And so we'll come back to romans chapter 16 a little bit
uh later in the in the sermon but uh
While you're there if you look at verse three, i'll just let you know who we're preaching about tonight. Uh, we're going to be preaching about
These two characters that we actually saw in acts chapter number 18 aquila and priscilla. It says there in verse three greet
Priscilla and aquila my helpers in christ. Jesus
So these were characters that we are originally introduced to in acts chapter number 18 again keep something there in romans 16
We'll look at a couple other passages in romans and go back to acts chapter 18 where we were
Just this last thursday night. There's really something there in the story about these characters that didn't have a lot of time to develop on thursday
So I thought to preach this tonight, but I want to preach about the journey
Of aquila and priscilla tonight the journey of aquila and priscilla and it's actually a pretty interesting one
In fact, uh, we're gonna probably just look at some chronology. Of course, you know, it's just more of a bible study more tonight
So
If you've been coming on thursday's nights, you're already pretty familiar with that
But just starting out of the gate when we first uh are introduced to these characters receive
Uh, we're meeting them the same time paul is as it says there in first at first one of acts 18
After these things paul departed from anthons and came to corinth and found a certain jew named aquila
Born in pontus lately come from italy and you learn a couple things right out of the gate here one
This is of course when they're introduced to one another but also about aquila more specifically is that he's from pontus
Which was a region, you know region just north of in asia there or or asia as it was called then today
We know it as turkey. That's where he was born and then it says that he was lately come from italy
So he's already somebody in his life that's used to moving around a lot and this is something
That I can kind of uh relate to when it comes to aquila
Yeah, I I know when I uh grew up, you know, we moved from one place to another
And then even in my adult years there's been some moving around and even after having gotten married and started a family
There's been more moving involved after that. So, you know, you could kind of
If you're if that's you, you know, you could probably relate a little bit
To uh this character aquila a little bit what it's like to be somebody who maybe moves around a little bit more
So that's one thing we learned about him is that he's somebody that's kind of
I don't want to say transient necessarily that he doesn't have any roots or he doesn't have any place to call home
He's just kind of making home wherever he ends up. Of course people move for different reasons and there's nothing wrong with that
Of course the reason he's now meeting up with paul and corinth is because of the fact that he's been kicked out of
The place that he's been calling home, you know ever since he moved to italy or rome
And it's I don't know if it will actually it is rome. We'll see that later. But he says, uh, it says there in verse two
He was born upon pontus lately come from italy with his wife priscilla, so he's a married man apparently no children
Which kind of makes sense because they do a lot of moving around you can see why maybe that's why god perhaps let them
Not have children, you know, maybe they did have children
I tend to think that they don't they didn't just simply because they're not being they're not mentioned here
And it says because that claudius had commanded all jews to depart from rome
so what's the reason for him being in corinth is because he's been kicked out of
He's been kicked out of rome. There's a roman emperor who's made a decree that all jews had to depart
And what's interesting about this is actually, you know, we're getting a name right claudius, right and
What's interesting that the bible is the time in which it was written?
of course, you know, we don't want to always turn all these external sources and rely on a bunch of
You know extra biblical writings to derive doctrine or things like that
What we believe about the bible the bible defines itself, but you know, I do believe that god
You know
allowed the the events of the new testament christ returning he timed all of that perfectly with uh,
the the history of of mankind
When you have the roman empire ruling establishing roads people are able to travel more
Written, you know languages are being established records are being kept. So
History itself tells us when this guy was this claudius reign is about 49 a.d
And you know that might seem it might seem a little dry
But if you ever wanted to delve in a little bit more into
Uh, you know when certain epistles were written, you know, these are the kind of details they have to pay attention to
You have to pay attention, you know, the bible's giving us clues that
Paul met him in Corinth and then he would trace out their travels which we'll look at a little bit tonight
And you can actually start to establish a timeline. Okay when certain things
Happened in the events of paul's life. And of course, perhaps even when certain letters were written that we have in the new testament
We won't go super deep into all that so you don't don't tune me out now
but uh
We're just learning a few things here about the journey of aquila and priscilla one is that they've are
Basically on the either been kicked out of their home
And you know, obviously that could be a very hard thing, you know, i'm they were probably comfortable in rome
They probably had a nice life
They had family they had friends. They had familiarity, you know, they had
A made a life for themselves there and now they're being expelled because of the fact that you have a roman empire roman emperor
Who just doesn't want the jews around for whatever reason we won't get it all that
