Christian Living
Apollos Teaching Ministry
Hi, servants of God, I’m glad to be back to share the word with you. We are still on the topic of the Teachers Gift. There’s so much information to be shared about this gift that I’m trying to concise it and walk you through it practically. So when you apply whatever you’ve learned from it you can easily begin to grow in the ministry as an anointed teacher.
Learning from Them
I was led to share Apollos teaching ministry for several reasons because this young minister has a great testimony to share with us. The first time we see Apollos mentioned is in the book of Acts chapter 18:24-28. There’s very little said about him, but there’s a lot of info we can draw from him to train us to be better teachers in the kingdom of God.
Apollos was a Jew born in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. He was an eloquent man and mighty in scriptures, when he came to the city of Ephesus. He spoke with a passion and zeal teaching the word of God very accurately but only knew enough scripture to the point of presenting Christ as John the Baptist preached about Him.
In other words, Apollos had great qualities and abilities yet, he lacked the knowledge of the full gospel of Jesus Christ. So after he finished preaching and teaching powerfully what he knew, Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and invited him to their home and brought him up to speed of the entire gospel of Jesus Christ.
Apollos the Teacher
As far as his gift and portion of anointing that he carried with him he was capable of reaching people with what he knew. Now, let’s clarify some theological facts to set the stage;
1. He was not born-again.
2. He only knew John’s Baptism doctrine and whatever John preached before Jesus was baptized by John. v.25
3. He did not know that Jesus died and rose again so he may be Born-again.
4. Being a gifted speaker declares that God had a call on his life as a bible teacher.v.24-28
5. He was instructed in the way of the Lord to a certain extent.v.25
6. After his encounter with Aquila and Priscilla we know that he was born-again and thoroughly instructed in the way of the Lord.v.26
How can a man be anointed and not be Born-again? We understand that he was instructed in the way of the Lord. He was train by anointed men of God like John the Baptist and others because he knew what John was supernaturally given to preach and teach the people of God.
You see, the word of God is anointed by itself and when a man or woman whole-heartedly prepares them-selves to study, practice and then preach and teach it sincerely then God’s persuasive power through the lips of that servant will bring about the conviction, persuasion and enlightenment that people need to live a godly life, even if he or she is not born-again.
God’s word will not return void when it is spoken, but it will accomplish what God wants it to do in the hearts of those who hear it taught clearly and powerfully (Isaiah 55:11/ Hebrews 4:12)
Apollos Gifted ability
1. He was an eloquent man-he was prudent in presenting all the passages of scripture that pointed to Jesus being the Messiah. He was learned in the scriptures that pointed out the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming. Being a good historian of the Old Testament will help many people who lack the understanding bridging the Old and New Testament scriptures to life with the correct interpretation.
2. Mighty in scriptures means-he was speaking with sense and meaning of what the scriptures say and reasoned them out clearly, with a full understanding of how to properly apply them at the moment of time in which he presented his strong argument of Jesus being the Messiah.
3. He was Instructed in the way of the Lord-there’s Pharisees, Sadducees and teachers of the law (today we call them misguided theologians), and we have powerful men and women of God. Being instructed in the way of the LORD is totally different from being instructed in the way of the law. Apollos was acquainted with some knowledge of the doctrine of Christ. He obtained general information about the gospel and the life we are to live in the kingdom of God by John the Baptist that will prepare the way for the Lord to come into their lives as John preached it (To see what John the Baptist preached see: Matt.3:1-17/ Mark 1:1-8/ Luke 3:1-18) It is obvious that Apollos preached and taught the same thing and more.
4. He was Fervent in spirit-He spoke and taught with zeal, great passion on fire for God like we Christians say, but with knowledge and accuracy not missing a beat when he connected scripture with scripture, one bible character with another and clarifying the prophecies with strong reason.
There are people of God who have zeal and fire but no knowledge of how to present the gospel of Jesus Christ plainly and accurately. Then on the flip-side we have intellectual Christians that have a great education about the topic of salvation but are dull or boring with no affection or passion to present the gospel enthusiastically.
Paul said that we should be on fire for God, not lazy or as if we are obligated, yet with no real spark (Roman 12:11). Apollos watered the people’s lives with the word of God. He quenched their thirst and hunger for righteousness. Paul said he planted but Apollos watered (1 Cor.3:4-6).
5. He spoke boldly- he was fearless and free when he presented the scriptures knowing well that what he was talking about was as real as the synagogue he was preaching in. We can have this boldness (See the article, Praying down the power of God) I explain how to pray for boldness.
6. He was reinstructed- Aquila and Priscilla heard how he was ministering and knew the young man was destined to be a great man of God. So instead of embarrassing him while he was speaking they allowed him to finish and took him aside to retrain him in the way of the Lord more accurately. Paul said, let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches (Galatians 6:6).
Apollos was a humble man he received the correction and instruction. Solomon said, give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning (Proverbs 9:9 NAS). Today, it’s hard to correct another bible teacher who doesn’t know you. We need to exercise wisdom, because pride is ruining today’s ministers. Be open for correction. Don’t think your bible college gave you all you need to know.
7. Mightily Convinced the Jews-he powerfully refuted and presented the scriptures that Christ was indeed the Messiah and the Jews had a hard time speaking against it. We must be able to preach and teach the truth, by proving it and defending it clearly through the passages of scripture that explains all the misconceptions that are currently floating out there. Jesus did this many times with the religious leaders of His day in His teaching ministry and with those who were just ignorant of God’s word.
We Must Be
1. Eloquent with scripture.
2. Well versed and mighty with scripture.
3. Instructed in the way of the Lord.
4. On fire with zeal and passion to teach God’s word.
5. We must teach diligently and accurately the word of truth.
6. We must speak boldly and fearlessly.
7. We must be retrained and re-instructed when needed to enhance our knowledge.
8. We should present the gospel powerfully showing and proving thru scripture that Jesus is the Lord of Glory.
God willing in the next article we will look at Jesus’ teaching ministry and learn some important things that will move us into a greater level of anointing to be effective teachers for the kingdom of God. May God bless you to receive this article and apply yourself to move higher in your calling as a teacher, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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