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Acts | Chapter 18

18:1-18a

“Abiding at Animal house”

I.) Intro. 

II.) Vs. 1-5 The fellowship of friends

III.) Vs. 6-8 Serving sinners and saints

IV.) Vs. 9-11 Presence and promises

V.) Vs. 12-18a Victory, a great vaccination 


Intro.

Athens’ you will recall was a town of about 20,000 & home of the most prestigious of the three universities in the world at that time. Now one can only wonder what Paul thought as he entered Corinth, which was 10 times the size of Athens (200,000), and some 53 miles away. It’s been fun for me to read the corresponding letter or letters with each move of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey. Now when you read 1st & 2nd Corinthians you need to realize that Paul wrote these two letters only 4 years after he founded the Church. And in reading them you can get a real good picture of what He had to deal with in Corinth.

To sum it up, if Athens was a university town then Corinth was the frat house! In fact the name became synonymous with partying. In all of the Greek plays the Corinthian was always the drunken womanizer. It has been well said that the two letters of 1st & 2nd Corinthians are the closest to the conditions in which we all live in California. In other words we could change the name Corinthian to that of California & have 1st & 2nd Californian’s & be right on target. Paul tells the Corinthians that upon arriving in their city that the unbridled sin caused him to be in “weakness, fear and in much trembling.” He further wrote while in Corinth the letter to the Romans, where he describes the conditions of man kind apart from God, as “given over to vile passions” (Rom. 1:24-31) no doubt inspired by what he saw in Corinth.

Years ago there was a comedy made extolling this kind of life style called “Animal House”! The world may celebrate this kind of “party” life style but it caused Paul to be in a funk. How can we live in a world that celebrates its wickedness? The answer is a walk of faith. Faith sees opportunities in the middle of opposition. Where a pessimist sees the problems & an optimist sees the potential, the person of faith sees potential in the problems! There are four things mentioned in this sectioned that strengthened Paul while he lived in the “Animal House” called Corinth. 


Vs. 1-5 The fellowship of friends

Vs. 1 Now I’ve given you an overall description of Corinth as being a party town but I did not tell you why. If you were to look at a map of Greece you would see that Corinth lies right on an isthmus between two seas, the Aegean Sea & the Adriatic Sea. Simply put it was a two port town. So ships sailing with their cargo were faced with an option:

  1. Sail 200 miles around the very dangerous tip of Greece.
  2. Or unload the cargo & carry it across the 3½-mile isthmus. Sometimes, if it was a small ship, they would take it out of the water & roll it across the land bridge on huge logs.

Today there is a shipping canal there that Cesar Nero began in A.D. 67 but was not completed until 1893 by the same folks that built the Suez Canal. So all trade traffic passed through Corinth either on its way to Rome or away from Rome. The city had towering hill some 2,000 feet with a temple to Aphrodite on top. The Romans knew this goddess of love as Venus & they worshiped her as the goddess of sexual pleasure. Every day at sun down over 1,000 temple prostitutes would come down to apply their trade to the citizens of Corinth. So you put together:

  • Prosperity
  • Sailors
  • Prostitutes

And what do you come up with? Well a community that was world famous for it’s party life. And it is here that Paul finds himself ready to start a Church. Paul wrote briefly of his frame of mind while in Corinth when he wrote to the Thessalonians while in Corinth that, “in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith.” You see Paul was encouraged to hear that they were growing in the Lord while he was seeing all the practice of sin.

Now this brings me to the first of four things that will strengthen you while living in a world that celebrates its wickedness. Now what is interesting to me is how our enemy will try to get us away from three of these four things. I mean think about it, what is the first thing you think of when you are just really bummed out at life? “Oh, I just don’t want to see people!” “Man life has gotten me down & I think I’ll just skip hanging with my brother’s & sister’s in Christ!” So how was Paul able to keep going?

