Have You Received the Holy Spirit? | Acts 19:1–10 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life podcast.

What if someone claims to be a disciple but has never experienced the fullness of the gospel?

In Acts 19, 1 through 10, Paul encounters a group of believers in Ephesus and asks a simple but yet revealing question.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit?

Their response exposes a significant gap in their understanding of Christ.

Like Apollos before them in Acts 18, they were sincere in their faith, yep, and complete in their knowledge.

In this powerful message, Pastor Alex Sands challenges us to move beyond surface-level evangelism and ask deeper questions that reveal where people truly are in their spiritual journey.

Learn why a full understanding of the gospel matters and how the Holy Spirit transformed the believer's life and why effective discipleship requires more than asking, Are you saved?

Join us as we discover the difference between knowing about Jesus and experiencing the fullness of life in him.

Today we pick up in Acts chapter 19 and we return.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

And as many of you know, this Friday we recognize, we as a as a nation recognize Juneteenth.

And and that is a uh reminder points to June the 19th, 1865.

Emancipation Day.

That was the day when Major General Granger and with along with about 2,000 Union troops entered into Galveston, Texas, and made the pronouncement that all slaves were now free.

That slavery had been abolished in the United States of America.

All black slaves, men, women, children, had been released, no longer under the yoke of oppression, no longer owned, emancipated.

The tragedy of it is Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.

Over two years earlier.

30 months earlier, the Emancipation Proclamation had been declared abolishing slavery.

Freedom in the in in this country for all, but it took 30 months for word for the word, the message to make its way across and finally land in Galveston.

30 months.

For 30 months, thousands of slaves didn't know that they had been liberated.

And they continued to serve their masters until June 19th, 1865.

Juneteenth, Emancipation Day.

Everyone now knows.

You know, if you look at things spiritually, there are a lot of people around the world who are in bondage, but Jesus has set them free.

There's a spiritual emancipation proclamation that Jesus made, that all that were in bondage to the power and the penalty of sin, all that were in bondage, they can be free.

Many, many think that they have to work real hard.

They have to earn release.

They have to earn God's pleasure.

They have to do enough acts, they have to make life hard upon themselves, fasting and beating themselves and doing all kinds of things to try to make God happy to account for all of their wrongs.

But Jesus came to set the captives free.

And that is the wonderful, wonderful message that the disciples shared.

Jesus, before he ascended, he said this in Luke chapter 24, verse 46.

Luke 24:46

He said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on a third day rise from the dead.

And that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.

Say that with me.

In his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Deliverance from sin.

The penalty, the power of sin.

Jesus, it is freedom is available.

But you want to know something?

It's not just people who are in other religions that are trying to earn favor with God and trying to earn a right standing with God.

How many of you know our churches are filled with people who have a knowledge of Jesus?

But if you ask them, are you going to heaven?

They could have been in church, in church for decades.

Are you going to heaven?

I hope so.

I'm working real hard to.

I'm hoping that uh uh when I get to the pearly gates, Peter will let me in.

Peter ain't controlling no gates.

He is not at a gate.

That authority has been given to Jesus.

And therefore, you have many people who are sincere, sincerely trying to please God, trying to earn his favor by going to church week after week, going to Sunday school, going to Bible studies, praying, praying, and fasting, fasting, thinking if I just work hard enough, I can account for all, I can atone for all of my mistakes.

Maybe that's some of you.

Can I tell you Jesus came to set you free?

There's a proclamation, freedom from works because Jesus paid it all.

In today's text, we're gonna find a group that they're still living with a mindset of having to earn God's favor.

And the gospel's going to reach them and set them free, and the power that set them free still releases people from bondage today.

We're in Acts chapter 19.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 19, and it says, and it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

If you remember last time, as we covered chapter 18, we talked about Apollos, how he was a Jew, but he was well versed in scripture.

He was gifted intellectually, and yet he was grounded.

He grew up in Alexandria, the center of education, knowledge, and training and academia at that time.

And there in Alexandria, it was where the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament was written.

He had some awesome teachers been brought up and and he heard about John and he knew what John had said.

He knew that John had said Jesus was the Messiah.

