 Let's begin reading here in the book of Acts. We're in chapter 18. I'm going to look at verses 12 through 17 I'll read that first then we'll look at that and as is my normal method of teaching I'll remind you of some of the things that have led up to this so that you have a better understanding in the in the event that you weren't with us last last week I'll share with you a little bit about Corinth and things like that and then we'll move into the study and in reality I actually when I have taught this in the past I have actually divided this this chapter So that the verses that I'm introducing right now And a little bit further to verse 23 would have been taken as a single study. So I've combined Both of these what would have been two studies. I've combined them into a single study You're gonna you're gonna be seeing that and the approach I'm gonna take I'm especially going to just letting you know in advance I'm especially going to be looking at in a little more detail Verses 24 through 28 because we're going to be looking at At a young man by the name of Apollos and I chose to refer to this whole study as the key to greatness But you'll see the reason why I chose to entitle it that when we begin to look at at this young man So let's begin reading here in verse 12. I'll read verses 12 through 17 as I've mentioned I'll give to you an introduction remind you of a few things We'll get into our study and then the second portion Will a little look a little deeper at a young man again by the name of Apollos So beginning of verse 12 when Gallio was proconsol of akea the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat saying this this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law and When Paul was about to open his mouth Gallio said to the Jews if it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes Oh Jews there'd be reason why I should bear with you, but if it's a question of words and names and your own law Look to it yourselves For I do not want to be a judge of such matters and and he drove them from the judgment seat Then all the Greeks took sastanese the ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat But Gallio took no notice of these things and So Paul has been on what has been referred to by theologians. He's been on what is referred to as his second missionary journey And he's count he came to the city a city by the name of Corinth now Corinth as I've already mentioned to you was a City that was around 40 miles or so Southwest of of the city of Athens and it was a beautiful beautiful city It was a harbor city if you will it was commercially prosperous It was well known at that time Filled with artists who worked with stone and metal had a great number of orators a great number of philosophers It hosted games that were rivals rival games to the Olympics It was called the it's been games and the it's been games had a musical as well as athletic competition They were well known. They were well attended Corinth had a temple that was dedicated to a Greek goddess her name is Aphrodite and Aphrodite was associated with love and lust with beauty and pleasure passion and sex She had 1,000 religious prostitutes who nightly seduced tourists and sailors So the city was known for many things including and especially its sexual degradation its licentiousness its debauchery and So in the midst of such moral degradation and idolatry a church had been planted Now Paul was an evangelist He was a missionary and he had been stirred up to preach and the spirit was compelling him to preach And he was doing so in the synagogues in preaching that Jesus is Messiah So he was reasoning he was preaching it and the people weren't open to him And they weren't open to what he was saying and so they they opposed they resisted him They they blasphemed the things that he was saying they rejected the gospel And so this had prompted him to concentrate on reaching the Gentiles because they were open to the message He began to minister next door to the synagogue that had rejected him and man by the name of justice He was a Gentile came to faith in Christ Opened the door for him now after that the synagogue ruler a man by the name of Christmas had come to faith And that was a planting of the church in the city of Corinth Now in spite of the fruit that is being produced Paul has become afraid The Jews were in opposition doing whatever they could to silence him Now in a city called Lister he had received stony and he'd been dragged out of the city had been left for dead When he was in Philippi, he had been severely beaten with rods. He'd been put in jail and Antagonistic Jews have been following him from city to city. They've been stirring up the mobs Now when you look at what is said concerning the apostle Paul some of the things you read in scripture Gives you some insight though. There are no Descriptions that are full for us to know exactly what he would have looked like You know, we know that by scripture hit that he wasn't physically strong and we know that he dealt with health issues and it's even because of an illness that he had first gone and preached the the gospel to the Galatians we see that in Galatians 4 13 and and he said in Galatians 4 15 the second portion of that verse He said I bear you witness that if possible You would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me Which has caused commentators to say that he may have had very well may have had an eye disease of some sort because he Had said you to plucked out your own eyes and given them to me When he was writing his second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 10 verse 10 That verse records that his opponent said his bodily presence is weak So this was not a powerful figure He wasn't somebody that would instantly cause you to say what an appealing man Wonder what he asked to say he wasn't physically strong He dealt with how health issues as a matter of fact one ancient writer when speaking of him and describing him Simply said he was a small man with crooked legs So he wasn't a good dancer. So Paul Didn't have a lot of testimony that he was Somebody that you would naturally feel the inclination