Acts 19:1-10 Taking the Next Step
Before we get into our reading today I want to apologize AGAIN for being lax in posting. I have been enjoying my family overnight visitors and being lazy. That is my honest answer. I also took a couple nights off to simply re read the Christmas stories in the gospels. Please forgive me AGAIN. I will try and be more faithful in the future. I can also promise that there will be times when I’m not. For those times, I beg your indulgence and forgiveness in advance. I am human and VERY fallible too.
Down to business now. We join Paul again in our reading today. He has come back to Ephesus after his visit home. He arrived after our new acquaintance Apollos had left for Corinth.
Paul discovers new converts who haven’t heard the full extent of the word. I’m curious why they hadn’t. Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila were all there before Paul returned and somehow this group didn’t hear the rest of the gospel. Why was that? Were they in a remote area of the city? Did they come to faith right after Apollos left? Were they earlier converts of Apollos who didn’t return to hear him after his instruction time with Priscilla and Aquila?
These men sound, to me at least, as if they were at the same stage Apollos was when he came to Ephesus. They hadn’t even heard about the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ baptism. They had done all they knew to do and the Lord let Paul show them the rest of the way.
After their initial encounter with Paul these men became regular workers with Paul. They were with him as he debated the Jews in the synagogue. They even left the synagogue with Paul, after the Jews continued to reject the truth, and went to serve the Gentiles. Between these new brothers and Paul Ephesus was WELL acquainted with the truth. Luke tells us “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (verse 10). There were none left who hadn’t had access to the full truth. No longer could any new believers claim that they didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit or Jesus’ baptism.
Father God thank You for watching over ALL of us! The twelve men Paul met didn’t escape Your notice. You sent them the perfect teacher for their needs. Why You didn’t address their spiritual learning with the previous “missionaries” I may never know. But You didn’t leave them stranded. You brought them the truth in just the right time.
You do that with me sometimes too. Not that You send me some great teacher like Paul but that You reveal to me, through Your Spirit or others, things I had no idea were in Your stories. You have done that with this bible study time and time again. You know just the right time to bring these hidden truths out too. You are never too early that I have no use for the knowledge yet or so late that it would have saved me a tremendous amount of trouble. But You provide just what I need at the precise time I need it. And what You provide is lasting and can be built upon for future lessons. Thank You for the firm foundation of Jesus Christ!
