“When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.” Acts 18:26
He had such a distinct voice and way of telling a story that could captivate his listening audience. For decades, Paul Harvey spanned the airwaves across America shedding a different light on topics, people and stories of interest. As a kid, I found myself listening intently, trying to figure out who he was talking about, which he would always reveal at the end of his one-to-two-minute segment with the phrase, “And now you know the rest of the story.”
In Acts chapter eighteen we are introduced to Priscilla and Aquila, a married couple who were converted through the Gospel message that Paul preached. They then partnered with Paul making tents, and later traveled with him to Ephesus where they stayed. One day they heard a man by the name of Apollos who was sharing the message of Jesus. The Bible says Apollos was fervent in his preaching, yet he was missing something, or should I say Someone.
Although he knew about the baptism of repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ, he knew nothing about the baptism and infilling he would need by the Holy Spirit. So, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and “explained the way of God to him even more accurately.” Or, as Paul Harvey would say, they told him “the rest of the story.”
Apollos demonstrated that you can preach about Jesus without ever mentioning or knowing the Holy Spirit, and although many still do it to this day, it was never God’s intent or design. After Jesus finished His work and ascended to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven to empower the Believers so that we would not just “witness” but “be His witnesses.” If you’ve never heard or embraced the “rest of the story” about the power of the Holy Spirit and our need for Him in our daily lives, let me encourage you today to get to know Him. Ask Him to fill you to the full and then let Him “be the witness” through you.