This month's memory verse

Matthew 28:19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

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What didn’t the believers in Ephesus know?

Key Verse | Acts 19:6

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Acts 19:1-7

Acts of the Apostles 19

Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.* 2“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.

“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3“Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.

And they replied, “The baptism of John.”

4Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”

5As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues* and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

Footnotes

19:1 Greek disciples; also in 19:9, 30.
19:6 Or in other languages.

Paul in Ephesus

Paul traveled to a city called Ephesus. There he found a group of believers — but something was missing. When Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” they said, “We haven’t even heard there is a Holy Spirit!” They knew about Jesus. They had even been baptized. But they didn’t yet have the Holy Spirit living in them.

So, Paul explained more fully who Jesus is and baptized them in Jesus’s name. Then Paul placed his hands on them and prayed—and the Holy Spirit came on them. Something changed. They weren’t just people who knew facts about God anymore. God’s own Spirit was now living inside them.

K–2 Observation Questions

  1. What did the believers say when Paul asked if they’d received the Holy Spirit? (v. 2)
  2. What happened when Paul prayed for them? (v. 6)
  3. Did something change on the outside of them, or on the inside?

3–5 Observation Questions

  1. Read Acts 19:1–2. What question does Paul ask, and how do the believers answer?
  2. What were they missing before — and what changes for them once they trust fully in Jesus (v. 5–6)?
  3. The Holy Spirit “came on them” (v. 6). What do you think that tells us about the kind of power that was now living inside these believers?

These believers just received real power—God’s own Spirit. Hold onto that. This week we’re going to see what happens when God’s power runs into evil powers.