SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/5/2018
10:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Apollos in Transition
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
18:24-28
Message of the
verses: “24 Now a Jew named Apollos,
an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in
the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and
being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things
concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he
began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard
him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27
And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and
wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly
helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the
Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”
We see in verse 25 that Apollos was “fervent in spirit.” He combined this with having deep knowledge
and eloquence, and we can also see that because he was fervent in spirit that he
was filled with great enthusiasm for the things of God. We could say that he was on fire with for the
Lord. I remember listening to some tapes
many years ago by a man who would go into churches to try and bring about
revival. He stated on one of those tapes
that he liked to warm his hands around the fire of young believers as in most
cases when a person is just saved they will be on fire for the Lord, but the
sad thing is that after a time that fire does not burn as hot as it did at the beginning. Apollos’ fire was burning very hot indeed as
he was being used of the Lord in a great way.
The rest of verse 25 and part of 26 states “he was
speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted
only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the
synagogue.” Apollos had limited
knowledge about Jesus Christ, but he taught what he knew with great
enthusiasm. “But when Priscilla and
Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more
accurately.” Priscilla and Aquila knew
that what he was teaching was true, but there was more that he needed to know
about Jesus Christ than what he knew.
Apollos did not realize that Christ had died, and died for his sins as
perhaps he had left Judah before Christ was crucified. One has to admire how Priscilla and Aquila
picked up on this and also Apollos being humble enough to allow them to teach
him “the way of God more accurately.” It
does take a humble heart to have someone teach you the truth.
After their teaching to Apollos was complete along with
his faith being complete, as he was armed with his newfound knowledge of God’s
gospel we see that he “wanted to go across” the Aegean Sea “to Achaia.” Apollos wanted to go to Corinth “1 It
happened that while Apollos was at Corinth,” (Acts 19:1a). He went there because “the brethren
encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.” This whole experience must have been very
exciting and uplifting to Apollos. Luke
goes on to say that “he helped greatly those who had believed through grace.” MacArthur adds that this “is the Spirit’s way
of reminding all that faith is a gift of grace (cf. Eph. 2:8). Apollos assisted the believers in their
spiritual growth through his powerful preaching.”
We want to look at how this fervent, brilliant OT scholar
would also explode like a bombshell on Corinth’s unconverted Jewish
community. This was similar to Stephen
as we have learned when we studied Acts chapter seven. Apollos “powerfully refuted the Jews in
public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” John MacArthur writes the following about
this word “refuted.” “Refuted is from diakatelegchomai, an intense double
compound word. Apollos was so effective
in his discourse that he crushed his opponents, totally disproving them at
every point.” Comparing him with Stephen
is a wonderful comparison as both of them refuted the Jews, showing them that
Jesus is the Christ.
This is not the end of reading about Apollos as he is
mentioned by Paul in 1 Cor. 1:12, 3:4, 6.
He was a great help to the Corinthian believers who were in need of
being helped.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: In looking at
Apollos’ great enthusiasm for the Lord, and realizing that staying on such a
high plane is very difficult, and so I must remember what Dr. Warren Wiersbe
wrote concerning an old Scottish Pastor who said “The successful Christian life
is a series of new beginnings.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember what that old Scottish Pastor said.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Rachel” (Genesis 29:16-17).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which book records a baby
having a scarlet thread tied around its hand before it was born?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/5/2018 11:28 AM
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