After returning from his second missionary journey, Paul did not wait very long before returning to Asia. He visited the church in Antioch and Jerusalem, just long enough to report his adventures and then he set out again on his third missionary journey. Luke does not detail the early part of this journey because Paul followed the same route of the second missionary journey: traveling north and then west to his home town of Tarsus, and then continuing west to the cities of Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch. As he visited these churches, Paul was "strengthening all the disciples."

Meanwhile there was a certain Jewish preacher named Apollos who traveled to Ephesus and began to teach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Messiah. Apollos had been born in Alexandria, the city in Egypt established by Alexander the Great, and had been educated by the finest of the Jewish teachers. He was an eloquent speaker and very "mighty" in the scriptures. Yet, Apollos was a disciple of John the Baptist. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah, and was able to mightily use scriptures to prove that fact, but knew nothing about the work of Calvary, the resurrection, baptism in Jesus' name, or the Holy Ghost! He was diligent and fervent in teaching what he knew and was zealous to win converts to the "baptism of John."

Aquila and Priscilla (the tentmakers whom Paul had won to God) had stayed in Ephesus to help establish the church there. When they heard Apollos preach in the temple, they took him "under their wing" and "expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly!" This mighty preacher was taught by Aquila and Priscilla about Calvary, and Jesus' resurrection, about Jesus' name baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost!

There are many people today in the world that are very sincere in their walk with God. There are even mighty preachers who long to do a work for God and are fervently preaching as much of the Word of God that has been revealed to them. These people need people who have the full truth of the Apostolic message to "expound" unto them the way of God more perfectly! They need to be taught Jesus' name baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost! God wanted to use Apollos even more than he realized was possible but it only came after he had come to the knowledge of the truth.

Aquila and Priscilla may have not had the education or oratorical ability of Apollos, but they knew more precisely who Jesus Christ was, and knew the importance of being baptized in His name and receiving His Spirit! Apollos willingly subjected himself to their teaching and, in doing so, learned more about Jesus. Even Priscilla, a woman, was used by God to teach the one who would become a mighty preacher in the Apostolic church.

After becoming better grounded in the Apostolic doctrine, Apollos decided to travel west toward Corinth. The church in Ephesus wrote a letter asking the churches there to receive him. When Apollos came, he "helped them much," and "mightily convinced the Jews . . . shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ." This powerful preacher had lit a flame of revival to the Jews in these areas!

While Apollos was fanning the flames of revival in Corinth, Paul reached the town of Ephesus on his missionary journey. As he came into the town, Paul found twelve disciples of John the Baptist who had probably come to evangelize the city with the message that Jesus was the Messiah. Realizing that they believed that Jesus was God and Saviour, Paul asked them "have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" They had never even heard of the Holy Ghost!

This is an important passage of scripture because many denominations teach that if a person just "believes on the Lord Jesus Christ" that they will be saved and automatically become "Spirit-filled." This story proves beyond a shadow of doubt that such teaching is false. These men had believed on Jesus Christ and even preached that He was the Messiah, but their verbal expression of belief did not cause them to be "Spirit filled." In fact, they had not even heard of the Holy Ghost! How many good people are there today, who believe that they have all of God's Spirit that they need when they really have not even received the Holy Ghost? The question of Paul is still an important one in our lives to answer: "have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" It takes more than just a verbal confession of your belief in Jesus Christ to be saved and Spirit filled. In his letter to the early church, Jesus' brother James wrote:

Even the devils believe in God, but they are not saved! It obviously takes more than mental or verbal belief to be saved! Realizing that if these men had never even heard of the Holy Ghost, they probably were not baptized in the name of Jesus either, so Paul asked them about their water baptism experience:

John had baptized people telling them to repent and get ready for the Messiah. At the time of his baptisms, he had not been sure who the Messiah was or what his name was. In other words, when John the Baptist baptized people, he simply said "I baptize you in repentance to prepare the way for the Messiah." Paul pointed out that John the Baptist had instructed his followers to "believe" on Christ Jesus. When these men heard this teaching they were "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." What is the proper response to "believing on Christ Jesus?" Water baptism in His name! Once again we see that the only way that the Apostolic church baptized was "in the name of Jesus!"

Today many people have been baptized in water but with the formula of "the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Like these disciples of John the Baptist, they have completed the act of water baptism but have not taking on the name of Jesus Christ! The name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is JESUS! (see Dispensation bible study #20 for a more detailed explanation) If you have never been baptized into the "name of Jesus," then you need to be rebaptized for there is a difference!

