Understanding the Difference Between Secular and Kingdom Churches (Part 2) by Joseph Mattera
Click here to read Part 1 of “Understanding the Difference Between Secular and Kingdom Churches”.
Contrasting the Two Churches (Ekklesia’s) in Acts 19
The governmental church of God that transforms society (according to the Genesis 1:28 cultural mandate) is illustrated succinctly in Acts chapter 19, where, in a three year period, Paul and his disciples engaged the powers of darkness that were behind the goddess Artemis, filled all of Asia Minor with the gospel, and transformed the economics and culture of that region. (Their influence was not limited to the lecture halls of Tyrannus.)
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Acts 19;9,10 says, Paul “took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” Verse 19:17 says, “And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.” We see in 19:20, 23-27, “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
(In all these instances we see the Gospel permeate every aspect of the city — not just the lecture hall of Tyrannus; hence, the true Ekklesia is an equipping center that sends disciples out to permeate every aspect of culture with the gospel of Jesus.)
In my opinion, God doesn’t really care how many people you squeeze into a building on Sunday morning — He cares about how many you send out to serve the community on Monday so that the church GATHERED ON SUNDAY BECOMES THE CHURCH SCATTERED ON MONDAY!
A Riot at Ephesus (Acts 19:23…..)
“About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, ‘Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing…’”
