose again from the dead and

proved his power to give life to any and

all who would believe. And the Bible

says, "Whosoever shall call upon the

name of the Lord shall be saved." You

must repent of your sin. You must

believe on Jesus Christ and you must

call on him to forgive your sin and to

save your soul. And friend, you can be

born again today.

God will forgive all your sin, wipe the

slate completely clean. He will change

your eternal destiny. He will give you

eternal life. But he will also give you

his spirit. And that spirit of God will

begin to bring transforming change into

your life. That's what we mean by true

conversion. And when a city

is reshaped for Christ,

it's because its citizens are being

reshaped by Christ.

And so what that means for us today as

believers is this. For people to be

converted to Christ, they must hear the

gospel of Christ.

What did Paul do? He preached Jesus

Christ. He told them, "The gods that you

are worshiping are not real. They're

stone. They're silver. They're

materials. They're they're the work of

men's hands. They're something that why

let me just ask. Why would you fall down

and worship something that a man had to

make?

Does that make any sense?

Or why not worship a God who made all of

us?" Because that's who the God of the

Bible is. And so we're Paul calls them

and we're called to call this world

where we do have a majority of

non-religious people here in Boulder,

but we do also have people who worship

at Buddhist temples and at Hindu temples

and at Muslim mosques and and worship

other gods that we are called to boldly

proclaim that there is one God and that

is the God of the Bible, the creator of

the universe and there is one redeemer

and that is Jesus Christ his son who

gave his life on the cross and that we

must turn away from the idols that we

worship. ship and worship Jesus Christ

alone.

We're called to call this world to

convert to Christ. And what that means

is we must boldly and consistently

engage people with the gospel.

Whether that's through all church

outreach here at Boulder Valley, or if

it's personally sharing the gospel

around town, if it's taking some tracks

off our welcome table and distributing

those throughout your week, or if we're

talking about building some friendships,

whether it's at a restaurant or a

grocery store, or it could be joining up

with a hiking or cycling group, just to

build some relationships in the

community.

But here's the truth. As we

intentionally share the gospel and more

and more people turn from their sin and

turn from idolatry and turn from

unbelief to Jesus Christ, you know

what's going to happen? It's going to

begin to reshape this city

to where the the bars are not one of the

most lucrative businesses in Boulder

anymore. To where the idol shops

downtown have no reason to sell them

anymore because nobody's buying them.

We're not talking about trying to hurt

people economically, but we're just

talking about the change that Jesus

brings that it can reshape the entire

identity of a city in Boulder just like

it did at Ephesus.

Let me be clear though, we may not see

it in our lifetime,

and neither did Paul's generation.

What you're seeing here are the seeds

being sewn that would grow to the point

where by the end of the fourth century

Diana's temple's in ruins. The idol

shops are nowhere to be found. And the

same thing is true here that what we are

doing in this generation is sewing the

seeds in a very non-religious city so

that one day they might grow to be

changing the city completely and

reshaping its identity to where Boulder

is known for Christ and nothing else.

Conversion is how the city is reshaped.

But this text also highlights how cities

are not reshaped. And that's what

follows. While Ephesus was reshaped

through conversion, what we see in the

rest of the text is that its identity

was not reshaped through coercion. It

was not through coercion. Let's look at

it together. Beginning verse 28.

After Demetrius voices his concern, the

craftsmen, it says, were full of wrath.

And they started to cry out. They

started to chant, "Great is Diane of the

Ephesians." Great is Diane of the

Ephesians. They're saying, "Paul's going

to go out there and he's going to

proclaim the greatness of this way of

Jesus, of Christianity. We're going to

go out and combat that by chanting great

is Diane of the Ephesians." We've got to

hold on to power. We've got to make sure

that everybody stays here. Why? Notice

the motivation.

So that we can stay wealthy.

That's their motivation. They don't want

to go out of business.

And so they begin to stir up this tumult

in the middle of the city. And if you

notice in verse 29, it says the whole

city was filled with confusion.

Nobody even What happens is you've got

this group of craftsmen. I don't know

how many, maybe 10, 20, 30, that they're

all chanting out. And then other people

start joining in and before you know it,

this crowd is expanding, expanding,

expanding, but it's bringing confusion,

not clarity.

And then what happens is they grab

Paul's traveling companions from

Macedonia named Gaes and Aristotarkus

and they take them into a 24,000 seat

theater and people begin to flock to the

theater and and the crowd begins to grow

and there's all this ruckus and crowds

cheering and chanting all kinds of

things and Paul is ready to go into the

theater and try to defend these men and

take advantage of the opportunity to

preach Christ. No doubt. But the

disciples said, "Paul, don't go in

there. They're going to kill you." But

it wasn't just the disciples. It tells

us that there were some of the chief of

Asia

that were his friends

through Paul's ministry over two and a

half years. It touched everybody from

the top to the bottom. And he even

gained some friends among the chief

people of Asia. That's talking about the

elites. They're called the Asiaarchs.

