The 20th verse of Acts chapter 19 states- “In this way the Lord's message flourished and prevailed”. Well, I want the Lord's message to flourish and prevail, so I'd better find out how that happened. The first part of that verse says in this way... What way?

The answer is found in the verses just preceding it. Let's take a look. Starting with verse 11, we see that God was performing extraordinary miracles through Paul. Some religious leaders who traveled around tried to do great miracles, also (namely cast out a demon). Notice in verse 11, that it is accurately described as GOD was performing the miracles through Paul. Notice also, in verse 13, that the traveling Jewish exorcists attempted (themselves) to ride on the coattails of Paul, and tried to proclaim the name of Jesus over the demons. They even said, “We command you by the Jesus that Paul teaches”. They could not say that it was the Jesus that they taught or believed in. We can not live off the faith of others. There is no second hand spirituality.

You probably have heard of the mess that the seven sons of Sceva ran into when they tried to do the same thing. (See verses 14-16) We are also told that fear fell on the Greeks and the Jews who lived in Ephesus because they realized that people could not just throw the name and power of Jesus around.

I wonder if we as Christians ever do that. We try to throw the name and power of Jesus around because we are, after all, Christians, and does it really matter if our heart is continuously right before the Lord? We did accept Him and have a change once, and that is good forever, right? The only thing that is good once and for all is Jesus' propitiatory death for our sins. Paul points out that the believer's duty in keeping his heart right in our relationship with the Lord is to die to self and selfishness daily. It is a continuous and ongoing deal. If we believe that we can accept Jesus' gift of salvation and then continue in any old way we want to, we are in error.

Continue to read in verse 18-19. Many in Ephesus who had become believers came to confess and disclose their practices. This is one of the “in this ways” that the Lord's message flourishes and prevails. When Christians get serious about their sin and impediments in their relationship to God (and others) and confess and disclose them, things change. You know that man looks on the outward appearance and the Lord looks on the heart. First comes the change and conviction of the heart, but it is always followed by an observable change in behavior and actions. The Lord's message does not flourish and prevail because of secret Christians or Christians believing and practicing in private. There was nothing private about Jesus' death on the cross on our behalf, and there is nothing private about our commitment to and love for Him. We will not win anyone to Christ by being private about our relationship with Him. If you know the answer to a question that will save a person's life, you will not save the life by keeping the answer private.

These believers in Ephesus had a public display for all to see as those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in the public square. Then they counted the cost (the economic value) of being public in their commitment and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. And the Bible says IN THIS WAY the Lord's message flourished and prevailed.

Believers got serious about their relationship with God Almighty (Actually they first realized that they were dealing with God Almighty). They were convicted that any relationship with God had to be theirs personally. They could not ride on someone else's coat tails. Then they got serious about their sin and hypocrisy. They let go of it all-- total abandonment to their Creator, even at the expense of public exposure and economic hardship. (What would people today do or think?)

But it was IN THIS WAY, people getting down and dirty, face to face and totally HONEST with the cost and reality of discipleship and following Jesus, that caused the message of the Lord not only to flourish, but to prevail. Are we ready for or desirous for the Lord's message to flourish and prevail? Get your “books” ready...I feel a bonfire coming on!