Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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We're studying here in Acts
chapter 18 and, Mark, before the
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break we were taking a look
at yet another example of Paul
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being brought to a little
trial and once more there's a
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deliverance given and we left
off right at the end of verse 17
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as we were coming in to Paul
returning to Antioch and we'll
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begin reading in verse 18. It
says, So Paul still remained a
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good while then he took leave
of the brethren and sailed for
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Syria and Priscilla and Aquila
were with him. Now we were
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introduced to Priscilla and
Aquila earlier in the chapter
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and they seemed to be a couple
who have great promise in terms
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of their fervency and their
active part in the church. The
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Apostle Paul seems to be taking
a special interest in them
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wanting to develop them and grow
them and so we see, I believe,
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in this particular passage is an
example of what we talked about
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right before the break and that
is that the Apostle Paul was
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focusing on discipling
these two, Priscilla and Aquila.
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He kept them with him. You
know you look at Jesus and the
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disciples. What made him so
effective. Well he took them
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with him wherever he
went and he let them see what
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Christianity was about, what it
meant to live a righteous life
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by going with him. And they were
able to see how to minister to
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others by watching Jesus
minister to others. They were
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able to see how he related to
people and know how to relate to
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people. Sometimes we think
discipleship is sitting people
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in a classroom and teaching them
doctrinal matters and there's
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a portion of that that's true,
but that's not all that you see
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here. There's a very real living
training that goes on that is
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from modeling for someone.
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Yeah. That makes me think of
what you were saying there on
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Jesus' discipleship. Mark
chapter 3 and verse 14, in
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Mark 3:14 he tells us, Then he,
speaking of Jesus, appointed 12
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that they might be with him and
that he might send them out to
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preach. So that's interesting
that he wasn't just sending them
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out to preach but he wanted to
be with them and we see that in
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the practice of Jesus and the
life of Jesus that he spent that
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time and modeled that ministry
to them and we see it being
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repeated in the lives of the
disciples that they picked up
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much of their ministry queues
from being with Jesus in those
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real experiences.
That's right. Real training.
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Hands on training. So he took
Priscilla and Aquila with him
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and it says he had his hair
cut off at Cenchrea for he had
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taken a vow. Now it's not real
specific about what this vow
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was. It could be that in an
effort to have sympathy with the
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Jews or maintain favor that he
took a Nazarite vow, a private
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Nazarite vow, or something
of that nature. Often times they
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would take a private vow in
response to a great deliverance
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or almost as a means of
gratitude and rededicating the
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life because of some great thing
and of course we see him here
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in Corinth experience this
deliverance and so it could be
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that he took a vow in relation
to that. But ultimately we know
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that he made this commitment
and that's why he had his hair
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cut off and so we can imagine
Paul walking around without
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hair. I guess that's why Luke
put that in there. Then verse 19
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says he came to Ephesus
and he left them, and you would
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understand that to be Priscilla
and Aquila, he left them there.
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That adds another dimension to
discipleship. Here he says, Okay
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I've spent time with you, you
have learned from me. Now it's
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times for you to leave the nest
and to begin to use your own
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faculties and begin to exercise
your own faith and certainly
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they were doing that already
but in a very real way and a
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greater way than when Paul was
with them when he was the most
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prominent figure. They now
were able to witness to others
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and we see that later when
they with a very prominent man,
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Apollos, they have opportunity
to explain the way of God more
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clearly to him. So this is
a good example that I think we
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need to take note of because
sometimes in our churches we
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we have those who feel I can't
possibly go and minister to
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others from the Bible because
I don't feel qualified and what
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have you, and sometimes
the people who are making that
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statement have been in the
church for 20, 30 years and the
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hope is that during that
period they're watching, they're
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learning. All their learning is
for the purpose of then turning
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around and using what they've
learned to minister to others.
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The only way sometimes to really
get that type of education is to
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break free from the training and
go and do it. And you know I've
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heard it said that men learn to
swim in the water and not on the
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land. So we've got to get at it
and that's really the training.
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So we see that kind of
discipleship going on here.
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Then it says in verse 20, When
they asked him to stay a longer
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time... Oh I don't think I
read the last part of verse 19.
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But he himself entered the
synagogue and reasoned with the
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Jews. So the Apostle Paul again
reasoning with the Jews. When
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they asked him to stay a longer
time with them, he did not
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consent, but took leave of
them saying, I must by all means
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keep this coming feast in
Jerusalem, but I will return
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again to you, God willing. And
he sailed from Ephesus. So we
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see here he promises to come
back to Ephesus and we find that
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he does keep that promise. When
he leaves them he says I'll come
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back to you, God willing. You
know, we hear people say that
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sometimes. I'll see you at
church, Lord willing, and it's a
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saying of sorts. But in the
Apostle Paul's life it was a
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very real experience. Just back
in chapter 16, you remember when
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we were talking about the
Macedonian call and before the
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apostle went to Macedonia, he
had wanted to go to Asia, but it
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said in chapter 16 and verse 6,
They were forbidden by the Holy
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Spirit to preach the word in
Asia. Then later they were going
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to go into Bithynia but
the Spirit did not permit them.
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So there were cases where
the Apostle Paul wanted to go
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somewhere but the Lord was not
willing. So he's being very real
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here when he says, I'll come
back to you, God willing, but if
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the Lord doesn't will then I'll
be going somewhere else and we
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need to have that same
flexibility in our own life to
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be able to go
where the Lord leads us.
