Unusual Miracles Series

THE WAY OF GOD

Text: Acts 18:24-28

Introduction

1. Illustration: A little girl called out, "Mommy, you know that vase in the China cabinet, the one that’s been handed down from generation to generation?" Yes, dear, I know which one you mean, what about it? "Well, Mommy, I’m sorry, but this generation just dropped it!" Now some earthly possessions have sentimental value, and to break them is great loss, but how much more tragic it would be for a new generation to "drop it" spiritually - to fail to pass along the Godly heritage they have received! That would be an eternal loss.

2. When one generation passes on the things of God to the next generation, the church thrives; but when one generation fails to pass on the way of God to the next generation, the church dies.

3. When Tina and I were in bible college, we had a professor named Dr. Robert Kurka. Dr. Kurka took us under his wing and taught us the things of God. It was because his was willing to explain to us the things of God more accurately, we have been able to pass it on to others.

4. In every church I’ve ever pastored I have always tried to mentor a young person in the faith, and that is something I will always try to do.

5. Read Acts 18:24-28

Transition: It is the responsibility of those more mature in the faith to be…

I. Raising Up a New Generation (24-26).

A. Explained the Way of God

1. If you recall, in the previous section, Paul went to reason with the Jews in the synagogue and did not take Aquila and Priscilla with him. However, that doesn’t mean that Aquila and Priscilla took a vacation. They had ministry of their own to do.

2. In v. 24 Luke tells us, “Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt.”

a. While Paul was off doing his thing, Aquila and Priscilla found a preacher named Apollos.

b. He was from Alexandria in Egypt, which was another educational center in the Roman Empire and probably the second most important city in the empire.

c. Because of growing up in an educational center, Apollos was a very cultured and trained in philosophy and public speaking.

d. Luke tells us that he “knew the Scriptures well.” In this case, the Scriptures refers to the OT, as he was a Jew.

e. Remember, at this point the NT Scriptures didn’t yet exist.

3. The next thing that Luke tells us, in v.25, about Apollos is, “He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism.”

a. As a result of being trained in public speaking, he was a very powerful and eloquent preacher.

b. Somewhere he had been trained in the way of the Lord, but his knowledge of the Lord was incomplete because all he knew was the baptism of John.

c. His knowledge was based on the OT Scriptures.

d. What is the baptism of John? It is a reference to the baptism of John the Baptist. John had been preaching in the wilderness and people were coming to him for baptism.

e. His baptism was a baptism of repentance and turning to God. Christian baptism, however, is a baptism of discipleship.

f. Apollos preaching was probably a more polished version of John’s message of turning from sin and towards God.

g. He needed to learn more about who Jesus was and what he taught.

h. One of the things about Apollos preaching is that he preached with an “enthusiastic spirit.” This means that he spoke with great excitement and feeling.

i. People complain and criticize believers who worship with excitement and feeling saying that it’s all just emotionalism.

j. Well, I ask those people what’s wrong with being emotional? God gave us emotion for a reason, and one of those reasons is to worship him! If we can go and get emotional at a sporting event but not about God, we have a problem.

k. If you can’t get excited about worshiping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, maybe you need to spend more time in prayer!

l. Methodist where known for their enthusiastic worship, and I think we need to get back to that kind of worship. I think it’s time for us to get excited about Jesus!

4. Now, this is where Aquila and Priscilla come into the scene. In v. 26 it says, “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.”