Acts to Revelation | Episode 11
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Acts to Revelation | Episode 11
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- Dave Stotts: In our last few episodes we traveled with Paul
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- and his team through present-day Greece, visiting ancient sites
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- such as Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea,
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- Athens, and Corinth.
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- At the end of this second missionary journey,
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- Paul returned to the church at Syrian Antioch.
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- According to Acts chapter 17 he spent considerable time there,
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- waiting for his next mission.
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- What was next for this courageous leader
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- in the growing Christian church?
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- Dave: The year was about 52 AD when Paul left the church
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- here in Syrian Antioch for his third missionary journey.
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- He again traveled west through places we visited in prior
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- episodes, Tarsus, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch.
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- According to the 18th chapter of Acts, Paul visited churches
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- and friends throughout the regions of Galatia and Phrygia,
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- strengthening the disciples as he went.
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- Ultimately, he arrived at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
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- in the incredible city of Ephesus.
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- Ephesus was established as a Greek colony
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- in the 10th century BC.
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- The city came under control of the Romans in 133 BC
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- and was made the capital of Asia province
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- by Emperor Augustus in 27 BC.
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- By the time Paul arrived, Ephesus had a population
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- of about 200.000.
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- It was considered one of the greatest cities in the Roman
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- empire, eclipsed only by Rome and Alexandria.
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- Dave: Located at the mouth of the Cayster River and the
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- Mediterranean coast, Ephesus was a center of commerce and trade,
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- with roads radiating out to towns near and far.
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- Because of its strategic position as a premier port,
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- Ephesus would rise to become one of the most wealthy
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- and influential cities in the Roman empire.
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- But the city's harbor which used to be at the end of this road is
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- now completely filled with silt and the Mediterranean coast
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- is about 6 miles away.
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- Paul returned to Ephesus, walking up this very road,
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- probably in late 52 AD and made Ephesus his temporary home
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- under the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius.
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- Now, during this roughly 30-year traveling ministry,
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- Ephesus was one of the places Paul stayed the longest.
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- According to historian Josephus, a substantial community of Jews
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- resided in Ephesus and had probably been here since as
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- early as the 3rd century BC.
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- As was his typical practice, Paul went to the synagogue
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- to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ.
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- Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three
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- months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
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- But some of them became obstinate.
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- They refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.
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- So Paul left them.
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- He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily
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- in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
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- This went on for two years so that all the Jews and the Greeks
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- who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord,
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- Acts 19:8 through 10.
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- According to Luke, Paul taught at the school of Tyrannus here
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- in Ephesus for two years.
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- The New Testament doesn't elaborate on this Tyrannus
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- fellow but it was probably the name of the man
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- who owned the school.
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- As for the location of the school of Tyrannus,
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- the most likely candidate is this building,
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- right next to the famous Library of Celsus.
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- Now, this structure was designated as a lecture hall or
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- an auditorium by a 3rd century inscription that was discovered.
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- And although many scholars believe that this was used as a
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- court room during the time of Paul, many others believe that
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- this was where Paul spent two years of his life teaching.
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- Right next door, is the Library of Celsus.
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- Although this was built a few decades after the events in the
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- New Testament, it's still an incredible place to visit.
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- The Library of Celsus was built in the late 2nd century AD
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- by Julius Aquila in honor of his father, Celsus,
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- who was a Roman senator and governor of Asia province.
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- The library was built to house 12.000 scrolls and to serve
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- as a ceremonial tomb for Celsus who was buried in a crypt
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- below the library.
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- In its heyday, the Library of Celsus was considered the third
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- largest in the ancient world, behind Alexandria in Egypt and
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- Pergamon which is just up the road from me, about 80 miles.
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- Dave: Here's an artist's rendering of what the library
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- looked like back in the 2nd century.
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- As at Athens and Corinth, Paul continued to work
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- as a tentmaker in Ephesus,
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- earning money so that he could carry on his ministry.
