{"id":1648,"date":"2016-09-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2016-09-30T12:25:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T19:25:09","slug":"a-disturbing-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2016\/09\/25\/a-disturbing-history\/","title":{"rendered":"A Disturbing History"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1648-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/sermons\/sermon-20160925.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/sermons\/sermon-20160925.mp3\">http:\/\/mvcog.org\/sermons\/sermon-20160925.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Acts 19:23-41<\/strong> About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, &#8220;Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. \u00a0Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.&#8221; \u00a0When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, &#8220;Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!&#8221; The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul&#8217;s traveling companions from Macedonia. And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, &#8220;Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!&#8221; After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, &#8220;Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven? So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today&#8217;s events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.&#8221; After saying this he dismissed the assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Acts 19:23-41 About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-services"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4085,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2024\/01\/07\/ephesians-introduction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":0},"title":"Ephesians Introduction","author":"Robert","date":"January 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/YbBWPU96TL0?feature=share Ephesians-Introduction-Outline Bible Study As we start the book, we pray for discernment and wisdom.\u00a0 James 1:5 says If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.\u00a0 It\u2019s appropriate to ask for help in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Services&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Services","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/services\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured202401-7.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured202401-7.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured202401-7.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured202401-7.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured202401-7.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4493,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2025\/05\/18\/dont-walk-in-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":1},"title":"Don\u2019t walk in Darkness","author":"Robert","date":"May 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/W53lAf2hrms?feature=share Eph 5vs7-8a Don't Walk in DarknessDownload Therefore do not become fellow participants with them; Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor.\u00a0 Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman empire. The city was home to various artisans, who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Services&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Services","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/services\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Featured20250518.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Featured20250518.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Featured20250518.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Featured20250518.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Featured20250518.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2839,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2020\/10\/18\/comfort-for-gods-people-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":2},"title":"COMFORT FOR GOD&#8217;S PEOPLE","author":"Robert","date":"October 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ztT2GVVPvKw COMFORT-FOR-GODS-PEOPLEDownload Pastor John speaks on Isaiah 40:1-8 Download and print the sermon notes above to follow along.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Services&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Services","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/services\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ztT2GVVPvKw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1090,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2015\/01\/25\/speaking-gods-language-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":3},"title":"Speaking God\u2019s Language Part 1","author":"Robert","date":"January 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Speaking God's Language","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Services&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Services","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/services\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1254,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2015\/07\/31\/from-the-archives-gods-order-in-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":4},"title":"From The Archives, God&#8217;s Order in Design","author":"Robert","date":"July 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As I explore the sermon archives, I am finding a few notable sermons worth re-sharing. This is the third of four messages from a guest speaker Hank Giesecke who came to share about God's Order in Design. God's Order in Design The previous posts are available here (1. Origins of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1018,"url":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/2014\/10\/19\/gods-a-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":1648,"position":5},"title":"God&#8217;s &#8220;A&#8221; Team","author":"Robert","date":"October 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"God's \"A\" Team Colossians 3:12-14 Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Services&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Services","link":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/category\/services\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mvcog.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}