to listen to know Why am I telling that because you're gonna see later on a man by the name of Apollo's That actually would have been somebody you would have listened to So he was constantly on the move the stress and the fatigue was was constant was consistent Again, he's not a young man. It's estimated that at this time He probably could have been around 50 years of age and so the pressures and the threats It brought him to the place where he had fear and it was at that time that the Lord had spoken to him in a vision And had encouraged him. He said no one will attack you to hurt you I have many people in this city in other words many are hungry for salvation Many are open for you to preach to them and and so that he did he did so unhindered for 18 months And that's where we're picking up our our story here And so as this is taking place verse 12 Galio was proconsol of akea and the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul And brought him to the judgment seat saying this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law And so that basically gives us a date for when this is taking place because history records when he was the proconsol This is taking place somewhere around the year 53 Now when you look at ancient maps of of this area, you have Macedonia to the north and and akea to the south And it was normally divided at least as in reference It would be divided into those two sections But when they're speaking here of akea it's speaking to the fact that that was really a unified In this particular context. It was a unified thing. It was Saying that he governs the Macedonian and he governs it all he's governing in north and south and so he's a man of political power So it's at this time that the Jewish opposition is rising up against Paul and they're trying to get him To kick Paul out of the city That's what it's saying here when it says that they brought Paul to the judgment seat saying this fellow Persuades men to worship God contrary to the law Now the law that they're speaking of is contrary to more than likely Roman Roman law Or it could be something that is interpreted and you'll see this in a minute as the Jewish law But in fact, they're saying that he is he is preaching contrary to Roman law. That's what their appeal is now That's not a new charge Something similar had already been alleged when he was there in Philippi and as we've seen in Acts chapter 16 Verses 20 and 21 it says there that these men being Jews Exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe and so They're saying that he's breaking Roman law and what would the crime be well? Rome had banished Jewish from the city of Roman and this Jew has come here causing problems You see the Jewish faith Judaism was tolerated But they're saying Paul is bringing a new religion here one that's not recognized So as that's being said notice verse 14 It says when Paul was about to open his mouth Galeo said to the Jews If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, oh Jews There'd be reason why I should bear with you But if it's a question of words and names and your own law look to it yourselves For I do not want to be a judge of such matters And so Paul's about to preach I want you to notice something notice in verse 14 It says when Paul was about to open his mouth now For me it just upon reading it Would say to me Paul was about to just talk to share to speak right But the phrase open his mouth has been used in a different sense earlier You actually saw that when Philip was preaching to to an Ethiopian Unic and giving the gospel as you remember it's found in chapter 8 of Acts that the this unit this high official had left Jerusalem and was on his way home and Philip had seen him reading scripture and had asked him if he understood what he read and in Acts 8 34 and 35 the Unic answered Philip and said I Asked you of whom does a prophet say this of himself or some other man then Philip opened his mouth and Beginning at this scripture preached to Jesus to and that's what Paul is about to do He's not just going to respond It's a phrase that would give to his insight that he was about to proclaim He was about to speak about Jesus Christ, but before he could open his mouth to preach Galio cuts him off Now notice in verse 14 Galio said to the Jews if it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes Oh Jews, there'd be reason why I should bear with you But if it's a question of words and names and your own law Look to it yourselves For I do not want to be a judge of such matters and this actually is saying an awful lot Galio is making it clear that he as a as a government official is Not gonna judge a religious difference. I'm a civil judge. He's saying My responsibility is related to criminal activity. He speaks of wrongdoing. He speaks of crimes Wrongdoing speaks of open crimes like strong arm robbery or a physical assault something like that. That's an open crime When he says wicked crimes wicked crimes are different kind of crime It's a it's the hidden crimes like fraud or shoplifting vandalism things that other people may not notice, but there's still crimes Nonetheless, so wrongdoing is open wicked crimes as hidden He's simply saying as a government official. I am not here to to judge on religious matters I'm not an expert. He's saying on the subtleties and nuances of philosophy Now by the tone of his words and it's in you have to read it this way If there's a question of words and names of your own law look to it yourselves I don't want to be a judge of such matters. He's making it very clear I don't have any kind of regard for your religious beliefs I have no time for what he as an official would say for your superstition. I Don't have any time for that By the way, he's speaking it reminded me as I was preparing the study It reminded me of a government official by the name of Pontius Pilate and How that when Jesus was standing before him and speaking to him Pilate began to speak in response and and John recorded it in John 18 verses 37 in the first portion of verse 38 Where it says that Pilate said to Jesus. Are you a king then? And Jesus answered you say rightly that I am