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- Prior to teaching at the school of Tyrannus in the afternoon,
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- he would have worked at the commercial agora in the morning,
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- interacting with customers on their way to
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- and from other parts of the city.
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- In Ephesus there was both a state agora and this large
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- commercial agora, which measured 360 feet by 360 feet
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- and was located near the city's huge theater complex.
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- In this Hellenistic city of paganism and mysticism,
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- Paul encountered many who practiced magic and attempted
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- to control demons.
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- According to Acts chapter 19, one of them was a Jew named
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- Sceva who called himself a high priest.
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- He had seven sons, some sort of apprentices,
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- who also used magic and dabbled in the occult.
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- Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried
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- to evoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those
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- who were demon-possessed.
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- They would say, "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches,
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- I command you to come out."
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- Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
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- One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know
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- and Paul I know about but who are you?"
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- Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them
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- and overpowered them all.
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- He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked
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- and bleeding.
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- When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in
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- Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the
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- Lord Jesus was held in high honor, Acts 19:13 through 17.
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- After that event I'm guessing confrontations with
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- the demon-possessed may have become slightly less popular
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- but in 1st century Ephesus the practice of magic
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- and astrology was still considered
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- a normal part of life.
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- Magical scrolls, rings, amulets, bracelets, and necklaces thought
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- to have magical powers were all commonplace here
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- in ancient Ephesus.
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- Prices for these magic documents and trinkets varied
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- but history tells us there was a huge market for them here
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- in the commercial agora.
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- But as Christianity spread through ancient Ephesus,
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- new believers began to realize that marketing
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- the supernatural was wrong.
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- On one occasion, Acts tells us that owners of these magic
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- scrolls came together publicly, probably right here in the
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- middle of the commercial agora.
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- Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed
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- what they had done.
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- A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls
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- together and burned them publicly.
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- When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came
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- to 50.000 drachmas.
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- In this way, the Word of the Lord spread widely
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- and grew in power, Acts 19:18 through 20.
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- Now, 1 drachma was a day's wage for a normal worker
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- and this group of new Christians was watching 50.000 drachma
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- worth of merchandise go up in smoke.
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- They literally put their money where their mouth was
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- and counted everything that represented
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- their old life as worthless.
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- But as Christianity spread with amazing stories like this,
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- tensions also grew, especially with long-time worshipers
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- of a goddess named Artemis.
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- Dave: The cult of Artemis had a powerful following here.
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- During the Roman period, prominent generals and
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- politicians would come to Ephesus to offer sacrifices
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- to the statue of Artemis, also known as Diana.
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- While many other gods were worshiped here at Ephesus,
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- Artemis was by far the most prominent deity
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- in the 1st century.
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- Dave: The cult of Artemis in Ephesus goes back hundreds
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- of years prior to the Greeks.
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- Our first record of a temple to Artemis here is one
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- that was destroyed by flood in the 7th century BC.
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- Under orders from King Croesus of Lydia,
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- it was rebuilt out of marble around 550 BC
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- but that version was destroyed by fire in 356 BC.
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- Local myth says that Artemis was away helping Olympias give birth
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- to Alexander the Great when the fire broke out.
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- Allegedly, that's why Artemis was unable to protect her shrine
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- from destruction.
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- The temple to Artemis was rebuilt yet again, but this time
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- on an even grander scale, taking 120 years to finish.
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- Historians such as Pliny and Antipade even called it one of
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- the seven wonders of the ancient world.
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- During the time of Paul this temple to Artemis was one of the
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- largest and most impressive structures in the entire
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- Mediterranean region, about four times larger
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- than the Parthenon in Athens.
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- Here is an awesome recreation of the structure
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- at a park in Istanbul, Turkey.
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- According to Pliny, the temple of Artemis was situated
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- on a platform about 425 x 239 feet.
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- The temple itself was 352 x 163 feet with 127 columns
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- that were 60 feet tall and over 6 feet thick.
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- Thirty-six of these columns were sculptured
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- and overlaid with gold.