  1. FELLOWSHIP: Verses 2-5 tells us of two groups that encouraged him to keep going.
  2. Vs. 2-4 Aquila & Priscilla: Now Luke gives us a brief back ground on this couple. Aquila was born on the Black Sea & was Jewish. And Priscilla was most likely a Roman woman of a higher social rank. Luke goes on to tell us that the Emperor Claudius expelled them. What Luke does not say is that Claudius had done so because of riots that was caused by the preaching of Christians of Jesus as the Messiah. Now Paul hooks up with this couple because he needed a job. Every Rabbi had to have a trade besides serving in the temple. So Paul’s trade was that of a tent maker or leather worker. Now we are not told that Paul had anything to do with their conversion. It is my opinion that they were already saved by this time. The reason I say this is that Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 16:15 that household of Stephanas were his firstfruits in Achaia, which would be Corinth. Further more in 1 Cor. 1:14 he mentions only two that he personally baptized “Crispus & Gaius”. My point is that I believe that such an important couple as Aquila & Priscilla would have been mentioned as coming to Christ under Paul’s ministry. So how does this relate to being encouraged in our faith in a world that celebrates sin? Well, think about it you’re all alone on a job where all your fellow workers celebrate their sinful life styles. Day after day all you hear is who got with who & what they did. Man you are all alone. But one day in the lunchroom you notice a guy warring a Christian T-shirt. Man, all of the sudden you are talking with this guy as if he has been your best friend since you shared a crib next to his. It is interesting to me that the context of this passage speaks first of Paul’s meeting Aquila & Priscilla before it says, (verse 4) that he opened a dialogue with the Jews in the synagogue. In other words having fellow believers around Paul brought about boldness that he did not have at first. Paul found those who were like minded & he realized that he was not alone! And this in turn led him to share with others.
  3. Vs. 5 Silas & Timothy: Now I like this because Paul then hooks up with his buddies who meet him in Corinth. And then we are told that not only did Paul share the gospel on the Sabbath but according to this verse he went full time. Now if you look at 1 Thess. 3:6, 2 Cor. 11:9 & Phil. 4:15 you will see what changed his ministry upon the arrival of Silas & Timothy. They brought with them good news from the Church at Thessalonica & support funds from Philippi. That is what the body of Christ will do for you, encourage you & support you! And this will lead you to “testified that Jesus is the Christ.” So what does this have to say to us? Well it shows us the need for consistent Christian fellowship, to over come those that seek to celebrate their sin.  

Vs. 6-8 Serving sinners and saints

Now we come to the 2nd way to combat discouragement over living in a world that celebrates its sin. What’s the 2nd thing you often tell your self when you are bummed out? “Man I’m just tired, I need time to myself” “I think I’ll just pull out of all my Christian stuff & get back into ME!”   

  • SERVICE: Verse 6-8 Paul’s service was two fold:
  • Vs. 6 Sinners: Paul went into the synagogue sharing that Jesus is the Christ & the opposition organized themselves against what Paul was teaching. Now if you combine verse 5 with verse 6 you prove the deity of Christ. You see it says that Paul “testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ” & then Luke says that they got organized against Paul’s teaching about Jesus & “blasphemed”. Folks, you can only blaspheme against God! At any rate Paul directed his service towards sinners, that is evangelistically. He did so until they totally rejected Jesus. Then in a gesture that the Jews would fully comprehend he shook the dust of the Synagogue off his garments. You see the Jews would do this the moment they got back into Israel from traveling trough Gentile regions as a way of saying that they rejected the life style of the Gentiles. So Paul says by blaspheming Jesus he wants nothing more to do with their rejection. Then Paul shares that their blood was going to be on their own heads. Now the prophet Ezekiel is told by God that if he does not warn the nation then their blood would be on his hands. Blood in the Bible always symbolizes judgement. So Paul is saying that since he shared the truth concerning Jesus & they rejected it then they have brought judgement upon themselves. 
  • Vs. 7-8 Saints: Paul did not travel far after leaving the Synagogue as he goes next door to Titus Justus’ house which shared a common wall with the Synagogue. Paul started a Bible study in the Gentiles house next door. In other ancient writings we learn that Justus was from a very well known family of potters. There are those who link him with Gaius whom Paul baptized because Roman’s always had three names. It appears that putting a Bible study next door to the Synagogue worked as Crispus (Curly) who was the ruler of the Synagogue gets saved along with his house. I think it is always a good place to start a Church right next door to religion. Luke goes on to tell us that “many of the Corinthians after hearing the Word of God believed.” Just who were the many mentioned here? Well Paul gives you a little clue when he writes in 1 Cor. 1:26 “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” In other words they were the common folk. His message was simple as again Paul writes in 1 Cor 2:2 “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