a king for this cause I was born for this cause. I've come into the world That I should bear witness to the truth Everyone was of the truth. Here's my voice and Pilate said to him What is truth? It's a similar thought. I don't have time for your religious questions for your philosophical questions I'm not suited to be a judge concerning those things. Those are things you need to take care of I'm not a philosopher. I'm not interested in your religious differences and you can see he's irritated They're irritated that they brought this up to him in the first place You petty religious people and your trivial arguments get on my nerves is what he's saying This isn't a civil matter as long as it doesn't provoke an actual crime to occur Now you have differences of belief you have differences of opinion if you want hold on to your own beliefs I'm not interested in them if a civil law has been violated I'd have reason to listen to you, but the fact is no civil law has been broken Notice verse 15 how he says if it's a question of words and names and your own law Those are important things that he's saying. He's breaking down the argument If it's a question about words the words would be speaking of the message of the gospel It's a if it's a question of names. It would be a question of Jesus Christ the Messiah If it's a question of your own law it's a question regarding whether he fulfilled all that the law has to state concerning the way somebody is saved and And I am not qualified To dispute this or make a judgment concerning these things words names of your own law I don't want to judge you on such matters. I'm not interested in the argument I'm not qualified to make a judgment settle this yourselves Why are you bringing your concerns to a civil court? As a civil judge I need to judge him partially I don't want to hear this But as a human being He's closing his door of opportunity to hear the gospel because the greatest evangelist The apostle paul was prepared to give to him The gospel and that's what he was about to do when it said paul was about to open his mouth gallio By your indifference and rejection You have lost the opportunity of hearing the truth You have lost the opportunity of hearing the gospel a friend of mine In san ozake calvary chapel ministry in san ozake Had had his church open during the time when the government was stating that it needed to be closed and uh it created a great problem up in that area and And uh mike had been taken before a judge And the judge wanted to hear his reasons for leaving a church open when california was mandating the closure of all churches And so when he asked mike to give a reason Why he was doing this Mike was given the opportunity to preach the gospel to the judge For several minutes clearly explaining to him why it was important for that gospel message to continue going forth And that judge had the opportunity to hear the gospel clearly presented gallio wouldn't Gallia said i'm not interested I don't want to hear anything you judge between yourselves these petty superstitions that you hold to And notice verse 16 he drove them from the judgment seat. I want no part of your religious quarrel You need to leave and paul didn't even have to defend himself Now when it says he drove them You might find this interesting when it speaks of that it speaks about the fact that they were physically driven out Remember paul had received beating Many stripes By what i had told you they were called the lictors they they carried the rods and he they beat him with it That's what's happening here. The lictors there are driving them physically out and those who were slow to leave Were getting beat up And he drives them out So when this is happening verse 17 all the greeks took sassanese The ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat and gallio took no notice of these things Sassanese received the flogging they were just tired of these problems Now there was a man a reminder named chrispas and he had been the synagogue officer of the official But what happened is chrispas had come to faith in christ and sassanese had replaced him And it's more than likely that sassanese was the one who instigated the situation and because he more than likely was the one who Did it they took him and they beat him severely And as you see then if that's all we knew about sassanese you'd say yeah, you deserve that But sassanese may have later come to faith in christ Now why would we say that well when paul wrote to carinthian church and his introduction in first carinthians one verse one This is how he opened it He said paul called to be an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god And our brother sassanese So it's possible that this man came to faith After these things had taken place now as this is happening gallio it says in verse 17 took no notice He allowed it to take place More than likely as a warning to others there was a time when justice could move sometimes quickly And because justice moved quickly the people would see The way they couldn't get away with doing something Because a punishment for the crime would be immediate that doesn't happen anymore But it happened in the earlier days and why did they have quick justice because it was a warning to others So he's allowing this to take place took no notice of these things Because he's warning the others this will happen to you too As this happens now remember the lord had said that uh, i'm with you in verse 10 No one will attack you to hurt you. I have many people in this city because of that paul remains verse 18 a good while Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for syria and priscilla and aquila were with him He had his hair cut off at sencrea for he had taken a vow And so paul had been told that he'd be safe don't remain silent Now some believe that paul had been taken before gallio After he had had that vision and as a promise for his safety His total time would have been around a year and a half. So he leaves And in verse 18 he leaves in sales for syria So after a year and a half it's time to go Priscilla and aquila were dear friends and they went with him on this journey Now