Sermon Tone Analysis

Apollos from Alexandria

Apollos

2nd most important city population 600,000.

Lots of Jews there.

Biggest library in the known world.

I could give you a bunch of facts about it but honestly, what we really need to understand here is that there was this guy Apollos who was a Christian Jew who grew up in a very very intellectual place where all they did was study and read and debate and learn.

It was like Athens on steroids.

Apollos is a product of that kind of place.

So impressive are his gifts that when Luke talks about him he distinguishes some different characteristics about him.

Apollos is eloquent

eloquence.

(Learned), had a high education.

Being in Alexandria that is what he would have done.

It would have been his job, to be completely focused on his Education which made him Very persuasive in what he said and how he said it.

He was an expert.

But he was also a gifted communicator.

This is important because it’s possible to have someone be an expert and put you to sleep telling you about it?

He knew what he was talking about.

But he was also persuasive in his speech which means that people would listen and get stuff out of it.

Have you ever heard great speakers who are great to listen to because they are so engaging?

I remember a professor that I had when I was in college.

He was my professor for history of the middle east.

He was 168 years old.

I think he was around for all of the history of the middle east.

He really knew it backwards and forwards but he was so dry, so dry that dust would fall off of him if the wind blew.

Not a great communicator.

Brilliant, but not engaging at all.

That was not Apollos.

He was the guy who would be speaking tonight and people would go to him to hear what he had to say.

What was he expert of?

24 says he was competent in the Scriptures.

This would mean OT Scriptures since the NT was only beginning to be written.

So he would have been talking like a Jewish person who believed in Jesus to be the Messiah.

He had a great grasp of the OT Scriptures.

Since he studied in Alexandrea it meant that he would look at the OT scriptures not only as history but as allegory too.

That means that it is history but there is a meaning behind the history to tell an inner meaning.

Like the Messiah coming and who it would be.

Not everyone looked at scripture that way, especially in that age.

This made Apollos’ preaching so effective at pointing to Jesus as the Christ.

Paul did the same thing.

So did Jesus.

25 Instructed in the way of the Lord

It is possible that Apollos could have been or connected to One of John the Baptists disciples.

That term The way of the Lord could connect him with John.

But he knew of the way of the Lord.

Fervent in Spirit and Accurately the things about Jesus

(boil over) He spoke with great conviction.

He had energy and conviction as he spoke.

He believed what he was saying.

Lots of people have conviction.

Lots of people are persuasive in their speech.

We see it all the time.

We see it when people are interviewed on the news.

Especially in the political world.

There are people who really believe what they are saying and so many are convinced because of their fervency of speech.

But no matter how charismatic someone is, no matter how convincing they are in their speech, no matter how bold they are.

They can be wrong.

They can be wrong.

And for Apollos and the sermons he was putting out, apparently they were dynamic and they were persuasive, He is everything you would want in a preacher but something was missing.

The baptism of John was basically the repentance of your sin and recognizing Jesus.

Bold preaching

There was a problem.

He isn’t completely accurate.

He isn’t a false teacher, since his error seems to be based on ignorance other than deceit.

But his teaching wasn’t complete.

His teaching wasn’t complete.

We don’t really know exactly what he was saying or wasn’t saying that either wasn’t complete, or wasn’t accurate and these two tentmakers pull him aside and the verse says that they explained the way of God more accurately.

There was something that he was saying that either wasn’t complete, or wasn’t accurate and these two tentmakers pull him aside and the verse says that they explained the way of God more accurately.

And he listened.

That is the crazy part.

The person up front is the expert right?

And he listened.

That is the crazy part.

The person up front is the expert right?

Some people think that he did believe in repentance and recognized Jesus as Messiah but he knew nothing of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Meaning that Jesus was dead and even raised but not knowing the power of the Holy Spirit as completely available to the Christ follower.

Like memorializing a dead savior, or if he was resurrected was far away in heaven instead of living in us as followers of Christ.

And this is a problem I think many people have today.

Jesus was real, Jesus did rise from the dead but he is so far away that he has nothing to do with me.

But that isn’t the nature of our relationship with Christ.

He lives today and indwells those who put their faith in Him.

Indwells.

That is what the baptism of the holy spirit is all about.

The power of the Holy Spirit being present in your life so that you can carry out the works of God.

Pricilla and Aquilla call him out

He is everything you would want in a preacher

This is what is great about them.

They recognize a problem.

And they aren’t intimidated or afraid to confront it.

This is what is great about them.

They recognize a problem.

And they aren’t intimidated or afraid to confront it.

In order to do that...

These, again, tentmakers go to the authority and tell him where he was off.

Most think that took him aside means that they invited them to their home to talk to him.

Think of this.

In order for them to carry this out they need to know their doctrine, they need to be listening and need to tell the truth.

know their doctrine.

As people sitting in the seats listening to what is going on up here, you are being taught but you also need to know the scriptures.

You need to be reading, studying the scriptures.