They were people who presided over

events and and Olympics and things like

that in the region or the province of

Asia. So these were very highly

influential people and yet Paul was able

to become friends with them though it's

not indicated that they were converted.

He built relationships.

He had friendships with some secular

people in high places

and they were concerned for Paul's

safety as well because they persuaded

him. They begged him, don't don't

adventure into the theater. And so Paul

did not. But I want you to look at this

in verse number 33 or verse 32. It says

this. Some therefore cried one thing and

some another thing. For the assembly was

confused, and the more part knew not

wherefore they were come together.

Let me let me give you a modern

paraphrase of what that means.

There's all this ruckus going on. It's

like a downtown uh protest breaking out

at Pearl Street. And the crowd just

keeps growing bigger and bigger and

bigger. Not because anybody knows what's

going on, but because they just like the

commotion and they like the the

protesting and all of that. And then all

of a sudden it moves down to Flesome

Field. And you got a stadium full of

people there and they're bringing these

Christians before everybody and and

everybody's cheering and you got this

side cheering great as Diana and this

side cheering something else and that

side and it's just chaos going on. And

it says nobody, the majority of them

didn't even know why are we here.

And so then it tells us that the Jews

put forth a man by the name of Alexander

to give a defense. Here's likely what's

going on. The Jews, as we've seen in

Acts, are ever more distancing

themselves from the Christian movement.

It's like, look, none of us really know

why we're here, but I just want to be

clear, it's not our fault. That's kind

of what's going on here. And yet, when

the crowd realizes this guy's a Jew,

because they they hated the Jews, just

like many people hate the Jews today,

they they they they started they shouted

him down. You can read it for two

straight hours nonstop. They cried out,

"Great is Diane of the Ephesians. great

as Diana of Ephesians. I mean, a a crowd

of thousands of people.

This is utter madness going on right

now. And yet, what we find is the town

clerk steps up and he's able to quiet

the crowd

and he he calms them down by basically

saying this.

Everyone knows that Ephesus is a

worshshiper of Diana.

In other words, Ephesus is known for

Diana. Everybody knows that. Nobody can

deny that. And so, why are you worried

about this? If I could give you a a

modern paraphrase of this, quit freaking

out and don't do anything stupid.

You can read it. He says, "Be quiet.

Don't be rash." You know, and so what

what he says, here's here's really the

highlight. Let's read it.

In verse number 36, he says this,

"Seeing then that these cannot be spoken

against, ye ought to be quiet and to do

nothing rashly. For ye have brought

hither these men, which first of all are

neither robbers of churches." What does

that mean? Here's the idea. They're not

going to the temple of Diana and

stealing the idols and smashing them and

destroying things.

They're not rioting.

They're not stealing from the idol

shops. They're not creating a public

disturbance. It also says there also,

"Nor yet blasphemers of your goddess."

You know what Paul wasn't doing? He

wasn't going to the steps of the temple

and saying, "This God is fake and phony

and you shouldn't be here." And and he

wasn't there protesting and picketing

about the worship of Diana. That's

something that all of them can

recognize.

Sure, Paul was, you know, where where

was Paul teaching? Let me just ask you

if you remember where was Paul teaching

in the school of one Tyrannis.

He had rented out a building to be able

to teach people about Jesus Christ. And

there in that building he said things

like

the idols that are made with men's

hands, they're they're no gods. There's

one God and he's the creator of the

universe. You could read Paul's sermon

in Athens to kind of have a a stamp by

stamp comparison of what Paul would have

preached. He said, "They're not really

gods, but there's one God who created

all of men, and we've all sinned against

him. But he sent his son, Jesus, to die

on the cross to give his life for us so

that we could be forgiven of our sin so

we could be saved and receive the gift

of eternal life." That's what Paul

preached in the school in an acceptable

way.

He personally talked with people as he

made tents is what we've seen here in

chapter 19. And so Paul simply preached

Jesus Christ to people, but he wasn't

out in the streets creating a ruckus. He

wasn't bringing a a political revolution

of any type. And so he recognizes this.

You shouldn't do anything rashly here.

These guys aren't robbing churches.

These guys aren't blaspheming your

goddess. And so he says, "Wherefore, if

Demetrius and the craftsmen which are

with him have a matter against any man,

the law is open and there are deputies.

Let them imple one another. But if he

inquire anything concerning other

matters, it shall be determined in a

lawful assembly. Do you get what he's

saying here? If anything illegal is

going on, bring them to the courts.

