“When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.“
Acts 18:27-28; 19:8-10

–

APRIL 2, 2025

When I was in college in the early 2000s, I attended a conference for young Christian leaders in Washington D.C. It was so long ago that I don’t remember most of the conference except one thing: evangelism day.

Students and conference staff were divided into groups and asked to decide how they would evangelize that day. To my introvert horror, our group chose to do a hip hop dance at the National Mall and tell people who stopped to watch about Jesus! At the end of the day, we gathered for a worship service, to celebrate and share stories about how we had seen the Spirit at work.

I will always remember one group of students who came up to the front and shared how they approached a group of skateboarding high schoolers, saying “Hey, do you want to know Jesus?” The skateboarders said, “Sure.”

Then the student group said “Cool” and left.

That was it.

I fully believe God can work in all things, through all things, and even through people we would not expect. But it does feel like this was an opportunity lost.

What I love about Apollos and Paul is their approach to preaching the gospel. They are not one-and-done “evangelism day” people. Apollos was bold in his preaching, he was accurate and knowledgeable—but also he put in the work. He spent time, time and more time, teaching diligently. He argued against those who held to a false gospel and he did it publicly and loudly. The text says that the believers in Achaia and Corinth were helped because of the work he did to strengthen their minds in Christ.

We see the same in Paul. Paul spent three months in the synagogue in Ephesus, speaking boldly, reasoning, and persuading. Even when he faced opposition in the synagogue, he continued teaching and reasoning and persuading…. for two years!

Do I put in the work with those God has given me? Or do I just share once and expect that to do the trick? Our minds are so much more fragile than we want to admit. We forget things. Our minds slip into murky pits of false beliefs, and we get stuck. Our emotions, our ego, our trauma, our experiences—all of these things make it hard to hold on to God’s truth.

Notice how both Paul and Apollos encouraged the believers, but not the way we in modern times think of encouragement. You don’t read Paul saying, “You guys got this! You’re strong enough! You can make it through! You can do anything you set your mind to!” How do Paul and Apollos encourage the believers? By strengthening their minds with the Word of God.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • Who has been an Apollos or Paul in your life, someone who has diligently taught you God’s truth? How have they strengthened your faith?
  • You still have more to learn! How will you continue to work in collaboration with the Holy Spirit to put in the work of mind renewal?
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to someone in your life who needs God’s truth. How can you enter in to their mind battle with them and be a voice of God’s truth in that place? Pray for God’s grace to be diligent and committed.

 

Church Reading Plan: Leviticus 5; Psalm 3-4