As Paul says goodbye to the Ephesian elders, he leaves them with much encouragement and even a few warnings about what they can expect once he has moved on.
A riot breaks out in Ephesus, because so many people are being converted to follow Jesus that it is affecting sales at the local shrine shop. Paul heads for Jerusalem and ends up in city called Troas, where a sleepy young man falls from a third story window and dies.
Everything from Genesis to Revelation is working toward the New Creation. God generates in Creation, Humans degenerate through sin, and God regenerates by his Son and the Spirit. The Story of God reaches it's "conclusion" when Christ returns, and the New Creation is launched!
Sin brings all kinds of death. Death physically, relationally, spiritually. Sickness, disease, war, affliction, and trouble are now part of human existence. Sin corrupts us all the way down – mind, will, emotions, desires, leaving us completely depraved and unable to please God. By the time you get to the end of Genesis 6, one of Adam and Eve’s sons has killed the other; people are bragging about sex and murder, until, “When the Lord saw that ... every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved.”
Paul now moves into Ephesus, a place of magic and cultish worship, and goes to work like he usually does, proclaiming to the Jews that the New Covenant is now in effect. Also as usual, when darkness is confronted with the Light, it causes a stir.
Priscilla and Aquila listen to a young man named Apollos speaking in the synagogue about Jesus, but the message was not quite complete. What he said was correct, but it wasn't complete – like stopping with Jesus' death and resurrection and leaving out the Holy Spirit. So they invited him over and explained "The Rest of the Story."
As Paul rolls into Corinth, we get a bit of a window into him being a little more human than we may have thought about him. He admits in 1 Corinthians that he came into town with weakness, fear, and much trembling. Yet, God meets him in that fear and offers him incredible comfort.
Paul and Silas visit two cities (Thessalonica and Berea) and receive two very different welcomes from the religious people in those areas. So the question remains – do we allow traditions and "that's the way we've always done it" to inform what's true? Or are we willing to question even our traditions, and search the scriptures for answers?
With the base of operations now at Lydia's house, Paul and Silas settle into a routine of prayer with the new believers. But this new church has stirred up some opposition – both spiritual and political. Paul and Silas end up beaten by rods and thrown in prison, where we find them worshiping in the middle of the night.
In one of the strange texts of the book of Acts, one of the great duos of the Bible breaks up, and Paul seems to completely contradict himself with he decides to take Timothy with him.