notice they went to a place called sincrea. Well You've got corrent and then off Around 30 or 40 miles or so. I forget the exact distance from from corrent the city proper There is a harbor and this the harbor called sincrea. That's where they went and notice They went to sincrea and then they took a ship to the city of Ephesus, which we're going to look at in just a moment So that's a that's a journey across From corrent Ephesus. That's around 240 miles It says well in sincrea. He had shaved his head because he had made a vow The specific vow is not mentioned He completed it. He shaved his head And then he went all gangster with his bald head And a little penultin and all of that And he went to Ephesus And they called him little paul at that time a little savage I don't know why I said that please don't judge me Guess comes out In verse 19 he came to Ephesus He left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews When they asked him to stay a longer time with them He did not consent but took leave of them saying I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem But I will return again to you god willing and he sailed from Ephesus And so Ephesus is where he's going Let me give you a little bit of information about this city It was the main city and what it was then called roman asia. Ephesus is a city In turkey. I've been there on a couple of occasions It was a main city. It was a major marketplace Located on a river called kaster He was on the aegean by ancient standards Ephesus was a huge city He had a population of over 250 000 That's a huge city It was a main center of greek culture as well as heathen idolatry Ephesus had well paved Road streets it had public buildings. It had a scientific center a medical center It had a huge library It had a theater that seated 56 000 people I've seen that theater and they actually have Restored it and they'll have concerts there at this restored theater It was famous for its school of medicine for its poets and philosophers It was known for its fashion But it was also known for its idolatry Ephesus had the temple of diana And the temple of diana is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was a temple 425 feet long 220 feet wide and it was 60 feet high It had 127 marble pillars And 36 of which were overlaid with gold and jewels And it housed an image of the multi-breasted fertility goddess diana Its economy was built on selling images of diana soothsaying and the practice of magic And paul's come to this mighty pagan idolatrous city And once again He goes into the synagogue to preach Verse 19 says he came to Ephesus and he left them there So he only had a short time He left behind aquila and priscilla. We'll see them in a moment And he entered verse 19 the synagogue once again reasoned with the jews So his love for his jewish brother and drove him to reach out once again He's been continuously rejected hunted down and treated terribly And yet he wants them to be saved Well in verse 20, they asked him to stay because he's reasoning and there's communicating to them They asked him to stay a longer time with them, but he wouldn't he did not consent He took leave of them saying I must by all means keep Keep this coming feast in jerusalem, but I will return again to you god willing and he sailed from Ephesus The openness of the gospel is reflected later in his ministry. There would be a church that was birthed godly elders would arise Timothy would be its pastor and paul wrote a very powerful letter to the Ephesians But sadly later it would receive another letter, but this time it was from jesus Because they had left their first love The book of revelation chapter 2 speaks concerning that to the church of Ephesus right And he speaks concerning Jesus says from Jesus he speaks concerning all the good that they have done And he speaks concerning those things, but then he says but I have this thing against you You have left your first love So this is a church that is being birthed in front of us that would have a long history But finally ends up receiving a letter from jesus saying you've walked away from me. You need to come back Now they want him to stay But he couldn't because he says I have to go to jerusalem The spirit is leading me and I have to go I want to be in jerusalem more than likely for pentecost I need to meet with the leaders of the church and so I can't remain, but god willing i'll return Now in verse 22 it says when he had gone when he had landed at cesarea, that's in israel It's a port city in israel and gone up and greeted the church. He went down. He went to to antioch That completes what has been referred to as his second missionary journey And now verse 23 After it spent some time there he departed went over the region of galatia and frigia in order Strengthening all the disciples so he is rested And now he departs on his third missionary journey He's traveling to the northeast and he's ministering and he's strengthening various churches and now We're going to be introduced to a man by the name of apollos verse 24 A certain jew named apollos born at alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures Came to emphasis This man had been instructed in the way of the lord and being fervent in spirit He spoke and taught accurately the things of the lord though. He knew only the baptism of john So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue When aquila and priscilla heard him They took him aside and they explained to him the way of god more accurately And when he desired to cross to akea the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him And when he arrived he greatly helped those who had who had believed through grace for he vigorously refuted the jews publicly Showing from the scriptures That jesus is the christ and so what we have now is i this is a message that i chose to entail the key the key to greatness We're going to be looking at this young man a man by the name of apollos Apollos when you read scripture in his description here was very impressive He had what you would call a powerful resume And what we're going to be looking at is the training of a man of god Because this