There's a way we handle this. But you

know what the implication is here?

They're not doing anything illegal.

They're not doing anything disruptive.

In fact, you want to know what we found

in the book of Acts? those who create

the mobs, the stirs and the problems,

the civil unrest. You know who it is?

The opponents of Christianity.

They're claiming the Christians are the

problem. And yet they're the ones

creating the problem. In fact, that's

what the town clerk says in verse uh

number 40. For we are in danger to be

called into question for this day's

uproar, there being no cause whereby we

may give an account of this concourse.

And then he dismisses the assembly.

I want to point this out to you. The

town clerk's testimony verifies that

Christianity did not take over Ephesus

through a political revolution, a public

disruption, or any kind of coercion.

They were not forcing anyone to convert

to Christianity.

They were not saying turn or die like

some religions do.

So when you when you really think about

this, what it tells us is that

Christianity does not reshape a city's

identity through coercion. It's it's

through conversion, not coercion.

See, Boulder will not be reshaped by

Christians wreaking havoc in the streets

or by protesting at the courthouse or

vandalizing public spaces or or abortion

clinics. That's not how cities are

reshaped. Often times that creates more

problems than it helps the matter. Now,

we certainly have the right to

peacefully protest. We have the right

here in America to voice our opinion,

but that is not what will reshape

Boulder.

We are not called to run into every shop

on Pearl Street and tear down every

colorful flag or to steal every magic

book or to smash every idol. That's not

what we're called to. And that's not

what we see in the book of Acts.

There might be some who say, "But what

about the Crusades?

What about settlers? What about

colonization? Weren't Christians heavily

involved in that or slavery or or or

whatever?" Well, listen. I can concede

that historically some Christian groups

have used Old Testament scripture

mistakenly to justify wars and violence

and political revolutions. But what have

we seen in the book of Acts?

How has the kingdom of Christ conquered

the Roman Empire?

Was it through political revolution?

Was it through chaos? Was it through

rioting and disruption? What have we

seen? No, you never see po Peter or Paul

or Barnabas forcibly coercing people to

convert. You never see them stir up the

city. You don't see them smash windows

or cause public disturbances. Here is

what we have seen. Faithful public

proclamation of the word of Jesus

Christ.

Because the power of Christianity

does not lie in the strength of man but

in the power of God's word about his

son. Acts is about the triumph of the

word of God. You know what we see at

every turn? The word of God grew and

increased mightily. We read it twice in

this chapter.

See, it's not us who reshapes the city.

It's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because the gospel is powerful enough

that when idolattors and drunks and drug

addicts and and people who are addicted

to other things and the sexually immoral

that that people that are that are

sinners, the gospel is so powerful that

it's able to persuade them of its truth

to where they believe it and they

confess Christ as their savior and then

they burn the bridges to their past.

like we saw last week and like we see in

this, they stopped frequenting those

shops. They stopped frequenting that

temple. They stopped giving their money

to it. And by default, as people are

converted to Jesus Christ, a city was

reshaped.

And it happens the same way today.

Eventually, Ephesus was no longer known

for idolatry,

but for Christianity.

And I want to assure believers today

that may be disheartened by what's going

on in our state and in our country. The

sharp decline of religiosity.

The way that even after 5 years of

ministry, we seem to be making barely a

dent here in our city. I want to assure

you today that what happened in Ephesus

can happen here. Because the word that

they preached then is the same word that

we preach today. And the same spirit

that empowered them is the same spirit

that empowers us today. And the same

Christ who transformed them is the same

Christ who can transform people today,

including you, my friend. He can change

your life.

Christianity reshapes a city's identity

through conversion, not coercion.

Boulder doesn't need a political voice.

It needs a faithful witness of Jesus

Christ.

I ask you,

will you be that witness?

Will you step out by faith and share the

gospel with people in this community?

Will you reach the more than 98% who

have yet to be born again in Christ?

Will you make all church outreach a

non-negotiable date on your calendar?

Will you take some gospel tracks and

pass them out all throughout this week

wherever you go? Are you willing to

devote time to personally studying the

scripture so that you can share the

gospel to be ready and prepared to face

the questions that so many skeptics ask

today?

Some people say, "I'm I'm I'm just I

just don't feel equipped to share the

gospel. Can I just ask you, do you have

a Bible?"

Because all you need to do is read about

Jesus to be able to tell somebody about

Jesus. The gospel is very clear. The

gospel is very simple. All you must do

is study even for yourself. Coming to

church is great. Having a Bible study is

great. Doing disciplehip is great. But

but I'm asking you today, are you

willing to put the time, the effort, and

the energy into knowing Christ so that

you can then make him known to others?