He could accurately share the way of Jesus, and he was eloquent.

I mean, he was like a, I mean, he's he knows the scriptures, and it says it said in the text he was fervent in the spirit.

There's a definite article there.

Fervent in the spirit.

He was passionately declaring the way of Jesus, but he only knew the baptism of John.

And Priscilla and Aquila heard him in the synagogue and they pulled him aside privately and instructed him more accurately the way of the Lord.

He had been teaching the way of the Lord, but his information wasn't complete.

Just needed a little bit extra.

But his salvation wasn't questioned.

Afterwards, they released him.

He goes off to Corinth.

And in the meantime, while he was in Ephesus, Paul had already left, he'd gone to Jerusalem, then he went down to Antioch, and then he left Antioch and started his third missionary journey, and he went back to churches he had established on his first missionary journey to encourage the believers.

And now we pick up and find out that he goes westward.

He's going to Ephesus.

Ephesus was the capital of Asia.

Ephesus filled with commerce, philosophy, and pagan superstition.

Over a quarter million people and had a large population of Jews.

But as I said, it was filled with pagan superstition and it was known for its temple to Artemis, Temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world.

He there, Paul returned to Ephesus.

He came to Ephesus, and there he found some what?

Disciples.

He found disciples.

Now the word disciple simply means a learner, a pupil, those who receive instruction and order their lives by it.

Typically, when we find Luke talking about disciples in the book of Acts, he's talking about Christian disciples, followers of the way, followers of Jesus.

But they're all different types of disciples.

Some followed other teachers.

John had disciples.

The spiritual condition of these disciples are in question.

Scholars debate whether they were Christians or not, but if you do some of the digging here, most scholars would come to the conclusion that they're not Christians at this point.

They look the part.

Paul shows up, and there you have these disciples.

And they listen, they're living right.

They're religious.

They're teachable.

We're not even sure if they are Jews or Gentiles, probably Jews, but it's not specific here.

But they say the right things.

So they they you can imagine Paul shows up and and he meets this group, and listen, from the external, they check all the boxes.

But then he stays a little while longer, he hangs around a little bit longer, and something isn't right.

It just just he's watching and he's observing and he's listening.

And understand, Paul knew what it looked like when someone was born again and God's spirit dwelled on the inside of them and how it transformed them.

And even though these disciples, man, they had the right lingo, but they didn't have life.

They had sincerity, but they didn't have fullness.

They had religion, but they didn't have relationship.

Understand again, Paul looked, all the churches he had planted, all the people that he had seen come to faith in Christ, he knew what happened when someone was saved.

Whether Jew, Gentile, it doesn't matter.

There's something about them.

Something about when Jesus gets into someone's life and he gets a hold to that person, they're not the same.

And as he and as he as he hangs out with these disciples, Paul begins to question, where's the joy?

Where's the peace?

Where's the patience?

Where's the love?

The love for Jesus.

How come I'm not hearing much about Jesus?

You know, when the Holy Spirit comes on inside you, the Holy Spirit came to glorify Jesus.

If someone claims they have the Holy Spirit but doesn't talk about Jesus, so he knows it's something that's just not right.

He's not looking for hype.

You know what I'm saying?

He's not looking for any emotion out of them, right?

He's not looking for an emotional response or hype.

He's just the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

There's a difference between religion and relationship.

Two people can be doing the same thing, but for totally different reasons.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're checking some boxes, but oh just so you know what he does in verse 2?

He inquires, he asks a question, a diagnostic question, to diagnose their belief, their faith experience.

He said to them, here's the first question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

You believed something.

He knows that.

You know, what's interesting is the citizens of Antioch called the church, they called disciples Christians.

But that's not how Christians talked about each other.

They talked about being followers of the way.

Followers of the way, and you hear that constantly throughout Acts.

It's a claim of the exclusivity of Jesus.

There is salvation in none other.

Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

We are followers of the way.

Well, you know, someone else can use that same phrase.

Oh, we're followers of the way.

Well, let me find out what way we're talking about.

Did you receive?

Did you possess?

Did it did the did the Holy Spirit possess you and you possess him?

