It was basically an organized riot. They filled the theater in Ephesus and the crowd was shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

This mob is angry at Paul. Paul brought the gospel to Ephesus. He proclaimed it boldly. People received the gospel and they gave up their idol worship.

And that stirred up the people of the city against Paul. How dare he cause people to stop worshipping Artemis.

The crowd couldn’t find Paul so they grabbed some of his known companions and drug them into the theater. This could get out of hand quickly.

Where is Paul? Hiding out in someone’s attic? A good ways down the road towards the next town? On a boat headed to Tarshish?

That might be where you and I would be, but not Paul. Acts 19:30 tells us where he was. “But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.”

Paul isn’t hiding from the mob. He is trying to get in to the theater ! His friends won’t let him b/c the crowd would probably kill him.

But there he is. Outside the theater trying to get in. Knowing it might even cost him his life.

Why?

The Bottom Line. Paul is living to make Him famous. He is living for God’s glory among every nation, tribe, and tongue. This is Paul’s mission. This is Paul’s life.

In Acts 20:24, Paul says it this way – “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Paul’s life is a mission. Mission is Paul’s life. He lives according to the bottom line.

Now this is where I get all up in your business.

What if this school year wasn’t about you?

You don’t want to go back to school? Who does? You can’t tell me Paul actually wanted to go into that theater and be killed by the mob. But he is ready to go in there because he lives on mission.

So what if you asked God to give you this same attitude about going back to school? Ask Him to keep your school as a mission field in the front of your view this whole year.

Go into the school year – even on the first day – looking for others and looking for opportunities to make Him famous.

Do you look to see if your friends are in your classes, or do you look to see who might need a friend?

Do you run to the lunch table and thank God that you have someone to sit with, or do you look for someone who doesn’t?

Are you hoping to make the best memories possible and enjoy every moment this year, or are you looking for ways to make Him famous in ways you never noticed before?

That’s our prayer for you at iGo. That you would embrace the bottom line every day of school this year and beyond. We pray that God would bless you like crazy and that you would enjoy every bit of your experience. And we pray that through it all, God will use you to bring a blessing to others. Your friends, your teachers, your teammates, people you don’t know yet, people really different from you, and people that desperately need some good news. The good news.

Go….and make Him famous!