October 4, 2026

Acts 19:1-20

Stranger Things

Sunday Sermons

What do speaking in tongues, healing handkerchiefs, botched exorcisms, and a bonfire of magic books have to do with each other? They’re all just a little bit strange, and they’re all in Acts 19:1–20, as the Apostle Paul arrives in Ephesus, a city steeped in magic and superstition.

Stranger still is how he got there. Behind the scenes, God was moving his people around the map: Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos, and Paul himself, each in the right place at the right time. And the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

And the strangest thing of all? The risen Jesus is still at work through ordinary people like you and me. Join us as we ask: are we ready, willing, and available to serve in God’s supernatural kingdom?

Speaker

Jim Thomas

Series

Acts of the Apostles

Go to Series

Scripture

Acts 19:1-20

Topics
Growth & Discipleship Worldview & Culture

Sermon Notes

Acts 19:1-20

Stranger Things

Pastor Jim Thomas

“It doesn’t matter how much reformed theology you’ve read or even if you personally know R. C. Sproul, there will be times when you cannot make head nor tail of what God is doing. There may be times when everything you thought you knew about God is up for grabs, when God seems to be so strange that he doesn’t seem to be himself.”
Dale Ralph Davis

Life within the Kingdom of God includes:

  1. Strange things: We should expect strange things from a supernatural religion.

The miracles in the New Testament:

  1. Arouse curiosity about Jesus
  2. Display the power of Jesus
  3. Reveal the compassion of Jesus
  4. Affirm the identity of Jesus
  5. Inspire the worship of Jesus

“Authentic Christianity — the Christianity of Christ and his apostles — is supernatural Christianity. It is not a tame and harmless ethic, consisting of a few moral platitudes, spiced with a dash of religion. It is rather a resurrection religion, a life lived by the power of God.”
John R. W. Stott, Christ the Controversialist

Life within the Kingdom of God includes:

  1. Strange things: We should expect strange things from a supernatural religion.
  2. Stranger things

The Providential Chain (18:1 – 19:1)

  • Emperor Claudius (reigned AD 41-54) expelled the Jews from Rome beginning in AD 49.
  • Priscilla and Aquila leave Rome and end up in Corinth where they met Paul.
  • Paul took A & P with him to Ephesus and left them there.
  • Apollos arrived in Ephesus.
  • Apollos traveled to Corinth.
  • Paul returned to Ephesus with a ministry of proclamation, demonstration, multiplication, and transformation.
  • Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus.

“God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”
Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor

Life within the Kingdom of God includes:

  1. Strange things: We should expect strange things from a supernatural religion.
  2. Stranger things
  3. The strangest thing of all

“The secret of the success of the Apostles lay not so much in what they did and said as in the presence of Christ in them and with them. They saw with the eyes of Christ, felt with His heart, and worked with His energies. They were nothing; Christ was everything. Christ was living, breathing, and triumphing in their personal lives. Their entire nature being replete with His life, their spirits bathed in His light, and their souls kindled with the fires of His love, they moved in the midst of men as embodiments of supernatural power.”
Griffith John

“Is our life and work marked by that supernatural quality for which there is no name except holiness, and no explanation except the presence of the Holy Spirit himself? Are we pressing forward with that goal before us-to be holy as he is holy?”
Lesslie Newbigin

Are we ready, willing and available to serve in God’s supernatural kingdom, whenever and wherever He may lead us?
How can we reshape the rhythms and disciplines of our daily lives to more fully embrace God’s amazing grace and serve in His supernatural kingdom?

Discussion Questions

  • Have you seen God work in a way that led to an outcome you never could have imagined based on the trial or experience you were going through? How did God surprise you with the results?
  • In our willingness and availability to serve in God’s supernatural kingdom, how can we reshape our actions and thinking with family, friends, work/school, or others in our lives?
  • What is our self-image in God, and how can we become transformed to be more Christ-like?
  • What props, places, or things in your life are unhealthy for you and draw you away from Jesus? What can you do to address the results of these things?

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Christ Our Hope In Life and Death“ by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker and Matt Papa
“Come People Of The Risen King“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
“Mighty To Save“ by Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan
“Jesus Paid It All“ by Elvina Mabel Hall
“Amazing Grace“ by John Newton
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used with permission. CCLI License no. 2003690

Looking for our Hymns of the Week or resources to worship anytime? We’ve curated a playlist of hymns TVC Worship has led on our YouTube Channel!

Call To Worship

To God Be the Glory

Leader: To our God and Father be glory forever and ever!
People: My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Leader: To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, The only God, Be honor and glory forever and ever.
People: I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
All: To our God and Father be glory forever and ever! Amen!

Confession of Sin

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You this day, in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole hearts; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Grant to Your people pardon and peace, that in Your great mercy, we may be forgiven all our sins, and serve You with a quiet and contrite heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Classic Prayer

Воnaventure

Let us bow the knees of our heart in devotion before the throne of the eternal majesty. With tears and groans before the royal throne of the Trinity, let us pray without ceasing that God the Father, by His blessed Son, would grant us the grace of mental acuity in the Holy Spirit, that we may know what is the breadth and length and depth and height of His love.

TVC Prayer Ministry

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Praying for the Persecuted Church: Western Sahara

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