One Action

One action changes everything.  Don’t believe me?  Just read Acts 18:24-26.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately.” Acts 18:24,25

Can you picture Apollos?  He had such a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures that he could both recite verses and teach on their meanings.  Highly educated, he used history as well as current events to compare and contrast to Scripture.  He spoke with great fervor, drawing friends and bystanders alike in with his passionate words.  He didn’t misquote or teach for his own gain.  What a man.  There was just one problem:

he knew only the baptism of John.” Acts 18:25b

What he spoke was true and accurate, but it was only half the story.  The good news—the shocking, beautiful truth of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection—is so tremendous that I’m grieved to think that some only got to hear the okay news.  But here’s where the okay turns good again, and it all happened with one action:

When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.”  Acts 18:26

Invited.  Verb.  Explained.  Verb.  Okay, so in this case it’s two action steps, but you get the idea.  It would have been tragic for Apollos to keep preaching only the first half of the story.  Fortunately, countless people were able to hear the full gospel, all because someone invited him into their home.

Is there an action step you need to take today? 

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17