Paul in Ephesus

Paul wrote an epistle to the Ephesians. His theology was more mature by that time. Some scholars hypothesize that this epistle was a homily and can be applied to any church, not necessarily the Ephesian one. Therefore, it would be difficult to draw any inference about the Ephesian church from this epistle. The Acts becomes our only source of information about her.
Paul, Aquila and Priscilla came to Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19). After preaching in the synagogues for some time, he left and went through Caesaria, Antioch, the region of Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:21-23). Then Apollo, a native of Alexandria, arrived at Ephesus. His knowledge of Jesus was incomplete and knew only the baptism of John. Aquila and Priscilla came to him and explained to him more accurately the Way of God (Acts 18:24-26). Apollo left for Corinth and Paul returned (Acts 19:1).
In Ephesus, Paul met some disciples who had probably been baptized by Apollo. Paul completed his work by re-baptizing them in the name of Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
There were about twelve of them in all (Acts 19:6-7).
Once more, Luke showed that the Christian movement was stronger and more effective than the Baptist movement. The Holy Spirit is the distinctive mark. God gives us the Holy Spirit as a down payment, a guarantee for our salvation. Paul wrote about this in the second epistle to the Corinthians.
he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22).
It is the responsibility of Christians to make good use of this gift from God in our daily deeds. For example, together with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are able to pray to God, crying out "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are able to heal and breathe new life into the people we meet.
Paul stayed in Ephesus for two years. God worked many miracles through Paul. Even his handkerchiefs and aprons were taken away to heal the sick (Acts 19:12). Two more marvelous events were recorded by Luke.
Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were itinerary exorcists. They tried to drive out evil spirits with the following incantation.
I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches (Acts 19:13b).
It did not work. The evil spirit retorted.
Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? (Acts 19:15b)
Then, the evil spirit drove these seven men out wounded and naked. Sometimes, Luke could be sarcastic!
The second events was no less miraculous. Magic books worth 50,000 pieces of silver were burnt in public as a testimony of the success of Paul's preaching (Acts 19:19).
Success drew jealousy. This time, opposition did not come from the Jews but from Gentiles. A silversmith, Demetrius, saw the success of Paul in converting the crowd a threat to the business of their guild. He stirred up a riot in Ephesus to protest against the missionary work of Paul. After a while, the riot died down to little avail (Acts 19:24-41). People easily indulge in their successes and do not pay enough attention to the side-effects of success. We have to pay a price for such inattention. Of course, we cannot please all men all the time. We can only wish to do the right thing and hand the rest over to God.
Mr. John Wong is always my guardian angel in Shung Tak. He is eager to act as my referee in my application to be a perpetual deacon. John has his personal view on religious matters. He prefers going to God directly without the intervention from the Church. When he sees us going out to receive the Holy Communion, he always challenges quite rightly our sincerity. Many, he believes, go out in order to tell the whole world that they are not sinful. John always sees himself a sinner, a big one. He never joins us in receiving the Holy Communion in school. I respect him and his views. He is wiser than we can imagine.

Father in heaven, I thank You for putting Your Spirit in our hearts to guarantee our salvation. I pray that in sharing this wonderful gift of Yours, we may be healed. Amen.