(A) Introduction (Read the reference.)

The few verses under consideration cover a period of two years and three months. They do not provide many details of Paul's extended ministry in Ephesus but do give us an idea of how the apostle worked and how God worked through him.

(B) Paul's method.

Initially Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. v8. After encountering increasingly virulent opposition from the Jews Paul left the synagogue and for two years had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

Paul did not just stand in front of an audience and preach or lecture - he argued, discussed and debated. The apostle took questions and answered them. He was prepared to confront his critics.

This happens less and less today. I have just fallen foul of new procedures introduced by Barclays Bank. I considered that these procedures resulted in unreasonable treatment. I could get no-one in Barclays from the Chief Executive downwards to reply to my criticisms. No-one was prepared to either admit that the new procedures were unsatisfactory or to justify them. Barclays were not going to get into a dialogue with me on this issue. They had introduced their new way of doing business and I could either accept it or go elsewhere!

I am afraid that this happened all the time during my career as a teacher. We were given directives to implement without any opportunity to debate them meaningfully. The politicians knew best!

Some denominations or associations are not much better than worldly organisations. I have complained about new procedures introduced by my own association. My arguments went unanswered. There was an unwillingness to enter into a discussion. I was told that if I didn't approve of the new policy - I could always leave and join another group of churches whose doctrines were more to my taste. One of the things I admire about Charles Finney, the 19th century evangelist, was that he would always meet with his critics for a calm and reasonable discussion of their differences.

Our church services are not interactive! Preachers are never contradicted from the pew. This allows them to talk nonsense and to get away with it. I always wince when a speaker pours scorn on the 'Big Bang' theory for the origin of the universe. God may well have created the universe from a huge outpouring of energy. I twitch with irritation whenever a preacher claims the authority of Scripture for consigning the wicked to everlasting torment. This is not the teaching of the New Testament. See my article on Heaven and Hell.

The last time that I was in London visiting my brother Paul he took me to see an Evolutionary Geneticist. We talked about the origin of man. The Geneticist was interested in harmonising the Genesis account of origins with scientific discoveries. Now I did not agree with everything the Geneticist said and this resulted in a lively debate. It was exciting and I learned a lot. It was also exhausting.

Paul's method was stimulating, effective and very tiring. He used it to bring the gospel to the whole of the province of Asia.

Preaching has been a very important means of proclaiming God's word. God greatly used it from the 17th to the early part of the 20th century. However, in the 16th century Luther and other reformers relied on pamphlets to spread the truth. Today there is no doubt that young folk welcome the opportunity to discuss. I believe that is why house groups and the Alpha Course are being used to make converts to Christianity. At Pioneer Camp, the only place I have seen many born again, the informal chats young people had in their tents at night were often the main means of bringing unbelievers to Jesus.

(C) Paul's decision.

Paul witnessed in the synagogue for three months but eventually some of the Jews became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him. v9.

It is important to realise that while the Christians and orthodox Jews met in the synagogue together they were participating in interfaith worship. Discussion and inter-faith worship - Paul was a very modern man!!

Sadly the inter-faith worship did no work for long. The hard line Jews rejected Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. They publicly opposed the Way and decided to stick with the Old Covenant God made with Moses.

It is impossible to be united in fellowship where there are stark differences over the authority of Jesus. This is what divides Christians from Jews and Moslems.

Every follower of Jesus needs to separate themselves from non-Christian family and friends to spend time with their Christian brothers and sisters. It is impossible to love the brethren without meeting with them for conversation, teaching and communion. Christians have Jesus in common and the main way to show our love for him is to love one another. Jesus first, the church family second and our natural family third - is that how it is for you?

(D) Paul's dedication.

Paul held discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This at the very least suggests that Paul taught frequently.

It is probable that the lecture hall was available between 11am and 4pm, which was siesta time. Tyrannus used his schoolroom in the cooler morning and evening. While Tyrannus was conducting lessons Paul was stitching leather. The handkerchiefs of Paul were actually sweatbands. Stitching leather was hot work! It was also hard work. Paul wore a leather apron to protect his thighs from the needle he plied. I can remember our village blacksmith, Mr Pawsey, putting on a heavy leather apron of the sort worn by Paul to shoe horses.

So Paul was engaged in physically demanding work in the cool of the day and utilised his siesta time to teach people the word of the Lord. He kept this up for two years. It was a fantastic effort and by means of his phenomenal energy and dedication much of Asia was evangelised.

Paul's commitment shames some of us. There are plenty of Christians 'too busy' to meet together for more than an hour on a Sunday. It is pathetic! I have a sister-in-law who is in secular employment from Monday to Friday. At the weekend she throws herself into church work. This gruelling routine does not do her heart condition any good! She is so exhausted on Monday and Tuesday that she has to go to bed incredibly early. There is nothing that would stop Ruth from whole- hearted participation in the life of her church save death itself.

(E) Paul's wider influence.

Advances in scientific knowledge make our age very different from Paul's. Then, a medical man would understand what happened when someone broke a leg but remained in total ignorance of the part played by bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and brain disorders in causing disease. Illnesses like malaria, rabies, ergot and epilepsy were all attributed to evil spirits in much the same way as cholera was blamed on bad smells in the 19th century. So when the Bible says that an evil spirit left a man that is another way of saying that his illness was cured. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. v12.

Why did God use Paul's sweatbands and apron to heal the sick? There are dangers inherent in the practice. It encouraged the use of relics to perform miracles by the Roman Catholic Church.

There is a sublime simplicity in curing the incurable with a sweatband or an apron. It stood in marked contrast to the bizarre practices of sorcerers and exorcists.

It may be significant that God worked through the tokens of Paul's honest toil. Many can serve God and their fellow Christians through their trade or craft. Dorcas used her needle to make clothes for the widows of Joppa. Jack Bishop used his skill as a car mechanic to service my old father's car free of charge. Peter Webb, a fine gardener, supplies flowers, fruit and vegetables for at least three harvest festivals. My friend, Jesse, is entertaining our visiting speaker on Sunday and will make him his favourite meal - a meat pudding! There is no end to the good a Christian with a skill can do. Just think of the lives saved by the Victorian engineer who masterminded the London network of sewers.

It was safe for God to do miracles through Paul. He never boasted about being able to perform miracles! He scarcely mentions miracles in his epistles. Paul's priority was to preach the gospel. Although I am less than the least of God's people, this grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the un searchable riches of Christ. Eph3v8. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians was not for bodily health or material well being. He wrote: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph3v17.

Miracles confirmed Paul's authority as a genuine servant of God. Paul was introducing a New Covenant to replace the Old Covenant established by God through Moses. Just as God showed the people of Israel that Moses was his instrument by the miracles that he did so he uses the same means to demonstrate that Paul, too, is his special messenger. The miracles were a sign of God's special favour.

It would be wrong to think that miracles no longer occur. Whenever a person becomes a Christian that is a miracle. It is a wonderful privilege and a mark of God's approval to bring a single soul into the Kingdom.