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

When you came to trust in and rely in on and place confidence in, but he just says, when you believed.

Now watch this.

What Paul is doing is he he is connecting the receipt of the Holy Spirit and salvation.

That it happens at the same time.

If someone doesn't know about the Holy Spirit, if someone hasn't received the Spirit of God, they are not saved.

It happens at the same time.

So he's asking about their salvation, but he's not directly using that term because I want to really get specific.

It's a diagnostic question.

Did you receive the Spirit when you believed?

You know, sometimes you can ask somebody, are you a Christian?

And they can say, Yes, but Christian is such a vague term today.

You need to go deeper.

That's why Paul wants a diagnosis.

I need a question that will really get to this.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit?

Not asking if you went to another level in Christianity and faith.

I want to know the moment you believe, the millisecond you believed, did you receive the Spirit?

Because in Paul's mind, they belong together.

What was their answer?

No.

In fact, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

Now understand, these men, they have been taught, they either were taught under John the Baptist.

This John the Baptist ministry was almost like 25 years prior to this.

Maybe taught by John the Baptist or someone who had been taught by John the Baptist.

So they understood there was a spirit.

And that he would baptize in the Holy Spirit and in fire.

So there is knowledge of the Spirit of God hovering over the water.

I mean, from the beginning.

What they're responding to here is they don't have an understanding, a knowledge of what happened at Pentecost.

That, according to you know, the prophecy of Joel, in the latter days, the Spirit would come and inhabit all flesh, and that this is a new covenant time when the Holy Spirit would be available, that God's people could receive.

They didn't know about that.

They didn't know about what he's talking about.

We receive the Spirit.

So Paul presses into, he says, Well then, question two, into what were you baptized?

Baptism.

He's speaking of water baptism and water baptism being an initiation.

Initiation into a message, believing a message and following the master, the one who is uh, you know, the baptism is by the authority of following their teaching.

It's the start, the initiation.

Christian baptism is an external sign of an inward reality.

It's an external sign of what's happened on the inside.

On the inside, union with Christ, giving one's allegiance to Christ.

That's happened on the outside, what's on the outside?

Is the sign of it, the water baptism that makes the declaration that Jesus is my master.

I've submitted to Jesus.

These men aren't evil.

The information just isn't complete.

Because they don't know about what's happened.

No one's informed them about the last 20-some years.

And that, you know, they're in Ephesus.

They are ways away from Jerusalem.

And Ephesus was uh, you know, a lot of superstition.

There's no telling what all of their faith components were made up of because, you know, there's just all kinds of stuff.

You know, people don't all have the same knowledge you do.

Well, they answered into John's baptism.

John's baptism.

And the thing about John's baptism is that it pointed forward to Christ.

It was preparatory.

It pointed forward.

But it could not unite them to Christ apart from faith in Christ.

John's baptism was to prepare the hearts of the people that they would repent.

His responsibility is to make the way, uh make the way clear for the king, for God's people to receive the king, to that the people would repent of their transgressions and receive the one who was to come.

It was preparatory, it wasn't a destination.

Now understand this here.

This their understanding, again, is just about John's baptism, and that is that's all.

They understand John's baptism couldn't save, just having that couldn't save, and not having any knowledge of the Holy Spirit, which is part of the new covenant age.

That's an indication that someone is not saved.

If someone tries to say, I repented, but I didn't turn towards Jesus, and I know nothing about Holy Spirit or whatever, that's the sign because the Holy Spirit comes at salvation.

Again, Ephesians 113, here's Paul and Him.

You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

Sealed.

Sealed, meaning to set a seal or a mark upon a thing as a token of ownership, authenticity or uh provenness, often used of in describing people.

The Holy Spirit is proof you belong to God.

And in a seal, like a seal on the envelope, and it's the king's signet, the ring, it would be meshed into that hot wax, and that's the seal.

It came from the king.

That's the Holy Spirit marks God's people as belonging to him.

And if you don't have the spirit, you're not saved.

You don't belong to him.

That's what Paul said in Romans 8:9.

Romans 8:9

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

God does not offer salvation on an installment plan.

When Christ saves, he seals.

