Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

Good morning. Paul then goes to those same churches he visited before; but my Bible says he does so in reverse order from the first time. While he is doing that, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John (this will be important later). He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila (the couple Paul stayed with) heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. He wanted to go to the region around Corinth, and so he left Ephesus, and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace. He powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. While this was happening, Paul, during his journey, came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Why would he ask that? My guess is that he was not seeing any evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives, including speaking in tongues. The king James translates this passage as “since you believed”. Partially because of this, there is a Pentecostal group that says that receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a separate act from getting saved - they believe you must receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit to have Him within you. We will see next time how the disciples responded. Father thank You that we received the Holy Spirit when we believed. Thank You that He gives us guidance every day. Give the reader the guidance that he/she needs today.