Artemis Dethroned By the Gospel

The idolatry business was going so badly in Ephesus after 2 1/2 years of Paul's ministry that Demetrius gathered the trade unions together to protest the gospel. Spiritual transformation rather than civic uproar is the real story in Acts 19. Paul's preaching had been so effectual that it was causing economic, social, and religious change leading to the dethroning the worship of Artemis. The catalyst for this wholesale societal upheaval was a simple message: gods made without hands are no gods at all. This message explores the change in thought and life which occurs when the gospel takes up residence in a particular place.