But now they're you know having to go to a whole other country a whole other city
and yet
God uses this in their lives, you know, sometimes the things that happen to us we think oh, this is terrible
What what's going wrong? Well, it could be that god could use these things for his glory
So he meets up with uh, paul meets up with aquila and priscilla
There in corinth and he came under them. Of course as we saw last week
He was at the same craft and he bowed with them and wrought
And for by their occupation they were tent makers so they get together. They say you're a tent maker
I'm gonna take tent maker. Let's hang out
And you know, they're getting saved and also paul is discipling priscilla and quilla
Aquila and priscilla says in verse 11 and he continued there a year and six months
Teaching the word of god among them. So paul is staying there in corinth
And he's preaching of course to the many people that are getting saved jews gentiles
But in that process, he's also you know, uh instructing priscilla aquila and priscilla. He's he's instructing them
He's teaching them
And this is part of the great commission. Okay, and there's there's application to be made here
You know, of course, we all know, you know, uh, matthew 28 that we were to go into all nations
And to teach them and we're to baptize them the name of the father son the holy ghost
That's obviously a big part of the great commission to go and preach the gospel to every creature. We understand that
But you know, that's not where that commission ends, you know in matthew 28, we all know verses 19 and 20
He says hey go baptize them in the name of the father son and holy ghost
Teach them and also verse 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you that is part of the great commission
It's not just to get people saved but it's also to teach them
All things that have been commanded us in the word of god. That's part of it
You know getting people in church teaching them the word of god
Obviously, you know, we can't force people to do that, you know in the day and age
We're living in people are less inclined to want anything to do with the word of god
They're less inclined to want to come and hear the preaching of the word of god
Nonetheless that is our job. That is what we are here to do
That's what we see paul doing, you know paul in his day is just leaving awake
of disciples awake
Of fired up zealous christians behind him who are continuing on the work that he is starting
He's showing up in these cities and just from scratch preaching the gospel getting people saved establishing churches ordaining elders
Bringing up disciples and then as we'll see tonight when he leaves when he departs
You know those same people continue on doing the same thing that he himself has done
And that is how we to this day still have
The doctrines that we believe of course, we have the word of god. We have the the instruction the teaching
There's just an unbroken line of discipleship going all the way back to that. Okay, that's how
Uh, you know churches have been established
So he comes to them he disciples them. He's continually there a year and six months
And then they eventually, uh, they all travel to ephesus if you look at verse 18
So again, we're just looking at the journey of aquila and priscilla
Obviously the book of acts the latter half of it is just all about the journeys of the apostle paul
But what's interesting is that within those, uh that journey there are also many other
Smaller journeys we see other people coming. We've looked at the journey of john mark
And others so we're looking tonight at another little micro journey within that
If you look at verse 18 and after paul
And paul after this tarried there yet a good while and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence to syria
And with him priscilla and aquila having shortened his head in centria for he had a vow and he came to ephesus
And left them there
So they all arrived eventually in ephesus and paul eventually was going to take his departure from them
In ephesus and leave them there and they apparently continued there for a season as well
Says in verse 20 when they desired him to tarry longer time with them
He consented not but bade them farewell saying I must by all means keep this feast which cometh in jerusalem
But I will turn again to you unto you if god will and he sailed from ephesus
So aquila and priscilla are meeting paul and Corinth. They're they're leaving rome. Okay, that's what we know thus far that they've been
You know kicked out of rome essentially they're meeting up with the man of god paul in Corinth
They're learning about christ, they're being discipled they're getting saved they're continuing with him
They're learning all these things that have been commanded us as christians and then they go on and travel with paul
So, you know, they're kind of just moving going with the flow. They're just kind of going along with paul
Wherever he's going to go. That's where they're going to go and they're just going to continue to minister alongside him
they're not really looking to just stay in one place and
You know, they that might have been their intention when they were in rome
The only reason they're in Corinth is because of the fact that they were kicked out of rome
They might have known attention to ever ever left rome
They might have wanted to stay there the rest of their lives
But nonetheless god saw fit to allow certain events to come into life to put them where they were
Okay, and they just kind of continue to go along with the ride and following paul
Now when aquila and priscilla are left there in ephesus what we see is that they continue to go along with paul
We see is that they continue to reside paul of course goes on from there
And they don't just sit back and start taking it easy
They actually are helping the the churches that have been established there
They're establishing helping paul establish the church helping build up that church being a blessing that church
