Grace Abounds

Grace Abounds
 
Acts 19:9-10 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 
 
GOD graciously gave Paul three months to teach the gospel in the Ephesus synagogue. This was much more time and opportunity than Paul had experienced in other synagogues.
   When the Lord allowed the opposition to resist Paul, he then granted the apostle two years to teach in the lecture hall of Tyrannus! The Spirit’s favor gave the Christians a wonderful, sustained opportunity to watch the church grow. The Spirit sent many to hear the truth. All the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.  
   Asia was a province in Rome on the west coast of modern day Turkey; it was not then the name of a continent as it is now. And “all” refers to a significant number of people from Ephesus and surrounding communities.
   We can assume Paul was not the only evangelist. Priscilla and Aquila would likely have been among his disciples. We learn also Timothy was there. The Spirit would have gifted other new Christians to eagerly expand the gospel in Asia in the same life-changing ways he had done in Jerusalem:
 
Acts 19:11-12 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
 
God rewarded Paul’s faithful service and favored Ephesus with a remarkable expression of his grace. Through extraordinary miracles people experienced God’s very personal, restoring touch. Perhaps this is one reason all in Asia came. Luke had reported God’s power demonstration eight other times: under the apostles’ (two times), Peter’s (three times), Paul and Barnabas’, Stephen’s and Philip’s ministries. Now Paul once again knew the joy of watching resurrect dead souls. Demonic possession is both spiritual and physical affliction. God’s grace saved his creation from Satan’s power.
   But there is one person here God did not heal. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take a (thorn in my flesh) away from me. Was God’s grace with Paul? The apostle said it was. He continued: 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  
   Paul could have been jealous of the healed and angry at God. But he knew Jesus had changed him from death to life. He loved his Savior. Thus, his weakness was a different form of God’s grace to help him trust God’s eternal love for him. God’s grace is, indeed, sufficient to take us into heaven forever.