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- The temple was built northeast of the city on marshy soil
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- to protect the structure from earthquakes.
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- At one time, the waves of the Mediterranean had actually come
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- right up to one side of the temple.
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- The cult of Artemis dominated here in Ephesus until the
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- influence of Christianity eclipsed it over the next
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- 200 years after Paul; Paul who brought the message
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- of the gospel here so long ago that disrupted
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- the local trade in small Artemis statues.
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- The Goths, a tribe from present-day Germany,
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- destroyed this temple in 262 AD and the ruins of it
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- were re-used in other building projects.
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- And now, all that remains are these foundations and column
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- fragments of what was once considered a true wonder
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- of the ancient world.
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- Dave: The centerpiece for the temple that once stood here
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- at Ephesus was a 30-foot tall altar and a huge statue
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- to Artemis carved out of ebony.
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- Smaller statues have been discovered around the city
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- of Ephesus including this one: nearly intact, human-size
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- Artemis statue carved out of marble,
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- now housed here at the Ephesus Museum.
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- Now, similar to this one, all Artemis statutes that have been
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- discovered are decorated with a zodiac necklace,
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- animal figurines, and these strange objects
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- on its chest and stomach.
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- Scholars disagree as to what these objects really are
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- but nearly all agree that they symbolize fertility.
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- Now, during the time of Paul, Artemis and her magnificent
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- temple served as the focal point for the entire city of Ephesus.
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- And, according to Acts chapter 19, any threats against her
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- or it would be responded to with swift action.
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- One example of this fierce protection of the cult
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- of Artemis is found in Acts chapter 19:
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- "A silversmith named Demetrius,
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- who made silver shrines of Artemis,
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- brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.
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- He called them together, along with the workers
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- in related trades, and said: 'You know, my friends,
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- that we receive a good income from this business.
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- And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced
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- and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus
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- and in practically the whole province of Asia.
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- He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.
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- There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good
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- name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis
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- will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is
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- worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world,
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- will be robbed of her divine majesty.'
- 00:14:57.050 --> 00:15:00.210
- When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting:
- 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:04.120
- 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!'
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- Soon the whole city was in an uproar.
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- The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus,
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- Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia,
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- and all of them rushed into the theater together.
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- Paul wanted to appear before the crowd,
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- but the disciples would not let him.
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- Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul,
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- sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
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- The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing,
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- some another.
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- Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
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- The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: 'Fellow Ephesians,
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- doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the
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- guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image,
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- which fell from heaven?
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- Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm
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- down and not do anything rash,'" Acts 19:24 through 36.
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- This account in Acts, often called the Riot
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- of the Silversmiths, brings up all sorts of awesome
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- historical facts to check out.
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- The leader of the opposition was a silversmith named Demetrius
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- who Paul may have encountered regularly at the agora.
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- Archeologists here in Ephesus have discovered that the shops
- 00:16:24.280 --> 00:16:28.020
- belonging to the silversmiths were positioned alongside
- 00:16:28.030 --> 00:16:32.030
- this long pavement, stretching between
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- the theater down to the harbor.
- 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:37.060
- Roman period inscriptions also document silversmiths, even a
- 00:16:37.070 --> 00:16:41.150
- man who was the head of the silversmiths' guild and a man
- 00:16:41.160 --> 00:16:45.130
- who was the warden of the temple of Artemis.
- 00:16:45.140 --> 00:16:48.080
- These are all positions that might have been
- 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:50.010
- held by Demetrius.
- 00:16:50.020 --> 00:16:52.090
- We also know that there was a man named Demetrius,
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- son of Monophthalmus from inscriptions who was a warden
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- of the temple of Artemis in the mid or late 1st century AD.
- 00:16:57.110 --> 00:17:01.200
- Now, we don't know for sure
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- if this was the Demetrius from Acts.
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- His name, position, date, and prominence all match up.
- 00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:11.160
- Second, according to Acts, these silversmiths apparently made
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- silver shrines containing an image of Artemis,
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- not silver statues of Artemis herself.