and uh, you know and so on and so forth
You know priscilla and aquila
Are people that are mentioned elsewhere in scripture paul of course developed a deep affinity with these people
He had a bond with them and that's why you see them brought up in other epistles
We read it in romans 16, but he's they're brought up elsewhere
For example in first corinthians 16 19 the churches of asia salute you aquila and priscilla salute you much in the lord
With the church that is in their house
Now as I you know, if I kind of put the pieces together i'm trying to kind of wrap my own head around this
You know my personal belief is that the at this time the house that he's referring to is the one that they have in ephesus
Okay
That it appears to me that they've established themselves in ephesus and they're not though
They are tent makers. They might perhaps did not decide to just live in a tent, you know
Maybe they decided hey, this is where god's going to have us
We're going to buy a home here and they're going to host the church core and of that course, that's a great
Proof text that you know, there's nothing wrong with the church starting in a house now
There could be some things wrong about a house church. That's you know, the house church movement. That's a whole nother
Subject but you know a lot of great churches have been started in living rooms in people's homes. Okay, there's nothing wrong with that
Of course, we always want to be growing out of that
as the lord grows the church
So they're there in uh in ephesus and paul has gone on
And of course they're coming from corinth
So at some point after their departure paul is writing back to the first corinthians to the corinthians in first corinthians
And he's saying hey the churches of asia salutes you right and that's where when paul
Left them. That's where he went
He went and he visited all these other churches which were in asia
Okay
And now he's writing back at some point later to the church in corinth and he's saying all the churches that i've visited in asia
They salute you and we know what those churches are
We could go to revelation chapter 1 verse 11 and read about the seven churches which are in asia, which we would call turkey today
Okay, so he's he's departing from them in ephesus
He's visiting all these other churches there from as I piece it together or abiding in ephesus
They've been left behind appears to me. They've established a home that's there at that point and they're starting a church
It seems like they're putting down their roots again
And I believe that's an important detail because we're going to see
Later that that's not where they ended up staying the rest of their life
Anyway, that's that they but while they were there they said hey, let's put down some roots
Let's be a blessing while we're here. Let's do what we can to help the church that we're a part of now locally, okay
And paul is writing back to the corinthians and saying hey
Priscilla quilla and priscilla they greet you and the church is in their house
And if you know the geography there, of course corinth is on the opposite side
On the of the agean sea and the west, you know beyond the west coast of the agean sea
Which is on the opposite side of turkey or asia in the bible
So you could see the separation that's there, okay?
So while they're there in ephesus the bible goes on tells us in acts 18 that the next thing that happens in their journey
This journey with the quilla and priscilla is that they meet apollos, okay, which is another
A significant person in the scripture. There's not a lot about him. But what little we do know, you know is is encouraging
Okay, but there's a lot of great things about apollos, you know, we could probably preach just a whole sermon about him
And it says in verse 24 in a certain june named apollos born in alexandria
An eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures came to ephesus
It says in verse 25 this man was instructed in the way of the lord. So he had some things down, right?
He had some things right and being fervent in the spirit
He spake and taught diligently the things of the lord knowing only the bathroom baptism of john
So he didn't have the full context of everything that had taken place
But you know, he's he's he's a fervent in the spirit. He's instructed in the way of the lord
He's got some things right and he's doing a great work and he began it says in verse 26 to speak boldly in the synagogue
Whom when aquila and priscilla had heard they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of god more perfectly
Now you can see what's taking place here is that
Paul has come and met aquila after they've been kicked out of rome
And they're meeting in Corinth and paul is taking them under his wing and teaching and instructing them
After their departure in ephesus from one another when they split and they aquila and priscilla stay there
They meet apollos and what do they do?
They do exactly what paul had done for them. They take apollos to themselves probably not to the same degree
But you know bringing him up to speed they in turn disciple apollos
You know, and this is a great pattern for how churches are built and established
This is a great pattern for how we ought to be living our lives, you know
We need to start out as babes in christ. We start out as uh, you know
Not knowing the things that we will grow into and mature into over time
But you know, we should get to a place in our christian walk and in our life
Where we're not only the ones that are instructed but we're also the ones that are doing the instructing
You know, we need to be there ought to be a time when we become teachers and not know those that have
Need of milk, right but are ready to are able to handle the strong meat of the word and and to
Impart that into other people, okay
That's what we see. I believe happening in the journey of aquila and priscilla. So obviously there's the geographic journey, right?