I was uh in college, I got connected with an apostolic holiness group, and I made a profession of faith.

I repented, but they told me that wasn't enough.

I had turned from I believed Jesus was Lord and everything else, but they said you need to tarry for the Holy Ghost.

And maybe God will give him to you.

And tarry meant you just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Some of y'all know what I'm talking about.

You had that you there was a tarrying bench.

You had to kneel down, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and hopefully, maybe you'll be able to speak in tongues, and that would say that you were saved.

You could be on that bench for hours.

You know, you had, I had no confidence in my salvation or that God even loved me.

I thought the cross was proof, but then I found out no, that's not.

I got to tarry and maybe.

Oh, church, I am so glad.

See, I was in bondage.

I was in bondage until somebody told me the gospel and that Jesus gave it all.

That is not an installment plan, not waiting till this moment or that.

I place my faith in church because even believing in Jesus was an indication the Holy Spirit was working in me.

Oh, and all of that time, and and and uh so we end not in a in a not a piecemeal fashion, salvation, you get it, baby, you get it.

Continuing, Paul said, John baptized, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one in whom was to come after him, that is Jesus.

To believe in the one who was to come after him.

That's what John was telling them.

That's what John was teaching, and that one is Jesus.

Somebody say, Jesus.

That one is Jesus.

See, they had John's baptism, John baptized with this baptism of repentance, and John was the last Old Testament prophet, and he was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, and he was calling people to repentance.

But there is this gap.

Understand, there's this gap in their understanding because Jesus was the one he pointed to.

Somehow they didn't get that information that Jesus is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

Therefore, they had in their hearts, of course, they had repented, because that's what John taught them to do, but but but they still were living in an awareness of their sin, not being liberated, but keep on trying, and they're trying and they're trying to make to be sure and be ready.

They're still waiting for the Messiah, but not realize their king has come.

He was raised.

There was the one to come after.

They knew they were sick, but they didn't know the great physician.

They knew they had sinned, but they didn't know that the Lamb of God had come to take away the sins of the world, and his sacrifice was finished.

It is finished.

And that church is the limit of religion.

Repentance without Christ can make you sorry, but it can't make you alive.

This is the limit of religion without the gospel.

You can feel conviction, you can pursue morality, you can desire a better life, and that's all good, not enough to be saved.

That doesn't save.

You can clean the outside of the cup, but it's the inside.

Jesus came to transform us from the inside.

John was a signpost, Jesus was the destination.

John was just pointing to the road with Jesus was the king.

They didn't need to abandon John's message, they just needed it to be complete.

That it completed in Jesus.

Without Jesus, everything they're doing, their repentance is just self-punishment.

And here's the kingdom truth: any form of self-improvement gospel is doomed to fail.

Any type of self-improvement without Jesus is doomed to fail.

And here's the challenge.

We live in the Bible Belt.

If you're here living in the if you live in the South, you are in the Bible Belt, some will say the buckle of the Bible Belt.

And the challenge of being in the Bible Belt is there are a lot of people who have been around the teaching, have nearby access, they've heard about Jesus, but they haven't surrendered to Jesus.

They haven't made him Lord.

They haven't put the pieces together about grace.

And the thing about being fluent in Christianese is that you can even fool yourself.

There are a lot of almost Christians who think they're Christians because they show up for every event.

Being a Christian is not showing up for an event, not walking down an aisle with tears flowing down your face.

It is not being on your knees and screaming, I did wrong.

That's not it.

It's saying, Jesus, you are my Lord now.

I submit my allegiance to you.

It's not just turning away from wrongdoing and being a more moral person.

I ain't gonna cuss no more, I'm not gonna get drunk no more, I ain't gonna fornicate no more.

All of that is well and good.

But not just by itself, it doesn't save.

You can have the rules and no relationship.

And here's the other part, too.

There's the part about just being exposed, and and and people feel just being exposed is sufficient.

The other part is we live in this therapeutic age, this time where everything is is supposed to be intended to make us feel good.

So some people look at God selfishly like He is there to make them feel good.

And if God in any way challenges their feelings, can't be God.

Can't be God.