So Paul served sinners & saints; it didn’t matter to him. He “preached Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Do you see that? That’s how you combat discouragement over living in a world that celebrates its sin, service! You see when you are busy about the things of God you won’t have time to get all down about the things of the world!         

    

Vs. 9-11 Presence and promises

So far we have seen that Paul combated his discouragement against a world that celebrated its sin by FELLOWSHIP & SERVICE. But in these next verses we will see that Paul also had some thing else that brought about encouragement. Again when you think about it & your bummed out what’s the last thing that you do? “Man, I’m just wiped out I think I’ll rent a movie about violence, sexual immorality” And just as you go to stick the movie in right next to the DVD or VCR is a dusty book that you haven’t picked up for a while. “Hum, what does it say? Holy Bible, maybe I should, nah it doesn’t have any answers!”

  • WORD OF GOD: In verses 9-11 we are told of three things that reading God’s Word will do for us when we are wiped out because we live in a world that celebrates its sin. Simply put being in the Bible daily will give you three reasons to keep going.
  • Vs. 9 Perspective: Look carefully at what the Lord says to Paul here. First the Lord says, “stop being afraid!” Is that not great? I mean God shows several things here. He knows Paul is afraid & then He says don’t stop talking about Me. You see where I’m going with this? We are prone to stop doing things when they are no longer pleasurable to us. You don’t agree? What are the most common items in the best condition at garage sales? Come on now you know this, exercise equipment! We pay all kinds of money for some thing that comes with a video, & after only a few times using it we put it out side in the garage next to the “Thigh Master”. Why? Because it is no longer any fun & the results we had hoped for did not happen in a day. Reading God’s Word gives us perspective. Here God tells Paul, “Hey, stop being afraid & start talking about me!” Why, because we are to share Jesus not because it’s fun but because He told us too!
  • Vs. 10a Presence: Here is the 2nd great thing that reading God’s Word will bring to you, the truth that He is with you no matter where you are at. Paul was living in a city that celebrated its sin & no doubt he was thinking of Corinth as a “God forsaken” community! But God had not forsaken Corinth they had forsaken Him, but He wanted to change that by working through Paul. Man what an encouragement to hear from the Lord that He is with you! Is that not enough all on its own to keep going?
  • Vs. 10b Promises: Here then is the last thing the Word of God will give you to keep you going. Herbert Lockyer in his book published in 1962 called “All the promises of the Bible” gives several numbers as to how many promises there are in the Bible. There are 31,173 verses so some say that 30,000 of those are promises. He goes on to quote an article in a 1956 Time magazine that cited the work of schoolteacher Everet Storm, which he complied after his 27th reading of the Bible. It took him 1-½ years to complied the figures of 8,810 promises but that did not include the 3,376 promises that make up Psalm’s & Proverbs. So if you add it all together you come up with 12, 186 specific promises of which 7,487 of them are from God to us! Now notice that the Lord gave Paul two promises in this verse.
  • Protection: Now Paul was not free from difficulties or attack but God promises that those things won’t harm you. It’s that old saying that says; “If it doesn’t kill ya it’ll only make ya stronger!” So as we will see they will bring charges against them but they will amount to nothing. 
  • People: The second promise was that God promised to give him people that would respond to the message of Jesus. It’s kind of like knowing your going to win as long as you stay in the race.