We have the the locations that they're going but we're also seeing their spiritual journey their spiritual growth their spiritual development, okay
They're being discipled by paul when they finally paul departs from them, you know, they're not helpless babes
That are just left out in the spiritual cult they're able to stand on their own two feet
Even to the point where they're able to take a man that's instructed in the lord
Like apollos and help him and make him and sharpen him even more, you know
The the bible talks about how a man's uh, you know as iron sharpens iron
So does a man, uh his friend and i'm paraphrasing that right?
But you know, that's the principle there is that you know, we ought to make one another better
We ought to improve one another we ought to be helping one another to grow in the lord teaching and instructing
And bringing others along in their walk with christ
What's interesting is that this pattern then continues with apollos, right?
Because it says in verse 27 and when he would dispose to pass into kaia
The brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him who when he was come helped them much when which had believed through grace
so now he's taking what he's learned from a
Paul, uh, uh, uh quilla and priscilla what you know, which they had already learned from paul
It's being passed down and now he's taking it back and he's helping the church and those that have believed there
For he mightily convinced the jews and that publicly showing by the scriptures that jesus was the christ you say what's the point of the sermon?
What can we take away from this?
What can we learn from just the simple plain dry facts of where somebody went and when and who they met and what they did?
Well, what we can learn tonight is that you know, we must reproduce spiritually
You know if we want a church to grow if we want a church to be established if we want to do greater works for
God we have to take it upon ourselves as a body to reproduce as individuals
We can't just rely on somebody else to do all the work. That's not how it works. Is that what paul did?
You know paul brought of course, you know, he took initiative. He was a leader. He went out there, you know, he he was bold
He uh did a lot of great work, but you know along the way he's bringing a lot of other people with him
And he's bringing them up and growing them up and then they're able to go out and do likewise, okay
We must reproduce spiritually go to titus chapter one keep something in acts 18 go over to titus chapter number one
This is paul's ministry. This is what he's trying to establish
Throughout all you know all the the region throughout all the nations of the gentiles
Because he knows, you know, he's just one man. He can't do it all
He can't be in all places at all times wherever he goes. He has to have people that can continue on the work of god, okay?
Look at titus where he's writing to tyson says in verse five for this cause I left the in crete
now remember titus was somebody again just like
Uh, priscilla and aquila that had journeyed had spent a time a season with paul
But there came a time where paul said hey i've got to go this way
You need to stay in crete and continue doing the work that you've been trained to do. Okay
He said for this cause I left thee and create that thou should and order the things that are wanting
And ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee saying stay there and of course
Then you have all those qualifications that are there for the pastorate
But he's saying stay there find these faithful men that are going to be able to teach others also
And you're going to need to uh set an order to things that are wanting you need to establish elders in every city
Go to second timothy chapter two
You know, we'll look at this again with another one of paul's proteges
timothy who we met in act 16, right
Right
Look the bible says that the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life and he that win his souls is wise
The fruit of the righteous now, who's the righteous? Well, that's us
You know if we're born again, we're made righteous in christ. Jesus, right?
That's us the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
So the fruit is a tree
And you got to kind of think about that for a second
Right because it seems like it's backwards doesn't the tree come and then the fruit
But it says that the fruit of the righteous is a tree
But yet a tree is what bears fruit
But that's the pattern that we're seeing in the book of acts is that paul a tree of righteousness himself is bearing fruit
Right and that fruit in turn is then bearing other trees because that you know
I know today all of our fruit is is missing seeds in it. Okay
I know there's no seeds and bananas or grapes or oranges anymore
But there was a time
When you'd go and buy produce and it actually the fruit that you bought would actually have a seed in it
Okay, but now through all the genetic modifications and all the the breeding practice or whatever they call it
I don't know through all the agricultural practices. They've even managed to just eliminate seeds from so so no one breaks a little tooth or whatever
You know, you can't get seeds and watermelon. That was my favorite part as a kid
Yeah, they tasted good, but I like spitting seeds
Right, but we've gotten so people are so full removed. They don't understand how this works anymore
What's the purpose of the seed in the fruit to bear another tree?
