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enter Apollos

Acts 18:24&25
"24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John."

PRISCILLA and Aquila meet Paul in Corinth, there is a camaraderie between Paul and Aquila as they are both tentmakers. God spoke to Paul in a vision and told him to keep preaching the Word, and He would not let anyone harm him. His ministry is vital and growing by leaps and bounds. Priscilla and Aquila were doing their part in helping and supporting the ministry. They follow Paul to Ephesus as he is traveling back to Jerusalem. Paul shaved his head as an expression of gratitude to God. This was a common practice for the Jews. Paul continued to Jerusalem, leaving Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus. 

Enter into the record another early Christian, in today's verses; "And a certain Jew named APOLLOS, born at Alexandria, an ELOQUENT man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being FERVENT in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing ONLY the baptism of John." Two things not obvious to our modern eyes; "born at Alexandria" indicates that he is from another culture, not Jerusalem, so he has a different perspective. And, "eloquent" in the original Greek implies learning as well as sounding good. It was applied often to those who wrote history with fullness and insight.

Apollos is impressive, talented, and passionate! He was attracting attention from all the Christians in Ephesus. "Knowing only the baptism of John" tells us that Apollos needs to be brought up to speed. We can speculate how much of a Baptist Apollos was and we can know the Baptizer's message had reached Alexandria. John preached repentance with the water baptism and the coming of the Messiah. We don't know how much Apollos understood about Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. And, the grace and salvation that offers. All according to GOD'S plan there is someone here in Ephesus that will help him out...

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