After they were baptized in Jesus name, Paul began to pray with the men, and all twelve were filled with the Holy Ghost! When they received the Spirit, they "spake with tongues, and prophesied." Again we see that EVERYTIME a person receives the Holy Ghost, they speak in another language as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. These men also prophesied. There are other workings of the Spirits that may accompany a person's receiving the Holy Ghost; they may shout or leap for joy, they may prophesy, they may weep, they may laugh and express joy, but they will ALWAYS speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God instantly teaches them. (For further discussion of receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, see Dispensation bible studies #21, #22, #23, # 26, and #28).

The story of the conversion of the disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19 is very important because it illustrates the following truths:

1. Simply "believing in Jesus" in your mind, or verbally expressing your belief does not in itself bring salvation.

2. We must receive the Holy Ghost after we believe and be baptized in Jesus' name.

3. A water baptism that is not "in the name of Jesus" although done sincerely is not enough to save us and we should be rebaptized "in the name of Jesus!"

4. When a person receives the Holy Ghost they will "speak in tongues."

5. Even good Christians who are actively trying to do a work for God need to receive the Holy Ghost and be baptized in Jesus' name.

6. Paul's teaching on salvation included being baptized in Jesus' name and receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues just as Peter and the other Apostles taught.

7. If people are sincere in their search for more of God, then God will place someone in their path to teach them about baptism in the name of Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

8. Again we can see from Acts chapter 19 along with chapters 2, 8, 10, and 22 that the ONLY way that the Apostles baptized was "in the name of Jesus" thus obeying the commandment of Matthew 28:19 and not just repeating it!

The conversion of the twelve disciples of John the Baptist seemed to give Paul new hope that the Jewish people could be reached, for upon entering the city of Ephesus, he began to again preach boldly in the Jewish synagogue. He continued preaching continually there for three months.

The old familiar pattern of the Jewish leaders rising up in opposition to Paul's teaching surfaced again! This time Paul did not fight them, but chose to take the Christian believers that had received his teaching and teach them in the school of a man named Tyrannus. The Jewish people had many teachers and schools of learning and obviously one of them, Tyrannus, was sympathetic to the Christian faith. This school became the meeting point of the church in Ephesus. This scripture is a turning point in the Early Church, because until this point, the believers had still attended the Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath and worshipped there with the multitudes. It was becoming increasingly clearer, though, that Judaism and Christianity would not be able to worship together!

Paul continued teaching whomever would come and listen in this school for two years! Believers came from all throughout Asia to hear him teach and then went back to their hometowns and preached the Word of God! This was like the first Apostolic "Bible College!" Once again we see the importance of teaching and of believers being well grounded in the Word of God.

At this time God began to do "special miracles" in Paul's ministry. One such miracle was that Paul and the ministers of the church would anoint and pray over a handkerchief or small piece of cloth. When the handkerchief was brought to those that were sick or possessed, the people would be healed and the evil spirits cast out. Even today, we still anoint handkerchiefs in this manner and send them to those who may live a great distance away or be inaccessible to someone coming and praying in person. And God still heals and performs miracles in this manner today!

In those days, there were Jewish men who derived their living from supposedly being able to cast out devils. These exorcists mentioned above were "vagabond" which simply means that they traveled from town to town in search of work. When it became common news that Paul was having great success by casting out demons "in the name of Jesus," many of these groups began to copy the method in their daily work saying to the demons "we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth." This method, however, "back fired":

One such group of exorcists were comprised of seven brothers working together. Their father was a priest and they had realized that they could make great amounts of money if they could really cast out devils "for a fee." One day, they decided to try out using Paul's method of casting out demons and were surprised when the evil spirit answered "and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" This is an interesting statement because it tells us that the demons throughout the world had now heard about Jesus and about the man who was willing to trust completely in Jesus, Paul!

The man who was possessed by the evil spirits leaped upon the seven brothers and overcame them! That one man could subdue seven grown men testifies that it was the strength of the evil spirit that gave the man his strength. The demon possessed man ripped off the sons of Sceva's clothing and the great exorcists went running down the street terrified, wounded, and stark naked!

Such a wild story naturally became well-known around town, and it caused a "fear" or respect of God to come upon the city. People who had before only scoffed at the teaching of Paul and this "Jesus" suddenly realized the power of the Spirit of God. They began to realize that the name of Jesus Christ was not a magical "Abracadabra" but was powerful only when used in faith in God's Word and by someone who was striving for a closer relationship with Jesus Christ! We must never forget the powerful lesson of this story: there is literal power in the name of Jesus Christ but only when combined with genuine faith and relationship in Jesus Christ!