- 00:17:18.270 --> 00:17:22.000
- Evidence of these types of cult trinkets has been discovered in
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- Ephesus, including a bronze mold of a miniature Artemis temple
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- with her statue inside.
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- This mold would have been filled with molten silver
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- to make the shrine.
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- Other gold, silver, and terracotta versions of little
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- Artemis statues have also been found.
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- 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:47.050
- Dave: What? What's this?
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- You've got to be kidding me,
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- I totally found one of the ancient statues.
- 00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:58.260
- No, seriously, it's got the things and the things.
- 00:17:58.270 --> 00:18:03.000
- Oh, man, and an ancient engraving.
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- I don't speak this language but "Mad-de in Chee-na."
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- Oh, unreal. This is awesome.
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- Dave: As followers of Artemis and as craftsmen,
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- the silversmiths saw a legitimate threat
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- to their cult and their business if people continued
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- to accept Christianity and reject the worship of Artemis.
- 00:18:25.040 --> 00:18:31.130
- Third, Paul declared that gods made by human hands were not
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- really gods at all, which was a direct attack on the beliefs
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- of these worshipers of Artemis.
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- These Ephesians believed in the legend that a sacred stone image
- 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:47.190
- of Artemis had been thrown down from heaven by Zeus.
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- And while the pagans of the Roman period did believe that
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- certain stone carved images were holy representations of Artemis
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- herself, Paul understood that these were merely objects,
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- made by human hands.
- 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:08.260
- Fourth, the city of Ephesus considered itself the guardian
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- of the temple of Artemis.
- 00:19:12.130 --> 00:19:14.020
- In Acts chapter 19, Luke used the Greek word
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- "neokoros" meaning temple guardian or caretaker.
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- The coin of Ephesus from the reign of Nero called Ephesus
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- the neokoros of Artemis, just as Acts records.
- 00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:30.090
- Built right into Mount Peon, this was the largest theater in
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- the Roman world, accommodating approximately 24.000 people.
- 00:19:34.030 --> 00:19:39.050
- So when Paul's companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, were dragged in
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- here, they may have faced thousands of angry Ephesians.
- 00:19:43.130 --> 00:19:48.040
- Now, the diameter of this theater is a whopping 495 feet
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- and, according to inscriptions found here at Ephesus, it not
- 00:19:53.180 --> 00:19:56.220
- only hosted performances but was also a special meeting place
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- for speeches and assemblies.
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- It was the logical place for these rioters to hold a public
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- hearing about their concerns about Paul and Christianity.
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- Here's an artist's depiction of what the great theater
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- of Ephesus looked like at the time of Paul.
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- Notice how the harbor came right up to the city on the one side.
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- 00:20:24.150 --> 00:20:32.260
- Dave: During his more than two years of ministry here
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- in Ephesus, which is only briefly covered in Acts,
- 00:20:35.060 --> 00:20:38.250
- Paul and his fellow Christian companions probably encountered
- 00:20:38.260 --> 00:20:42.120
- other attacks as well.
- 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:44.090
- As incredible as it sounds, Paul was likely condemned
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- to battle wild beasts here in the Ephesus arena.
- 00:20:47.010 --> 00:20:51.230
- In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul stated that he
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- fought wild beasts at Ephesus and that he and the apostles
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- had been exhibited as men condemned to death
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- as a spectacle to the world.
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- The Greek words Paul used specifically referred
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- to beast-fighting in the arena, not to any general fight
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- with animals.
- 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:13.210
- In the Roman empire, a bestiarius was a person who went
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- into arena combat against a powerful wild animal,
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- either as a form of execution or a combat competition,
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- similar to gladiators.
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- The animals were typically lions or bears which were hungry,
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- angry, and ready to kill any human near them.
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- During times of persecution, many Christians in the Roman
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- empire were sentenced to death by beast as a spectacle
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- in the arenas, probably beginning during the reign
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- of Emperor Claudius.
