How long Does It Take?

Acts 19:8-12

Though Paul had been called especially to the Gentiles, he had a huge burden for his own people, even to point of almost being willing to go to hell himself if it would cause the Jews to be saved, as Romans 9:3. As a result of that concern for the Jew, as well as the recognition that simply being involved in a religious group might indicate an interest in the things of God, Paul spent time in the synagogue in nearly every city he visited. Though there was already a group of Christians in Ephesus, he still made a special effort to reach out to the Jews, just as Apollos had.

“And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 19:8)

Paul didn’t just make a single visit, but spent three months meeting in the synagogue in Ephesus, explaining the scripture and questioning the Jewish teachers in an attempt to get them to recognize Christ. Please remember this was in addition to the teaching Apollos and Aquila and Priscilla had done.

“But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:9)

After three months of the Holy Spirit’s working, the people had decided what they were willing to believe and those who chose to reject Christ began to resent the Christians presence and accuse them of evil. Rather than causing more problems, he then led the church to separate and start meeting in the school of Tyrannus, where they met for an additional two years. It took at least two and a half or three years to get the church in Ephesus established enough for Paul to feel confident about leaving, even with the help of Silas, Timothy, and various others.

The Holy Spirit has opened a window to allow us to understand the time involved in his working in peoples hearts with this example. While we’ve seen that the times in other cities were of significant duration, here we are given some actual figures. What a difference from the church planting ministries that go into a town, hold a two week “revival”, appoint a pastor, and announce they have planted a church. If it took spirit filled and experienced men like Paul and Silas more than two years to get a church to the point where an experienced man like Timothy could lead it, how can a missionary or evangelist of today do the same thing in a matter of a few weeks, and especially when God was working in a special miraculous way in Paul?

“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11-12)

Many today wonder why we do not see miracles in the church like they saw in the book of Acts. That Luke refers to some of these as special miracles implies that they were not common to others, even including Silas and Barnabas. In fact, in II Corinthians 12:12, Paul referred to them as signs that a man was an apostle. “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." Acts 5:12 stresses that these were done by the apostles. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.”

Because we are so focused on those special miracles we often overlook the more common ones God does every day, because they no longer seem special to us. We get like the lady who was messing around and stuck a gun to her chest with her finger on the trigger. The gun fired, missing every vital organ and she was only in the hospital for a couple of days, but was griping how unlucky she was that the gun went off instead of recognizing how miraculous it was the bullet passed through her chest without damaging either her heart or her lungs, or hitting a bone.