That can't be what do you mean I'm a sinner and I have to stop something?

That's who I am.

No, that's what you're doing.

But if it doesn't make it doesn't make me feel good, you and God is just there when you're struggling.

Because all of the music claiming to be gospel is just talking about struggling.

And then you found God who fulfilled all of your aspirations, the big dream for your life and your big mission to have a business.

God didn't come to so you could get a business.

God didn't show up so you can have a car or whatever.

He didn't come to save you so that you can get a BMW or He didn't come from all of that.

But that's what we have reduced him to a genie in the bottle.

Come on now.

That's what that's so much of the prosperity stuff has done.

Belittle God made Jesus just another dude.

That's the therapeutic coming to Jesus is my buddy.

He your buddy, he came to be your Lord.

Oh, yes, he walks with me and he talks with me along the way, but please don't get it twisted.

When he says go right, yes, sir.

Yes, Lord.

If you can't say yes, Lord, don't say yes at all.

He's either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

But again, the kind of feeling of God, I have people will reshape God into what they want him to be.

Someone who always says yes, someone who always affirms.

That's why you need to watch out for AI.

You know, some things AI is good for, as long as you say just operate under these boundaries, whatever it is.

But if you don't tell it, AI will make you try to make you feel good.

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's a wonderful question.

Jesse, that's a wonderful question.

He call you by name.

And Jesse has wonderful.

Everything, oh, that's great and wonderful.

It just wants you to come back, get some more info on you, and sell you something.

God didn't always, you know, we don't always get pats on the back from God.

Our Father disciplines us.

It's not about trying harder, or it's about the finished work of Jesus Christ.

We're saved by grace.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

Grace means it's a gift, not something earned grace, you're saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast.

Relying on cleaning up yourself is like having a vacuum in a burning house.

Your house is burning down, and you're talking about I gotta vacuum the living room.

That's what works does.

You know, you're just a work salvation.

I declared work hard.

That's that doesn't save.

Now, here for believers, follow Paul's example.

Don't be afraid to ask the diagnostic questions when someone claims faith in Christ.

The truth could set them free.

Again, Christian is such a vague term.

Probe deeper.

Tell me about your salvation experience.

What happened?

When was the change?

What happened?

Make the question vague enough so they can articulate it.

They don't have to articulate it perfectly, you don't have to sound like a theologian, but you ought to say, I'm a sinner.

I couldn't save myself.

Jesus died on the cross for my sin.

Some kind of combination of that should come out.

But sometimes we can be just a little afraid to ask because we don't want to prick somebody and just they're gonna get mad because I'm asking.

I'm not trying to ask them to get them offended.

I just want to say asking in love, but just you can do it, you can be smooth about it.

Paul was smooth with it.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit?

When you believe, tell me about it.

Don't be afraid.

There are people there are some who are just comfortable with a form of godliness, but some don't know a difference at all.

And so they're just trying and they're on a treadmill and getting exhausted.

That was me.

Exhausted by works.

There was always another hoop to go through.

There are people there who are will smile and are doing the right things, but they're exhausted.

Trying to be saved and maintaining their relationship with God in their own power.

It's impossible.

Set them free, tell them it's by grace.

Listen to the part on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now, first, first part is on hearing this.

You know, they didn't this whole verse 5 talks about immediate obedience.

They didn't waste time, they didn't debate.

They didn't say, you know how long we've been living right and how long we've been doing this, so on and so forth.

On hearing this truth, just hearing that, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Put that in, make that stand out there.

Understand that in the name of.

That points to by his authority.

This is the only example of a re-baptism that we find.

But the reality is this is their first Christian baptism.

The first time, and it's by Jesus' authority.

Again, when I was going through that apostolic holiness, I was in there for five minutes.

It wasn't five minutes, it was more like eight months, nine months.

I but I wore myself out.

They said it wasn't just what was in your heart, it's what the person said over you.

They had to say these words.

And and now I look back, what if somebody stuttered?

What if the person got you don't know what they're saying when you're under the water.

Your salvation is based on what came out of their mouth.

Being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus is this.

I put a whole, I cobbled a whole lot of stuff here, but I just I'm just gonna throw it all against the wall.

