SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:18-28
OBSERVATION:
It is amazing to me that in a time with so little information available (no “Christian” books, bookstores, seminaries, catechisms, etc), the Lord still got His message out, even through Apollos, who was a follower of John the Baptist, yet taught about Jesus in a remarkably accurate way. This passage shows how the heart and center of the message is Jesus, that He is the way, the truth and the life (“the way of God”, 18:26) as promised in the old covenant scriptures.
APPLICATION:
Not sure about the vow and the haircut…. This passage reminds me of the remarkable way that the Lord raised up teachers and leader in the church in China after the communist revolution (all Bibles/books burned, all missionaries expelled, Christians arrested, property confiscated). Yet amazingly years later the church had grown immensely, for the Lord raised up His own Apollos!
PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for speaking through unlikely servants, and reminding me through them that even more important than a seminary degree is an open heart to You. Lord speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of Your tone! Amen.
As Paul travelled. proclaiming the Good News, we again see his reliance upon the Lord. I will come back if it is the God’s will was his statement of faith. Each and every day is the Lord’s day. We are living in His presence. Anno Domini – in the year of our Lord. Today is September 16, 2007 A.D.
As Paul travelled he was an encourager. How do I do that each and every day?
God’s amazing grace was at work in and through His followers. They had open minds and hearts. When Apollos was approached that he wasn’t telling the whole story, he was open to hear the Word of the Lord. Lord, also give me the openness to hear and proclaim Your Word boldly. Not my will, but Yours be done.
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus,
To reach out and touch Him,
And say that we love Him.
Open our ears, Lord
And help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus.