TUESDAY June 11, 2013 Life Empowered Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 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. Acts 18:24-25 Before Paul the Apostle went to Ephesus, the people had been taught the way of the Lord by Apollos. He had been in Ephesus before Paul. Although Apollos taught the things of the Lord accurately, he only knew the baptism of John, which means he did not have the full counsel of God. He did not know anything about the Holy Spirit or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so he was only teaching what he knew. When Paul came to Ephesus, in Acts 19, he recognized there were some disciples who had no power, so he asked if they had ever heard of the Holy Spirit. They had not heard of the Holy Spirit. Apollos had taught them the way of John the Baptist. That was all they knew. Because of this, Paul stayed and began to teach them. When the teaching was completed, Paul laid hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:6). The Christians in Ephesus were ministering without the power of the Holy Spirit, because they did not have the full counsel of the Lord. What they knew was correct, but it was not complete. They were trying to walk with the Lord in their own power, and it is an impossibility. If we want the power to walk in the ways of the Lord, we need the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to know the full counsel of the Lord. The power to live a new life depends upon daily communion with the living Lord. ~John Eadie~
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:09:08 +0000