Let's stick.

It's baptism performed by his authority, i.e., publicly recognizing Jesus as the crucified, risen, and exalted Lord who alone can cleanse from sin and impart the Holy Spirit.

Performed by his authority and submitting to his authority.

This is how when Peter called them on the day of Pentecost, he called them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Not John's baptism, but in the name, the authority of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And immediately upon hearing that, they were baptized.

And then Paul laid hands on them.

He laid hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them.

And they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

God shows up in an undeniable visible way.

And people who spoke those different languages, they heard them and understood what was happening.

That was on the day of Pentecost with a group of Jews.

Then it went out to the Samaritans.

Philip, who preached the gospel to the Samaritans, they believed.

Well, then Peter and John showed up because they had heard in Jerusalem what had happened, and they made the trip.

And they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit in the same way.

Why?

So the Samaritans and everyone else who observed it would know that their salvation was not deficient.

What happened to them is the same way as it was for the Jews.

Then fast forward Acts chapter 10, Cornelius, a Gentile.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Thing is, when Cornelius, just hearing the word, Holy Spirit fell on him, and he starts speaking in tongues, and his family with him.

And that's when Peter said, Well, who can hold back back?

See, it wasn't even about the order.

In some cases, it was baptism, then this visible manifest.

Sometimes it was the other way around.

It wasn't about the order.

It was like God saying, They are mine.

And he could show himself any way he planned, anyway he desires.

The problem is when we start making this the norm and say this, it has to be this way.

You can't be saved unless an apostle lays hands on you.

Well, that's not that's not doctrine.

It's not, it's repent, believe the gospel, be saved.

But God did this for them.

Did this for Paul too.

And listen, there was there were about 12 men in all.

That's something.

All of this happening, and it's recorded in scripture for thousands of years.

And it was 12 men.

People would think, 12?

Why would it just that's such a small group?

You know, God always moves through a remnant.

And it doesn't have through many, through many, you know, He got Jesus used 12 disciples, changed the world.

Someone might think, oh, just 12.

It's just 12 people.

Yeah, and God cared about those 12 men who had been laboring under legalism and bondage when they could have been freed, and he gave them experience to let them to affirm, I know you, I've said, and they and that, and that he had received them and they didn't have a deficient salvation.

Their salvation is just as legit as anyone else's, and that their salvation, again, it was real.

Speaking in languages they hadn't been taught.

Don't despise the day of small of small beginnings.

Truth here's the kingdom truth.

Believers' baptism is a public declaration of one's allegiance to Jesus and being united with him.

I want to make this appeal to you.

If your first baptism wasn't with an understanding of Jesus as Lord and having had, and you didn't make him Lord, he wasn't the Lord of your life, can I encourage you to have your first Christian baptism?

With a full understanding that you're giving your allegiance to Jesus.

That's what baptism is for in the New Testament.

I've made my allegiance to Jesus.

He is my Lord, my master.

He is in him, I have the forgiveness of sins.

I've been washed.

And it's a testimony to the world if you haven't had that.

We got a pool right here with water and change of clothes, everything.

Make that declaration.

Be obedient in that small thing.

You know, I got, don't let pride hold you back.

We're not saying that you weren't saved and haven't been saved, but this is an important testimony to make.

So often baptism has just become part of a family tradition.

You ever have those, you gotta your family have one of those big Bibles with pictures in them in the living room?

You know, hadn't read it, but you it was just big, big King James and have photos in it and certificates and you know, baptism stuff, and people that, you know, such that born on such, you know, big fat Bible, you know, black leather cover on it.

And yeah, some people just think it's something to add to that family book.

That's not the book you want your name written in.

It's the Lamb's book of life, and you want to make sure to give a distinction to everyone.

My baptism wasn't about being in that book.

I'm doing this because I've made Jesus my Lord and Savior.

And he said for the apostles to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all I've commanded.

This is me, I'm a disciple.

That's what it says.

I encourage you to do that.

And I would just also say, lastly, real quick, don't overthink obedience, just surrender.

I just like their obedience.

You ever had the Holy Spirit say something to you and you fight it?