young man has great advantages and a lot of potential I want to describe him to you because i really believe we have much to learn especially those of you Who want to be used by god in a in a in a more powerful way? You know on on monday nights We we were having a school of ministry a school of discipleship And i've been teaching on monday nights Some of the men in our church who who want to know ministry in a deeper way and some of them want to plant churches And this is a great example That everybody ought to follow especially if you want to be used by the lord And i'm going to break this down for you and show you some things Hopefully to to emphasize what i'm saying at this moment This is the training of a man of god now who is he Who is this man with such advantages this man with so much potential Now that word potential is a word you don't like to use in ministry because very often what it means is You had potential and you didn't achieve it you didn't meet it You had such a potential for greatness, but but but because you you fail to actually Receive instruction to achieve that potential or to to move into that direction You were not used as well as you would have liked to have been used And so what we're going to look at is is the training of this man I'll just give you a few things and begin that way notice how luke tells us that he was jewish She was a jewish man who had been Raised in alexandria egypt Now during the time there were about one million jews who were living in alexandria And these jews spoke greek And they had the jewish scriptures that had been translated into greek And so with a large population like that It was home to an enormous synagogue So like paul he could communicate to both jew and gentile with equal effectiveness And that is a tremendous advantage in ministry If you have the ability to cross culturally minister That is a tree you double your ministry You have a greater amount of people you can reach And this man had potential not to just read Reach the jewish people because he was steeped and we'll see this in scripture But he was also culturally able to Speak to the gentiles he could teach them the things of the lord because he understood their culture And so this is a man who who was well trained and culturally able Also notice he was eloquent the scripture says eloquent in speech Uh, it speaks of being skilled skilled in literature skilled in the arts Skilled in history skilled in his capacity to speak He was somebody who could speak in such a way as you would listen with great respect You would listen to this man as he spoke he didn't bore you he would stir you This is a guy who could speak well when they spoke of paul They said paul was boring The carinthians said that that was one of the accusations against him He's a boring speaker. He's not a trained order But this young man was This this young man could speak well. He was rational. He was wise He was impressive And he was respectable Alexandria was the second most important city in the roman empire Alexandria was an educational center It trained students in literature and philosophy That meant that he had the background Capable of engaging the intellectuals in religion and philosophy So he's extremely impressive. He's eloquent. He's also culturally and socially sophisticated Alexandria had a what is called cosmopolitan a cosmopolitan flavor to it. It was actually filled with various cultures I don't know how many of you have had the opportunity to travel the world Many in this room have many listening more than likely have if you had the opportunity to travel to other countries You probably before you go to the country and the city that you're traveling to you may have a preconception of what that what that city may be that you're going to in 1975 I had the opportunity for the first time to go into spain I traveled with a friend of mine throughout europe for three months. We backpacked europe And we were in barcelona And when you when you go in to the city and madrid when you go in especially barcelona You may have this kind of image in your mind Maybe you've seen movies, but you've never been there But you picture it in a certain way But the first time I ever went into barcelona. I actually was very surprised It's extremely Extremely cosmopolitan. I mean you go to madrid and madrid is kind of the stereotype of what you might think of spain, but but it barcelona isn't You go into the streets in barcelona and you'll find people from africa People from the middle east. There are a lot of people from england. It's very cosmopolitan And I was very surprised the first time I went. I don't know what I was expecting Maybe I thought there'd be some bullfighters running around the city. I don't know All I know is when I went in there. I I made a mistake. I was looking for mexican food They haven't arrived Anyway, I'll get back to it. So when you when you go there You may have in your mind an idea of what you think Spain is going to be like for me I had in my mind what I thought and it's not at all you see all these cultures and culture has a tendency of blending And making a new kind of field. That's cosmopolitan. That's how it was So he had the ability To go into and minister into a huge city that was very cosmopolitan But at the same time He wasn't really that impressed with it you see Ephesus was a home to the lighthouse of alexandria That was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was built around 270 bc This this lighthouse was 400 feet high One of the tallest structures on earth And you wonder about the ancient people how they built this immense tower But that lends itself to ministry Because you're not easily impressed You've seen what the world has to offer when you go through 2nd timothy and you you Come to the conclusion and paul writes to the pastor timothy and all You get to a point where he speaks concerning those who have remained faithful and very few had by the way But paul speaks concerning to one of his fellow ministers one of the men who Was regarded by him as they was demas And when he speaks of a guy named demas He says demas has forsaken me. He's abandoned me And