Vs. 11 So what was the outcome of Paul being in the Word of God, well his perspective stayed right, the presence of the Lord was with him & he held onto the promises of God which produced consistency in the ministry in Corinth. Paul stayed in this city that celebrated its sin for over a year & a half, teaching the word of God. Do you see that? Paul needed, FELLOWSHIP, SERVICE & THE WORD OF GOD, & that is what he gives back to the Church. It is no mystery why then satan will do all he can to get us off of those three things. 

 

Vs. 12-18a Victory, a great vaccination

There is one last thing that will strengthen you while living in a world that celebrates its wickedness. But the truth is if you don’t stay the coarse through the first three you will never make it to the last one.

4. VICTORY: So here in verses 12-18a Luke records for us two ways in which victory was achieved:

  1. Vs. 12-16 Words: Luke records for us the charges brought against Paul for preaching the gospel. They bring the charges to Gallio (Gal-i-o) whose older brother Seneca was busy tutoring the young Nero whom Paul one day appears before. Now this guy was quite fair as he makes Christianity an offshoot of Judaism thus legal to be proclaimed. Victory was achieved in the courtroom of the world by words of a non-believer. Sometimes we see the Lord’s work moved forward by the stemming of the world. A lot of Churches proclaim a healthy Church on a full bulletin, but until there is a change in the world around us we ought not look to our bulletins. So the wicked went to the world & were defeated & Paul did not even get to open his mouth!  
  2. Vs. 17-18a Works: Lastley victory came in tangible ways as well. It seems that after Crispus got saved that the Jews instated Sosthenes (Sos-the-nees) as the ruler of the Synagogue. And when their court case did not go as planed they took him out & beat him. Now all of this would not mean much unless you read 1 Cor. 1:1 where Paul address the letter & says that,  “Sosthenes their brother” was with him as he wrote to them. Wow, we are not sure when it happened but Sosthenes becomes a brother in the Lord. Hey folks, sometimes it takes the world beating on us to turn us to Jesus doesn’t it? I wonder if after the world beat him up if old Paul & Crispus came over with some TLC? Finally we are told again that Paul remained a good while.

Victory is a great vaccination against the blues of living in a world that celebrates sin. But you will never get that far if you abandon fellowship, service & the Word. May the Lord speak to our hearts this morning giving us perspective, promises & most important His presence.    

Chp. 18:22-28 The royal route to Rome (3rd trip)

18:18b-28

“Getting in shape for the New Year”

I.) Intro. 

II.) Vs. 18b-23 Committed to exercise

III.) Vs. 24-28 Personal trainers


Intro.

Every year at this time, right after that second helping & another slice of Marie Calendars “French Apple” pie, I start thinking “Ok it’s time that I really get in shape this year!” Now if you are anything like me you say something like, “Right after New Year’s day”, or “Maybe better to wait until after Martin Luther King day”. Then, I just keep on going through the months. It seems to me that motivation is the problem, I’m just not motivated, as I should be. When I do go to the gym I notice that the younger the people are generally the more motivated to exercise they are. You see appearance is still very important to them. Webster defines appearance as “The act of coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.” You see my motivation ought to be, “I want to appear attractive to Donna!” Now I would have no problem appearing attractive if my wife was a killer whale & my name was Shamu but since it’s not I need the Lord to change my motivation, from Killer Whale to human husband. I need to get out of my complacency & still see my self as her groom. If that’s true on a physical level I think it is also true on a spiritual level as well.

