"The Path to Regional Transformation" with Ed Silvoso

The path to regional transformation is how the early church connected the pulpit to the Marketplace. It’s an apostolic commissioning. Acts 13:2 – 3 “……now separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them……” and Acts 19:10 “….and this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jews and Greeks”. Paul didn’t see transformation until Acts 19. This chapter is important as we see how God hit the marketplace – the heart of Ephesus, the capital of the province of Asia. The trigger is found in Acts 18:2 – 3. Paul partners with Aquila and Priscilla. When you fail, you ask questions. Paul embraced the marketplace and Aquila and Priscilla embraced the pulpit. “Church” in the marketplace V7 - 8. Acts 18:9 – 10. God says: Do not be afraid, go on speaking, I am with you, I have many people in the market place.

For Zimbabwe: Acts 18: 8 “Then Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” is important. God will bring one Crispus and his household, and a million people will be saved. We need to have a passion for the poor. Christ had compassion on both Zaccheus and blind Bartemeus. One Zaccheus can help many Bartemeus’s. There is an unprecedented move of God in an ungodly setting – the marketplace

Acts 18:11 Who is them? Who did Paul teach the word of God to in the marketplace? Romans 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God”, Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”

Paul goes to Ephesus. He took business partners and set up a business in the Marketplace and school. In 2 years all of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Acts 19:10. God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul…… Paul used handkerchiefs and aprons. When they touched people, they were healed. These were extraordinary miracles because they were marketplace miracles. NB: “Scatter the anointing on everything we do and send.” Release people into the marketplace to be the head and not the tail.

Read next on Paul’s transformation journey

Summarised by Molly Manhanga