Did anybody else do that this week?

You know, like and and listen, there's a time when you question whether or not the Holy Spirit, and then there are times where you know it was the Holy Spirit.

Like, like, like, like you don't, like to spontaneously give somebody eighty dollars was not from you.

You're walking through publics and Lord's give her eighty dollars.

And then then you might try to shake it off.

Couldn't have been real, couldn't have been.

No, no lie.

I had the Lord do that to give this uh give this lady sixty-six dollars, and I had it.

And she was the cashier and at a restaurant, I think it was Jackson.

Anyway, no, no, not not necessary.

Don't you know I got out of line?

Started walking around.

You can have my place, it's good.

I gotta think about what I want here for a little bit longer.

I mean, I wasn't, I couldn't, I couldn't believe it.

And and and it was like, you know, then all of a sudden, once I had affirmed, okay, this is the Lord, then I started making excuses like I needed that$67.

I'm serious.

I started making like like that was I gave that money to her and she broke down in tears.

She had an electric bill that was$67.

And she didn't know how she was gonna pay it.

And she was praying and she was crying out.

She said, You are an angel, you are an angel.

I said, No, no.

Don't give me any credit, trust me.

Can I tell you something?

I felt so good that day.

Because you know, that money wasn't mine, I was just delivering it.

It was just in my pocket, ready to give to this young lady.

And and and so I was so glad to be used by God.

Don't delay, it's only making it more difficult.

The more you delay obeying God, the more excuses you're going to make.

The longer Eve thought about it and was looking at the fruit and how luscious it was, and how it's good to make one wise, how do you know that, Eve?

Now you're fantasizing.

How do you do it?

And so if the quicker you say yes, Lord, you can cut the devil off.

Surrender quickly.

Now, continue verses 8 through 10.

Let's wrap up.

He entered the synagogue.

So now all of this has happened.

He enters the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly.

This is amazing, right here.

For three months he was able to speak in the synagogue.

And now he had popped in there earlier and popped out.

But now he's staying, he's there, and he's able to be there for three months.

Sometimes it wasn't even three weeks, and like in Thessalonica, three weeks, but three months.

This is wonderful.

This is amazing.

This is God working.

It's an unusual window of opportunity.

So, what does he do?

He, hey, three months, he spoke how boldly.

And doing what?

Reasoning and persuading.

Well, he spoke, and his speech was bold.

He didn't cower back down.

He was reasoning, meaning it wasn't just a monologue, he was dialoguing, answering questions, and going back and forth.

And it wasn't just about trying to give them spiritual knowledge, he was persuading because his heart was, I want you to be saved.

There's a difference when somebody's heart is in it, and they're sharing with you the gospel.

They're not, they don't see you as a notch in their belt, but they really want you to be saved.

Verse 9.

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way.

I just like that.

The way.

The way.

Speaking evil of it, before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him.

The disciples.

How much you want to bet?

That included those 12 men.

They've had the benefit.

Look, they didn't understand everything when they got baptized.

You're not going to get it all right when you make your faith instruction.

But now they've had the benefit.

Three months of instruction.

But Paul knows that those 12 and then others who have come to faith since then, they are in a toxic environment.

And there's only so long you can cast pearls before swine.

And it's time to go.

But now they're speaking evil, they're blaspheming about the way and everything else.

Well, he took the disciples with him and then began reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannis.

Apparently, he was a philosopher and he owned a lecture hall.

And probably in the morning he taught his disciples.

But God showed him favor with Paul.

He showed him favor and allowed Paul to use the hall between 11 and 4.

Church history and different texts tell us that it was during the siesta period, at the heat of the day, the city would shut down between the hours of 11 a.m.

to 4 p.m.

So people would work from dawn up to 11, and then there'd be a siesta until 4, and then resume whatever needed to be completed.

Paul was a leather worker, right?

He he worked in skins.

He uh took care of his own needs.

He didn't he didn't want to be uh dependent on anybody unless they were already believers, another church, but he said he's gonna work with his hands because he wanted to set an example.

He would work from dawn up to 11 and then walk his way over to this hall and take a seat and just talk to whoever came by.