Because that's what reshapes the city.

Are you willing to put yourself out

there and get involved in some kind of

community group that will enable you to

build relationships perhaps even in high

places? You want to know why we feed the

police department lunch a couple times a

year?

Well, we love him. We want to support

him. But it's also allowed us to

establish some valuable friendships with

him to where I've been able to have

personal conversations with our police

chief who's not saved and with his chief

of staff and with the deputy chief and

with uh many others that are in the the

the the 911 area of the police

department. We've been able to meet our

officers. We've been able to engage with

them. Why do we do that? to build

relationships and friendships with them

in hopes of being able to share the

gospel with them. If we do that as a

church, let me ask you, why can't you do

that on your own? Some of you have

interests like cycling, hiking, pickle

ball, recreation. You've got you've got

interests. Let me ask you, why not join

a group

intentionally

in hopes of gaining friendships with

people so that it might present the

opportunity to share Christ with them?

It might cost some money. It might take

some time.

But shouldn't we use the resources God

has placed in our hands to magnify his

glory through Christ that he in the end

we might hear, "Well done, thou good and

faithful servant."

I think so. Cities are reshaped for

Christ when citizens are reshaped by

Christ. Can I ask you, is your life

being reshaped by Jesus?

Have you trusted him as your personal

savior? Because only conversion,

only a new heart and a new spirit spirit

can break the chains that have bound you

for most of your life. You say, "I've

tried to get out of this. I've tried to

end it. I've tried to even reconnect

with God. I've tried to get back to my

faith. I've I've tried all of these

things." Look, you can do everything

that you want, but what the gospel

preaches is done.

It's been done by Jesus Christ. He has

accomplished everything. That's why his

final words from the cross were a great

cry. It is finished.

That literally means done.

Out on the welcome table, we have some

books that carry that title done. It

shows you how Christianity is separate

from every religion because every

religion says do this and do that and do

this and do that. And Christianity says

Christ has already done everything

necessary.

If you're here this morning and you say,

"I've been seeking change, but I can't

seem to find it." Here's what the Bible

says. Acknowledge before God, I'm a

sinner, and I can't. I'm at my end. I've

tried everything and I can't get through

it. But I believe Jesus died to pay for

all of my sin. And I believe he can give

me the new heart and the new spirit that

God promised. and I I believe he died

and rose again. I ask you to forgive my

sin and I ask you to save my soul. You

know what God says? I will forgive you

right here, right now. I will save you

right here, right now. I will give you

eternal life right here, right now. And

I can break those chains if you'll fully

surrender to me. God can do that today

if you'll trust in him. It takes

conversion,

not trying.

But you can be converted today through

faith in Christ.

And what that means for us believers

is we've got to preach Christ.

I don't mean preach in the sense of just

standing behind a pulpit at church. The

word translated preach often means to

proclaim.

It often means just to talk. What we see

when when it talks about how Paul

persuaded, you know what that word

translated what it literally means?

Converse with. It means he sat down and

talked to people about Jesus. Any of us

can do that. And you never know that as

Boulder Valley Baptist Church gets

serious about sharing the gospel. How

that can bring so many converts that a

hundred years from now

most of the bars in town have closed

down.

The dispensaries have closed up shop.

The clubs are done. Temples are trans

transformed into churches a hundred

years from now. Why? Not because

Christians rioted,

not because we vandalized, not because

we smashed idols, but because we

preached Christ. And Christ was powerful

enough to change so many hearts that

they just stopped frequenting these

places. And there was no more need for

him. And Boulder is no longer known as

the place you come to experience

creation, but the place you come to know

Christ. So Christians, preach Christ.

Heavenly Father, we come before you this

morning acknowledging that the power to

reshape a city is not in us. It is in

your son, Jesus.

And I pray that you would encourage us

through this text and through what you

did at Ephesus

to boldly proclaim Christ, to invite

people to church, to take action in our

lives, to build friendships,

to get to know people, and ultimately to

share the gospel with them that they

might too experience new life in Christ.

I pray for those here this who might be

here this morning

that they feel chained in darkness

that maybe they've spent their whole

lives bowing down to idols,

bowing down to a bottle or to an needle,

bowing down to sin and Satan.

And they've tried to escape. They've

tried rehab. They've tried turning away.

They've tried to get healed and get

right and everything has failed,

but they've not tried Jesus.

And I pray that this morning they would

experience the lifegiving hope of the

gospel that Jesus brings to break the

chains

to replace the entire system that moves

our lives

to make them holy, righteous, and just

through Jesus.

God, I pray that they would trust you as

their savior today. In Jesus name I

pray.