A great revival was sparked in Ephesus and many people came and began to repent. The town of Ephesus was home of the temple to the goddess Diana and many other idol worship and occultist worship was prevalent. As many of these people were baptized in Jesus' name and received the Holy Ghost, they began to bring their books of incantations and rituals and burned them! When they began to count up the cost of the books that were burned, the total came to several million dollars worth! The Word of God was prevailing even in the pagan environment of Ephesus! Even today, we must be willing to "make a clean break" from our past when we come to Jesus and surrender everything to Him!

Here we gain a glimpse of Paul's plans and desires for his travels. His desired plan was to visit the areas of the second missionary journey, particularly the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth and Athens again, and then go back to Jersualem for the feast of Pentecost a year later. After this Paul desired to travel to Rome and preach the Gospel. Things did not quite turn out exactly as planned but we can see that Paul had an increasing desire to go to Rome and minister.

Paul decided to stay in Ephesus a little while longer and sent Timothy and a man named Erastus to travel into Macedonia and particularly Corinth whom had sent a letter to Ephesus asking him to visit and some theological questions (I Corinthians 7:1). Paul had heard from many other sources that there were some disagreements and issues in the Corinth church (I Corinthians 1:11) and Timothy could begin to work out some of the issues before Paul arrived.

After Timothy and Erastus had departed, Paul decided to write a letter to the church in Corinth addressing some of the questions and issues of the church. The letter would get to Corinth before Timothy arrived and thus help prepare the way for Timothy to help them. This letter that Paul wrote from Ephesus to the church in Corinth is the New Testament book of I Corinthians. It was written to answer some theological questions of the church and also to correct some divisions and sins that had not been properly handled. Here is a brief overview of the questions and problems addressed in the book of I Corinthians:

1. The church had began to quarrel and fuss over whose water baptism was greater: to be baptized by Paul, by Peter, by Apollos, or someone else. Paul corrected them by stating that the important aspect of water baptism was that they had been baptized in the name of Jesus! (I Corinthians chapters 1-4)

2. There was a minister in leadership in the church of Corinth that had been allowed to stay in leadership despite having an immoral relationship with his father's wife. Paul corrected the situation and gave the proper steps to clean up the mess (I Corinthians 5).

3. Many of the church members were suing each other in legal courts over trivial matters. Paul corrected the situation and taught that a true believer should not sue a brother or sister in the Lord (I Corinthians 6).

4. Paul answered questions and taught on marriage (I Corinthians 7), eating food offered unto idols and worshiping idols (I Corinthians 8-10), Submission to God and Communion (I Corinthians 11), the operation of the Gifts of the Spirit within a church service (I Corinthians 12-14), and the rapture of the church and the resurrection of the dead (I Corinthians 15).

5. Paul asked for the church to help with a special financial offering that was being taken up to help the Christians of Jerusalem who were in a time of financial depression (I Corinthians 16).

It was also around this time that three other important books of the Bible were beginning to be written by other writers. The Apostle Matthew had begun to write his memories of the life of Jesus Christ in an effort to convince the Jewish people in the Jerusalem area that Jesus was the Messiah. His book would become the Gospel of Matthew. The Book of Matthew presents the story of Jesus' ministry from a Jewish standpoint which is why it contains more sermons than the other Gospels and the genealogies trace the lineage of Christ back to Abraham (Matthew 1).

At the same time Luke (who would later write the book of Acts) was compiling the stories and events of Jesus' life from the Apostles and people who had witnessed His ministry and was beginning to write them down. His book would become the Gospel of Luke. The book of Luke was written to convince the Greeks that Jesus was the Messiah and so it focuses more on the teachings and philosophies of Jesus Christ. In fact the book of Luke has more parables of Jesus than the other Gospels! The genealogies of Luke trace the lineage of Christ back to the first man, Adam.

After leaving Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey, John Mark had become as a "son" to the Apostle Peter. Mark began to write down Peter's accounts of the life of Jesus Christ and put them together. These stories would become the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark was written primarily to reach the Romans and so there is no genealogical record of the lineage of Jesus Christ found in the book. The Romans were interested in what a person had "done" and so the Gospel of Mark reads like an action novel beginning with John the Baptist "crying in the wilderness" and moving from miracle to miracle at a fast pace.

The three books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke would become known as the "synoptic" gospels because they were written around the same time and included many of the same stories. The Gospel of John would not be written until much later.