On the spiritual front we need a right motivation from the Lord to get into great spiritual shape as well. Perhaps it can come from the perspective I found in the lyrics of Third Days song, “My Heart”. It goes like this, “My heart makes me wonder how much longer ‘Til, You’re coming back to take me away.” “I search the sky & then I try to imagine You there. Looking on anticipating You’re standing by & knowing I will join You in the air until then I’ll be waiting.” Perhaps this is the year He will be “coming into sight becoming visible to the eye”. Are you ready? Or like me do you need to get motivated & hit the spiritual gym? In the passage before us Luke is going to show us how Apollos & twelve guys & Ephesus got in spiritual shape.


Vs. 18b-23 Committed to exercise

Vs. 18b The ministry in Corinth continued after Gallio’s decision (Vs. 14-18a) but Luke tells us that Paul decided to leave them & head for Jerusalem because he had taken a vow.

What? Paul the man who had stood up in the council & defended grace above the law is now taking a vow? Now it’s important to understand that Paul’s vow here was not an attempt to be justified by the law but rather an outward sign of an inward commitment. Although Luke does not tell us what kind of vow this was, based upon the cutting of his hair & his need to go to Jerusalem this was, most likely a Nazirite vow. The word literally means a “separated one”. Num. 6:2-5 is where we first hear it mentioned, there we are told that a person who makes a special vow of being separate to the Lord was not to eat or drink from anything of the grape vine. And during the days of their vow they were not to cut their hair. At the end of the vow the hair would be cut & burned as a sacrifice a symbol of offering one’s self to the Lord. In Judges 16:17 we are told that Samson was a Nazirite for life as was John the Baptist (Luke 1:15). Now when you understand this vow you will understand the story of Samson much better. You see the secret of Samson’s strength was not his hair but rather what the uncut hair symbolized his commitment to the Lord! And of coarse those that are committed to God are always people of great strength. So when Samson broke his commitment to the Lord he became weak as other men.

Vs. 19-22 Ok now look at this passage again & you will see something that will cause you to be committed to spiritual growth.

Proper motivation:

  • Vs. 18 Paul had a great Pastoral ministry going in Corinth but he is going to leave it behind.
  • Vs. 19-21 He goes to Ephesus, where he wanted to go at the start of his 2nd missionary journey three years earlier & the Holy Spirit would not let him. And he goes into the synagogue opens up a discussion with them & instead of getting mad at him they ask him stay longer with them. But no, he has got to fulfill the vow in Jerusalem.
  • Vs. 22 He lands at Caesarea by the Sea instead of Antioch & goes up right away to Jerusalem to complete that vow before he greets the brothers there & only then does he leave to Antioch. All of this because of this vow!

Still don’t see it? I read it over several times before it dawned on me too. Paul’s source of commitment was not to ministry but to the Lord! You see the Nazirite vow was a pledge of commitment & devotion to the Lord. It was away of saying thank you to the One who alone deserves the praise. You see Paul’s commitment to spiritual health was not:

  • So he would be a complete pastor in Corinth,
  • An effective evangelist in Ephesus,
  • Or a marvelous missionary in Antioch.

No! Even though Paul was those things, he understood that more important then anything was his own commitment to Jesus. His relationship to the Lord came before his service before the Lord!

You see this answers the question of motivation. Commitment must to be the One who alone is your strength & not to get something in order to be strong. Most of us fail in our plans to get in shape because we make a vow in order to make us something that we aren’t. And as soon as we don’t get the results we wished for or the commitment infringes upon our “In & Out urge for a Double Double animal style” then we quit. Our commitment is not to a program but to a Person.

  • As much as Paul loved the sheep in Corinth, he loved the Lord more.
  • As much as he enjoyed seeing his countrymen come to Jesus in Ephesus, he loved the Lord more.
  • As much as he wanted to share of the Lord’s work with those who had sent him out in Antioch, he loved the Lord more.

The bottom line is Paul was committed to Jesus more then ministry! Paul told the folks at Ephesus that if it was “God’s will” he would come back to them. So the key to getting in great spiritual shape is to make your commitment to Him. A lot of folk’s try to jump-start their marriage or carriers around going to Church but that’s never going to keep you committed.

