Time for a Bonfire

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Time for a Bonfire
Keywords: “confession”
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Passage: Acts 19:17-20*

The immediate context for the verses that follow detail the apostle Paul performing a miracle of exorcism, while false prophets attempt the same and are unable to do so.

17. And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

18. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

19. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

20. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

Questions

1. Verse 17 shows activity in which believers are engaged. Question: Which came first, becoming believers, or "confessing and disclosing their practices"?

 

2. Why does Luke (the author of the book of Acts) place verse 20 at the end of this story?

 

Practical help

Faith alone in Christ alone saves. We are saved by a Lord — Jesus. Only a Lord is powerful enough to save, after all. And when we come to Him for salvation, we bring nothing but our need for the free gift of eternal life. We don’t bring our best intentions, our commitment to try harder, or our promises. In desperation for forgiveness, we bring our selves and our sin to a Savior. And He forgives!

He makes us brand new. He makes us into "new creatures" (2 Corinthians 5:17). New creatures that we are, though, there is still residue from the old creatures that we were prior to meeting Jesus. For the first century Christians in Ephesus, some of that residue consisted of magical artifacts, books, and other paraphernalia.

They had been into the occult as unbelieving people. Witchcraft, shamanism, and astrology were a part of the past of these now born again people. After some time of being true Christians (perhaps as long as two years), they came under conviction by the Holy Spirit and brought the items related to magic to a big bonfire and got rid of the wicked stuff.

And, AFTER that burning Luke tells us, "So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing."

Have you been a Christian for a while? Months? Years? Still struggling with the problem of porn — and thinking it is time to be done with it? Well, that thought likely comes straight from the Spirit of God. He wants you to be free from the lustful practice of viewing porn. A mid-course correction — even after you have been a believer for a while — is par for the course for the Christian. From time to time, we all need to confess and disclose practices that are no longer appropriate, given who we now are — LIGHT in the Lord!

Perhaps now is the time for you to do a bit of pro-active "burning" of a porn habit that no longer fits who you are?

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."