this is why he said having loved this present age I don't know exactly the details of this man But it could be that he was a typical man of his day who had never been impressed by the amazing structures and architecture and ever heard the philosophies of the world and the articulation of those things Whatever it was with demas demas thought the world Was more important than the one to come in ministry You have to be aware that there's a greater than what you're watching or looking at And I don't say this in a weird way. Some people will probably think it but I think that's one of the things that the lord has used in my own life Is because long before I was pastor in a church. I was in paris. I was there and I did see the Various sites in the city of lights that they have I've had the opportunity of going into Into munich into london I've had the chance to go into madrid and and and and Salzburg and I mean i've been around and and i've seen a lot and and before I was the Pastor in a church You see the impressive things the the ancient you know in roam the ancient coliseum and the beautiful architecture and all of that And you could be taken by that But he wasn't He was not oh, I've got to someday go here and see this. He wasn't that guy He he was actually Raised in an amazing culture already So emphasis wasn't going to be a temptation for him whatsoever And again, you know Alexandria was a very impressive city. Ephesus isn't going to do anything to him. He's already sophisticated Then it says concerning him that he was mighty in scriptures He had been raised in Egypt But he had received an in-depth instruction in the old testament He was an expert when it says mighty in scriptures He was an expert in the reading and interpretation of the old testament writings and that had made him open to the gospel very much like Timothy when paul said to timothy from childhood in 2nd timothy 315 from childhood You have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in christ jesus He was familiar with the old testament He was mighty in the scriptures and in in uh He was saved in what would be called in the old testament way You see in the old testament and the new testament salvation is is is received by by grace through faith in both the old and the new And so an old testament saint could be a believer and go to heaven Because he was looking forward to messiah being revealed a new testament Believer is saved because he looks back to when the messiah had been revealed So this was one who was looking forward to The revelation and you'll see this in a moment of messiah. So he had the old testament approach and faith And so he was somebody who was very very Filled with the understanding of these things. He was open to the message and then also verse 25 says he had been instructed in the way of the lord So that means he had a basic understanding of the mission of john the baptist He knew of the baptism of repentance and he knew that john had come Proclaiming the messiah who was to come And so he knew that but he did not know the death of jesus. He did not know the resurrection of christ He did not know pentacost the sending of the holy spirit He didn't have that understanding all he had and it says here that he he he Spoke and taught accurately the things of the lord though. He knew only the baptism of john So he had Insufficient understanding It's also said that he was fervent in spirit He spoke and he taught accurately the things of the lord fervent in spirit He was passionate He was powerful He spoke and he taught the things that he taught accurately He was the diligent man a student of the word of god So these are the things that we're looking at As we're looking at this man Now remember paul had laid the foundation, but he had left for ministry. He left behind a couple aquila and priscilla Shortly thereafter apollos enters He begins to share the little that he knows In the synagogue verse 26. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue So aquila and priscilla heard him and they took him aside and they explained to him the way of god more accurately aquila and priscilla i picture them Doesn't say how old they they were but they're older than he is They're an older couple And they hear him They're in the synagogue And here comes this young man and he begins to with fire Speak concerning the baptism of john and the coming of messiah And that had already taken place many years before And they're listening messiah has already been here And they're listening and they see he's incomplete in his knowledge And when they see this they take him aside privately And they teach him Now his response Reveals one of the most important earmarks of a man of god Because when he was instructed even corrected He had this humility to receive further instruction And that is precisely where many young and promising ministers fail most often They think that because they have an audience They're very anointed And they fall prey to pride And the danger of outward success The audience believes them They say he's very anointed And they praise this young man But because their understanding is not yet complete They can begin to preach error But because people continue coming and listening error becomes accepted as truth Now remember he was educated. He's eloquent. He's cultured. He's religious. He's passionate. He's courageous And on the weight of his chrism and zeal His ministry would be a hit They like this guy They like what he's saying they like the passion that he speaks with They enjoy everything he's saying Many believers make choices on whom they listen to Based on the sincerity and likeability of the speaker And many young pastors who have succumbed To this have succumbed to what would be the trap of pride And sadly congregations sometimes even encourage that in the young man a key to spiritual growth Is humility and the ability to receive instruction In proverbs 18 verse 2 a fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart So you've got aquilinpriscilla They're in the synagogue They're listening to him speak and you can almost see them exchange a glance We need to talk to this young guy We need to take him aside They're there in the synagogue verse 26 And so As their apollos comes in for the service he boldly begins to share with the people They're listening to him as he's teaching But as mature believers they begin to be concerned with his content So what did they do did they interrupt him as he's speaking did they stand up and say hey come on man You're wrong No, they they they waited and privately approached him afterwards One of the calvary pastors was preaching true story. He was preaching a sunday morning And he shared something and his wife was sitting in the front row And she said that's not right. She yelled at him That's not right And I told marie honey. Don't do that again But she said that's not right and she had a little study her study bible and she read The footnote there in the study bible. This is what that means. No, you you never ever correct somebody that way It's because what happens while you're you're pride The pride of the person can well up It's really an exceptional person Who can be corrected like that Without yielding a little bit at least to his own flesh Because there's a wise way in speaking and then there's the unwise way and sometimes people Will want to correct you immediately rather than waiting for that moment where you can have a conversation And then it can be brought up in a gracious way Excuse me. You were sharing something. Yeah, I was sharing that Can I ask you a question? Yeah, look at when you said this Were you saying this? Yeah, have you considered this now a person who Who is humble will listen to correction You don't correct people in front of other people Any married couple in here knows That's not a good thing to do That's a private conversation. That's the kind of thing you should do privately you know, you said this today and I was wondering and that's how you do it with humility Not with the I have to tell you so you've got Aquila and Priscilla They're they're in synagogue. They're listening to this young man this fervent and electoral well respected Preacher and and they're they're thinking no this young man needs to be corrected a key to growing Is this humility that is required to do that? They took him aside Improvers one verse five a wise man will hear an increased learning a man of understanding will attain wise council Sometimes young men Think because people like them And oh, he's one of my favorite speakers that That he's just all that I was teaching at a pastor's conference in another city in another state a few years ago I was sitting in the front row because I was the next speaker This particular church where it was being held has a platform that has about eight steps that go to the top it's it's actually a lot higher and so This young man. I'm sitting right in the front Marie and I are I'm the next speaker And this young man speaks and he's he's very eloquent. He's very likable You know, he's got humor and people listen to him and and all of that He's got a good work that he's doing and I'm listening to him and then he says well Say something like this. He goes well Let's just be honest and he's speaking to us pastors. He says let's just be honest. You're old I said hey what no, he said Let's be honest you're old And I I thought well, okay Okay, so I it was my turn next to come and speak So I go walking up the steps and like I said it's about twice as high as these here So it's about eight to ten steps up And I walked to behind the pulpit and I stood just like this and I said let me catch my breath I said after all I'm old And everybody kind of chuckles along with me, but that's the attitude apollos didn't have He didn't have that. I'm all that get out of the way. I remember at one of our pastors conferences many years ago When we had pastor chuck had gone to heaven and it was our first pastors conference after his home going That it was posted on social media about the older pastors who were speaking and it said Something about had to listen to these dinosaurs And there's an attitude That the young can have Instead of learning from the elders who've been there done that already know that They want to just get you out of the way so they can do it the way it should be done With a failure to understand that you have all that you have now because a faithful man Who'd gone before you to do the work that produced that ministry? And they don't see it There's this attitude. I am telling you that just get out of the way We've got things to do we want to do something and then they go out and they hire juggling monkeys And they entertain the people and oh we got a crowd but a crowd isn't a church It's just a crowd And a lot of churches are actually crowds being entertained by entertainers Who are not telling them the complete truth of the gospel And the younger pastors and by the way, I'll be teaching this particular message more fully At a pastors conference in the east coast pretty soon. I'm going to teach this to the younger pastors Rather than saying get out of the way Maybe you ought to say how can I become better? Nobody says that you have to duplicate what the past is But you certainly should build on a strong foundation And you bring it up to where it is now, but you don't disregard the older You have respect for them because god has used them and can teach you much I asked this question once would you rather go to a doctor who just finished Going through medical school or would you rather go to a doctor who's got 20 25 years of experience in medical school? And then practice Which would you rather go to and one young lady yelled out? I'll go to both. That's kind of what today's like I'll go to both Now if you ask me who i'm going to listen to it's the one with experience It's the one who knows that the things that the young man has not learned yet The old man can instruct him and get out of the way let him do it So you got these older people sitting there listening and this man's got so much potential now The word potential is not a good word to be used in in a person's life because very often you don't reach it This man has much potential, but he needs to be instructed more thoroughly It says again. He began