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That's right. It's also
interesting, Jim, that he has a
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clear spiritual plan and we may
say well that's because he's the
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Apostle Paul. But I think that
we really need to take to heart
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that some of us make big plans
for our lives, we make plans for
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our families, we make plans for
vacations, we make plans for a
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job to try to get a promotion
what have you, and yet when it
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comes to our spiritual
lives and for our own personal
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spiritual growth many of us make
no real plans at all. We just
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say well I'll be in church next
week and that's not a spiritual
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plan. Paul had plans. He had
plans for witnessing and what
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have you and in this case
he mentions a plan to go to the
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feast in Jerusalem. I think
there's an important point to be
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made there, too. I know I've
been asked by certain Christians
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if we are to be keeping these
feasts and I'll point to the
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Apostle Paul and say well Paul
kept the feasts. Well we really
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haven't found that. We're all
the way up to chapter 18 in the
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book of Acts and we don't have
one occurrence of Paul desiring
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to keep the feasts. Here he
obviously does but we don't see
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him keeping all the feasts
of Passover and of unleavened
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bread and of Pentecost and
of the day of Atonement and the
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feast of booths and all these.
We don't see that. He had a
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desire to go but we don't
see this as a customary practice
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like for example his observance
of the Sabbath. I think that
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needs to be noted here.
Now we actually move on here to
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in verse 24 the Bible says,
Now a certain Jew named Apollos,
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born in Alexandria, an eloquent
man and mighty in the scriptures
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came to Ephesus. This man had
been instructed in the way of
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the Lord and being fervent
in spirit he spoke and taught
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accurately the things of
the Lord though he knew only the
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baptism of John. So he began to
speak boldly in the synagogue.
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When Aquila and Priscilla heard
him they took him aside and
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explained to him the way of God
more accurately. And the Bible
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says in verse 27, When he
desired to cross to Achaia the
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brethren wrote exhorting
the disciples to receive him and
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when he arrived he greatly
helped those who had believed
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through grace for he vigorously
refuted the Jews publicly
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showing from the scriptures that
Jesus is Christ. Now he didn't
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have this understanding before
but here we see the discipleship
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again, this time Priscilla
and Aquila meet this man who is
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promising and they see the
abilities and they undertake...
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It's interesting also, he was
eloquent, he was mighty in the
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scriptures, he was educated.
Priscilla and Aquila could have
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said, Who are we? But they saw
that they had a part that they
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could play in discipling
him and giving him this more
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accurate knowledge. So they
disciple Apollos and now Apollos
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becomes a mighty
worker in the church as well.
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That's right. That's powerful.
I like the fact that Apollos
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was it says an eloquent
man, mighty in the scriptures.
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You get the sense that he had
influence. Sometimes we avoid
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those who are of the higher
classes. I've noticed that
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sometimes we recognize that
there's a more fertile openness
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to the gospel amongst those who
are not affluent or who sense
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then need more and so we tend
to focus on those areas because
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we feel that the responses are
greater, but just because that
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may be true in many cases,
we should not be avoiding and
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anyways we should be focusing
on some of these who have
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allowed the things of this world
to blind them to the power of
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the gospel and to their
need of salvation. We need to be
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focusing on this same class of
Apollos. Well, in chapter 19 we
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we come into another story and
I want to bring this in during
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this episode and then next time
we'll cover the rest of chapter
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19. In verse 1, it says, It
happened while Apollos was at
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Corinth that Paul, having passed
through the upper regions came
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to Ephesus and finding
some disciples he said, Did you
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receive the Holy Spirit when
you believed. So they said, we
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have not so much as heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit.
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And they said, Into what then
were you baptized. So they said,
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Into John's baptism. Then Paul
said, John indeed baptized with
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the baptism of repentance
saying to the people that they
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should believe on him who
would come after him, that is on
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Christ Jesus. When they heard
this they were baptized in the
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name of the Lord Jesus and when
Paul had laid hands on them the
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Holy Spirit came upon them
and they spoke with tongues and
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prophesied and the men were
about 12 in all. Now you read
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the story and you recognize this
is the one clear example we have
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in the New Testament of a
rebaptism, as it were. John the
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Baptist was teaching a baptism
of repentance. The Jewish nation
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they understood the law of God
and the will of God as given in
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the Old Testament scriptures
and they knew that there was
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need to repent from sin,
but it doesn't appear that these
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individuals had an understanding
of Christ as the Messiah.
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At least they didn't have
the evidence for Jesus as the
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Messiah and so there was no real
way that the Holy Spirit could
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do the type of work that
he wanted to do. So they were
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rebaptized with this new greater
understanding and that's why
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even today some who come into a
greater understanding of certain
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biblical truths will be
rebaptized. Then it concludes by
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this miraculous once again the
Holy Spirit coming upon them.
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We've seen that in different
places. It's different in
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certain places. Here they laid
hands, other places they didn't
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but ultimately this power
attended the early church and
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it attended them here after
this rebaptism. Well I want to
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dive further into chapter 19,
but we've run out of times once
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more. So we look forward once
again to studying with you on
00:12:57.91\00:13:01.53
Books of the Book.
We'll see you next time.
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