Vs. 23 Here Luke tells us that Paul starts out on his 3rd missionary journey. He most likely stayed in Antioch for the better part of a year. Then he heads out & we will pick up his journey more in chapter 19 in a moment. There are two points in this verse:

  1. Paul starts this journey out by him self. Barnabas, who went with him the first time & Silas, who went with him the second time are went with him. So? Well again it speaks to Paul’s commitment to the Lord & not ministry.
  2. Paul’s purpose was to “strengthen all the disciples”. As much as Paul loved to see folk’s won to Christ he never forgot those who were already won. So he devoted this third missionary journey to training & equipping those who had been won to Christ during the three years of the second trip.

Now I like this, Paul made a commitment to the Lord & now a year or so later he goes back through the areas where believers were to cause them to make stronger commitments. I personally don’t think enough of this is being done in Christ’s Church today. If Paul were sitting next to you he would want you to show your spiritual muscles to him. What part of your spiritual life could use some exercise? Paul went out into the churches he had planted to see what kind of shape they were in. No doubt the Word of God were the weights that he put them on to get in better shape. The knowledge & obedience to the Word of God is what makes us get in better shape. A person can not grow in their relationship to Jesus with out growth in His Word. Further more there will be no long lasting evangelism apart from growth in the grace & knowledge of Jesus. That is why we here at Calvary Chapel place such importance upon verse by verse teaching.  


Vs. 24-28 Personal trainers

Now you all know that the chapter divisions were not part of the original Bible & were added in 1205 by Stephen Langton who was a professor in Paris. Then in the 1400’s a guy by the name of Robert Stephanus while traveling from Paris to Lyons took those chapter divisions & assigned verse divisions. Neither of these guys took time to consider the Bible as literature or the grammar of the text. So the divisions we all have in our Bible’s are only to be considered for help in referencing a passage & off times leave a lot to be desired as far as continuity of the passage is concerned. So my point is? Well really chapter 19 should start right here in verse 24 as Luke is going to tell us about Apollos in Ephesus so that we will understand Paul’s ministry when he arrived there himself a year later.

Vs. 24 In verse 19 we were told that Priscilla & Aquila accompanied Paul from Cenchrea, (seaport of Corinth), to Ephesus where they remained as he went on to fulfill his vow. Here for the first time we are introduced to Apollos & Luke is going to reveal four things about him.

  1. He was a Jew born at Alexandria: Alexandria was located right at the mouth of the Nile river & the Mediterranean Sea, founded by it’s name sake Alexander The Great. It had a population of around 600,000 with 1/3 of them being Jewish. The library there had 700,000 books & it was here 200 years earlier that the Hebrew O.T. was transcribed into Greek. Apollos was from a cosmopolitan community known for its education & culture.
  2. An eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures: The word “eloquent” only appears here in the N.T. & can mean either “man of words or man of ideas”. And the word “mighty” is where we get our word dynamite. Apollos was a gifted speaker & dynamite in the scriptures.
  3. He was instructed in the way of the Lord, fervent in spirit & he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord: Now there is some question as to this phrase “instructed in the way of the Lord”. It can either mean that he was instructed in the things of God or that he was familiar with the truth concerning Jesus. It is my opinion that based upon the context of the passage that Apollos had been instructed on the truths concerning Jesus. “Fervent in spirit” means to “bubble over” in other words his enthusiasm matched his education. Luke is painting a picture of Apollos as one who had more then head knowledge. Luke wants us to know that as far as what Apollos was teaching it was right on the mark, (accurately literally means perfectly). Apollos had the right education, enthusiasm, and ethics as he spoke concerning the Lord.    
  4. He knew only the baptism of John: Now here we are told the only down fall to Apollos’ teaching, it was limited. How could a guy well educated, a gifted speaker, well versed in the scriptures, teaching the things about Jesus accurately & enthusiastically be still lacking something? Well it all centers around the words “knew only the baptism of John.” 