to speak boldly. He had the courage Aqual and Priscilla heard him. They took him aside explained to him the way of god more accurately So they took him aside And that's the key to being used greatly by the lord In proverbs nine eight and nine do not correct a scoffer unless he hate you rebuke a wise man He will love you give instruction to a wise man. He'll be still wiser teacher. Just man. He will increase in learning When you come here to this fellowship I'm aware of the fact that if I just quote things out of memory I can do that, but should I do that? That eventually what I do is I take the place of what the word of god says. That's why I quote scripture That's where I'll say proverbs one nine or I'll say proverbs three five and six or john whatever I will quote that for you out of scripture Why because what happens and I've seen this is that sometimes that man who's preaching becomes the authority And he actually is overshadowing the scripture So when you stand up and you say things like well, it says in scripture. Well, maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't Where's it say that I want to be able to proof text you I want to be able to read that for myself to see that it actually says that Because I've seen that when you have eloquence and you have confidence when you have courage and you have a testimony The people have a tendency of looking to you rather than the word When you have that pulpit personality where you can walk around and engage people and all that that's wonderful I can't do that. I'm anchored here. I can't do that But I don't want you looking to be I want you looking to him I want you to look to the word of god and that's the reason I give you the scripture Now some people don't want to hear it. Don't just tell me. No, I can't do that. That's not what I'm called to do I'm not called to give you my opinion. I'm called to give you the word And the word of god says such and so so what we have here is a model you have a model of spiritual maturity Again many times people who are younger think they've arrived. They don't need anything else. Look at all the people who are coming and listening to me Well Proverbs 19 verse 20 says listen to counsel receive instruction That you may be wise in your latter days Oh, well, it doesn't matter to me now. That's not something that I'm going through now No, but when you receive it as a young person, you'll be prepared when you are engaged by it Oh, I don't have that. It's kind of like stages of marriage. You get married and and everything is this, you know Roses and butterflies and you know running slowly across Fields towards one another with angels Then you get married And you're taught in premarital things look out for this look out for that be aware of this That'll never happen to me That's other people who aren't it's in love as we are I I've said this before but I remember when I did premarital I'd say I'd say this is the question I would say to the young couple. I would say every Every person the person you're in love with and you're about to marry There are many things about them that make you uh Have love for them And they always they'd sit there holding hands and they'd turn in look at each other and kind of nod, you know I'd say but let me ask you something What is it about them you don't like? How dare you question our love What is it? This is this is true. I would look at the guy What is it about her that you don't like? I I don't remember ever one of them saying anything Because guys don't think it's true. What do you What is it about her you don't like she's great What are you gonna want to change? Oh, nothing Then I'd look at her What is it about him that you're gonna want to change? She goes through her purse pulls out a list And we're there for two hours See so you you you can enter into thinking you've arrived And then you have the older person Who says been there? done that These are things to be aware of that's you Because your love is not as intense as ours Okay, Romeo Young ministers can be the same way You're just jealous I've got a parking lot filled with cards And you have a handful of people you share with you're just jealous Everybody says everything I say Really strikes their heart You're just jealous Get out of the way Let the new wave arrive You don't know how to reach this generation Look at I'm an older man I admit it and I'm grateful for every day God gives to me to live a little bit longer I'm very grateful for it But I could tell you I was young once And I know that I know those things Where I've been corrected by an elder And I've said that's just because you don't know And then later I've discovered what he already knew To my own hurt Apollos was not that man When these people took him aside he listened remember Aquila was not a theologian Aquila was a tent maker This old couple sitting there listening Took him aside But he listened But he listened The zealous, eloquent, passionate man listened And was benefited by it and so was the body of Christ Finally verse 27 when he desired to cross to Achaia the brother and wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him He got letters of recommendation And when he arrived he greatly helped those who had believed through grace He has learned what the grace of God is in salvation For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly showing from the scriptures That Jesus is the Christ he is now capable of doing that with the added knowledge that he's gained from these old saints He went beyond the introductory ministry of John the Baptist He now knows that Jesus Christ came that the prophecy spoken of him had been fulfilled That he walked the face of the earth that he did miracles taught certain things was placed on a cross was buried died Was resurrected the third day he ascended into heaven after the 40th day He sent the Holy Spirit now he knows these things And now he's got a complete message to give and it was because he was willing to be taught And he vigorously refuted the Jews openly He was greatly used And he became a very powerful preacher of the gospel Of grace may God help us to have the humility of an apollos