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- A 1st century oil lamp from this area of Asia province depicts
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- a man condemned ad bestias or "to beasts"
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- being attacked by two lions.
- 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:00.200
- When a person was condemned to the beasts as an enemy of the
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- state, they were forced into the arena unarmed and often chained
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- with virtually no hope of survival.
- 00:22:09.070 --> 00:22:12.200
- Based on New Testament accounts, it seems that Paul was forced
- 00:22:12.210 --> 00:22:16.160
- into the arena as a bestiarius but he survived
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- and he carried on his mission.
- 00:22:20.030 --> 00:22:22.080
- In his letter to the Corinthians which he wrote from here in
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- Ephesus, Paul was explaining the crucial importance of the
- 00:22:26.010 --> 00:22:30.070
- Resurrection of Jesus Christ when he wrote this:
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- "I face death every day--yes, just as surely
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- as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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- If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human
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- hopes, what have I gained?
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- If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink,
- 00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:51.220
- for tomorrow we die,'" 1 Corinthians 15:31-32.
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- Several years later, around 61 or 62 AD, while imprisoned
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- in Rome, Paul could not visit Ephesus.
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- Instead, he wrote a letter to the Ephesians which later
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- became a book of the New Testament.
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- A papyrus fragment from Ephesians from about 250 AD is
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- currently the earliest known surviving copy of this letter.
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- The purpose of Paul's letter to the Ephesians was to ground
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- the Christians here in solid doctrine,
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- encourage them to fulfill God's purpose for their lives,
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- and to build up the church in Ephesus.
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- The first half of Paul's letter is focusing
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- on who Christians are in Jesus Christ.
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- For example, Ephesians 2:8 through 10 says this: "For it is
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- by grace you have been saved, through faith--this not of
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- yourselves, it is a gift from God--not by works,
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- so that no one can boast.
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- For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
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- to do good works, which God has prepared in advance
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- for us to do."
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- Now, the second half of Paul's letter to the Ephesians focuses
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- on claiming that identity as a Christian so that we can stand
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- strong in the midst of life's struggles.
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- The final chapter encourages followers of Jesus to put on the
- 00:24:18.230 --> 00:24:22.190
- full armor of God each day: "Finally, be strong in the Lord
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- and in his mighty power.
- 00:24:27.190 --> 00:24:29.240
- Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand
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- against the devil's schemes," Ephesians 6:10-11.
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- I highly encourage you to read all
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- of Ephesians chapter 6 yourself.
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- It's powerful stuff.
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- Dave: After more than two years in Ephesus,
- 00:24:50.050 --> 00:24:52.090
- Paul finally left and he completed his missionary journey
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- through Macedonia and Greece.
- 00:24:56.070 --> 00:24:58.190
- According to the 20th chapter of Acts, Paul also reconnected
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- with a number of his companions, including Gaius from Derbe
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- and Timothy from Lystra.
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- Based on the first person narrative we see in Acts,
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- we also know that Luke was once again traveling with the team.
- 00:25:11.280 --> 00:25:17.150
- After more than three months, revisiting places
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- that we explored in previous episodes,
- 00:25:20.230 --> 00:25:23.030
- such as Philippi, Thessalonica,
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- Berea, and Corinth,
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- they worked their way back across the Mediterranean Sea.
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- Near the end of the journey, Paul sensed an urgent
- 00:25:31.270 --> 00:25:34.180
- calling from God to return to Jerusalem.
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- It wasn't a comfortable sense but he knew he needed to go.
- 00:25:38.130 --> 00:25:42.220
- "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem,
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- not knowing what will happen to me there.
- 00:25:46.290 --> 00:25:49.150
- I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me
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- that prison and hardships are facing me.
- 00:25:53.040 --> 00:25:56.110
- However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim
- 00:25:56.120 --> 00:26:01.200
- is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus
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- has given me--the task of testifying to the good news
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- of God's grace," Acts 20:22 through 24.
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