Apollos knew the message which John the Baptist preached, but what was that message? Well if you go back & look at John’s message you will find that he proclaimed three great truths:

  1. CHANGED HEART: Matt. 3:1-2, 6 Gives us a clue. Matthew says that John came preaching, “repent” & that folks came from all over “confessing their sins”. Simply put John proclaimed that forgiveness of sins was only possible on the basis of personal repentance or agreeing with God about their sins. This was a radical message to those who had understood that it forgiveness was made possible through the shed blood of a animal sacrifice. Although that is true the people were not personally repenting for their sins. This is what was taking place even during the time of Isaiah as we read God’s Word to the nation, “I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies; I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.” God spoke through John the Baptist as He had through Isaiah saying, “That the sacrifice of an innocent animal on their behalf did no good if there was no repentance in the heart!” That is why the author of Hebrews says that, “it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” And of coarse repentance doesn’t just mean saying your sorry but means to change directions thus a changed heart.  So Apollos taught what he understood through John’s message, that a person needs a changed heart for forgiveness to take place.
  2. CHANGED LIFE: Mark 1:2-6 We are told that John came baptizing in the wilderness & that as people went out to him in the Jordan river they went out agreeing with God about their sins & then they were placed under the water. In other words the people expressed this changed heart through baptism. They were symbolizing a clean heart by being placed under the water. John came announcing that as people came with a changed heart agreeing with God about their sins, that forgiveness took place. Further more that the forgiveness was seen in the cleansing symbol of baptism. In other words baptism shoed that a person wanted to make it a clean start, wanted to show all that they were now going to live a “changed life” because of the forgiveness they had received. So Apollos taught the truth about living a changed life if you had truly been forgiven.
  3. CHANGED POWER: Mark 1:7-8 We are further told that John proclaimed that there was One coming that would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. In other words John proclaimed that a changed heart & a changed life was just the beginning work. There was something more that John was not going to be able to do & it involved the Holy Spirit. Jesus was going to cleanse with the Holy Spirit; He was going to give all that turn to Him the “power” to live that changed life that they had symbolized by water baptism. So Apollos taught about the need for Jesus to live the new life. 

Vs. 26 So what could be wrong with could be wrong with what Apollos preached that Aquila and Priscilla had to “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately?”  Well what did John the Baptist not include in his message? Well he died before three great events:

  • The cross
  • The resurrection
  • The coming of the Holy Spirit

Simply put it was the Cross-of Jesus that makes forgiveness of sins possible.

It is the resurrection that makes a changed life possible.

It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to live daily this changed life. 

In other words Apollos had the right diagnoses with out ever giving the prescription. He was preaching a program but never put it all together with the right Person, Jesus! Apollo’s message was incomplete because it spoke correctly about man’s need but he never brought it around to the Person & work of Jesus.

            So here is where Priscilla & Aquila come in. Notice that they did not publicly come after him. No they most likely invited him over to the house after Church. And they expounded to him all that he did not yet know. They filled in the blanks of his message if you will. Simply put they acted like “personal trainers”, seeing Apollos work they liked his technique, saw his discipline all they needed to do was help him a little so that he could maximize his spiritual work out. Now I think it is impressive of Apollos to be teachable enough to allow Priscilla & Aquila to help him out. That tells us that Apollos was more into God then he was himself.

Vs. 27-28 Well what was the out come of the personal training secession? Well after a while on this new training program of Priscilla & Aquila he heads out to Corinth & “he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” He was so effective that Paul has to rebuke the Corinthians for claiming that they were of Apollos, something that I’m sure he rebuked them for as well. The wording of verse 28 means to fully stretch enabling to win the contest. So Apollos who had already the right program need to just preach a person & for that God provided two personal trainers. Folk’s that is what we all need from time to time someone to come along to help us in an area that we need further instruction on.