Some of the disciples, some others just inquiring, some just wanted to have a debate, maybe.

He was there and he did that.

He didn't take a siesta, he didn't take a break that he could have taken.

He he posted up every day and waited for the Lord to send whoever would come.

This continued for how long is it in verse 10?

For two years.

For two years, and the result was that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

That doesn't mean it came directly from him, it doesn't mean he was running from different villages here, there, there, whatever.

No, it meant Ephesus being this capital, being so much commerce and everything else.

Hey, they got the word and sent it out.

Oh, Colossae, they received it.

You know that letter to Colossians?

Somebody got the word right there as Paul's teaching it at Ephesus.

Laodicea, same thing.

The gospel went forward from this hub.

It was radiating from this hub, this lecture hall.

Paul, for two years teaching, grinding it out.

You see, it is not glamorous.

Discipling is not glamorous.

There wasn't, and it's not a one-time one-off thing.

It takes work and effort.

God gave him favor by getting the lecture hall.

That was favor, but Paul still had to work.

He had to take advantage of it, he had to lean into it, he had to use what God had given him, pivot and be busy about the work.

That's why we find in Colossians 1:28 and 29, we know uh chapter 1, verse 28, we proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Colossians 1:28

But then verse 29, for this I toil, I labor to exhaustion, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works through me.

The energy to do that from day to day to day wasn't his own.

The Holy Spirit gave him that energy.

This man is about somewhere in his mid-40s, maybe 48 to early 50s, something like that, and worked all day.

He would go back to work after being in the lecture hall, all of that, and kept doing and didn't complain.

It put me to shame this week.

I like, Lord, forgive me for complaining.

Life principle, real quick.

If you want to see spiritual fruit, you must be willing to stay in the field.

Choose consistency over convenience.

Sometimes we want a one-off real quick, and then be done.

No, it's in your discipleship, growing as a disciple and equipping others, it takes labor.

Sometimes it feels like it's not getting anywhere.

Show up at the lecture hall.

Paul continued to show up every day, post it up, and some will say this was the pinnacle of his ministry time.

Just working and showing up for whoever was there and came.

All right, want to wrap wrap up here, just uh going back to the Juneteenth and the Liberation.

Final thought.

When Major General Gordon Granger made the announcement to all of the enslaved people and all that were gathered, it was called General Order Number Three.

And this is how it read, the beginning of it.

The people of Texas are informed, in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free.

Now, everyone there may not have understood what freedom meant.

So you continue into it.

It means absolute, part of it was absolute equality of personal rights and property.

The former enslaved persons, now you are in a relationship of employer and hired labor.

An announcement, you are free.

But maybe to understand what freedom means, it means the relationship has changed.

You have changed, your status has changed, and your relationship has changed.

Jesus came to proclaim freedom for the captives.

Freedom, liberty is available in Jesus.

We don't have to work for freedom from sin and freedom from the penalty of sin.

He's done it all.

Thank you, Jesus.

Freedom means we have a new relationship with God.

We can call him Father.

They went out with pamphlets.

And then also newspapers.

They were new, it was printed in newspapers as well.

They went out and shared it with other groups, other pockets who may not have heard the address.

Others took up that message of liberation.

First of all, maybe you are still in bondage to works.

Can I tell you Jesus came to set you free?

He didn't come to put you on a cycle of working harder and harder, and then you work harder and then you fail.

And then you say, God, I'm sorry.

And then I promise to work harder, and I'm harder, I'm do better, and then you don't do better, and then you feel like more of a failure.

That cycle, Jesus came to save you from that.

Liberty for the captives.

But for those who are free, we are called to share with others that freedom is available through Jesus.

Share it, disperse it.

Doesn't take a pamphlet.

Tracks work really well, but if you don't have a track, share your testimony of how he sets you free so others can be free just like you.

Oh Lord, thank you so much for this time, this word, God, thank you for your grace.

I just pray, God, it all just resonates in us and that people will respond how they need to respond, Lord God.

I pray that your spirit opens up hearts right now so the word will find fertile soil, and that those who are called to turn will turn, and those who know you will strive to know you better.

In Jesus' name, amen.