You know it falls to the ground. It's got those nutrients
It's got everything that it needs to be taken in perhaps a bird would come and eat that
And then carry those seeds elsewhere and and another tree would spring up as a result of the fruit
You know the tree doesn't just drop other trees around it
It bears fruit
And it's a fruit that then itself becomes a tree
And that's a picture of how we ought to be as christians
You know our fruit is another
soul-winning christian
Of course, you know
It's going to be people that get saved and never want to have anything else to do with the things of god beyond that
But there ought to be some fruit in our lives
We ought to be able to look back and say hey the fruit that i've born has actually become another tree and is bearing fruit itself
That's the pattern that we're seeing in acts. That's the pattern that is laid out for us in the new testament
Paul is going through and he's not just well, I got all these people saved and you know
Hopefully somebody else comes along and does it again in the next generation
Hopefully there's just one other guy that comes along and does all the work that i've done all over again
And just gets all the all the other people that have been born
Since i've passed off to get saved. No, he's saying you know what i'm gonna go and bear fruit
The fruit that I bear is going to continue to do the exact same works that I have done
And that's what jesus told his disciples
You shall do even greater works than these not in terms of quality but in quantity
You know, you're gonna you know, the the gospel the poor have the gospel preached to them
That's what he said when they came in at when john the baptist was doubting in prison and they sent
Uh, you know, he sent his disciples unto him, you know, are you him? Are you the christ or should we look for another?
And he said go tell paul those things which you have seen and heard and he lists all the miracles that are taking place
How people are, you know
The blind are receiving the saint the lame are walking in the day the dead are raised to life and the poor
Have the gospel preached to them
Look, we might not do a bunch of great miracles like christ did but we can certainly check off that last one and go
Preach the gospel to the poor
And in the course of doing that we're going to find there's going to be other people that we come across not every single person
But we're going to eventually start bearing fruit and having other people
Also themselves become soul owners become fruit-bearing christians. That's the testimony of some people in this church right now
Somebody met them preached them the gospel got them saved. They weren't thinking about soul winning
They weren't thinking about the things of god
They weren't intending to sit in some independent fundamental baptist church
And listen to some preacher get up and you know foam at the mouth and rattle his cage
It's spit and yell about the word of god, but here they are
That is the testimony of some people
That that's that's my testimony, you know, I ran into some, you know some, you know, zealous christian
And they told me about a good baptist church
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of light
Life the fruit is a tree. Okay, that's the example we see in paul's life
And he was and it didn't just happen by accident
You know paul met, uh, you know, uh,
Aquila and took him under his under his wing. He took him alongside him
And he instructed him in the way of the lord so that when they were finally able to part a year and a half later
Or however long it was
You know aquila and priscilla were more than equipped to continue doing the work that paul was doing
He'd reproduced himself. Okay, and then they did that and now you've got apollos running around doing the same thing. Okay?
He did it with titus look at second timothy chapter two verse one thou therefore my son be strong in the grace
That is in christ jesus
And the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men
Who shall be able to teach others also?
He's saying i've taught you you find faithful men who will also be able to teach others
I instructed you now you go instruct others who will also will be able to instruct others
Paul's thinking, you know multi-generational christianity here
He's thinking down the line
He's thinking how are we going to get this keep this thing going? How are we going to keep perpetuating this thing?
How is this going to keep being an unbroken chain of faith and work?
He's saying well, you know, we've got to instruct we got to bring up other people teach them and instruct them
Obviously, you know that takes a lifetime sometimes
It takes years
It takes you know, a lot of work. It takes a lot of investment in other people
It takes a lot of faithfulness on the part of others
And that's why it's an important thing to be in church
That's why it's an important thing to be reading your bible and praying and studying so that you can grow
I mean, how can you teach people something you yourself have never learned?
How can you how can we reproduce if you know, we're still a babe
You know if we if we're not mature enough to go out there and win a soul to christ
If we don't know the things of god well enough to to show them
Uh, you know the truth of god the truths of god's word, you know, how are we going to?
perpetuate this work
It's going to die on the vine. That's what's going to happen
You know and that's that would be a real
Tragedy that would be a real unfortunate thing
And here's what we can learn from the journey of priscilla and aquila
Is that you know, there's this geographical moving that's taking place in life and we see the spiritual moving the spiritual growth in their life
But you know what we see is that in order for them to have done what they've done
In for order for timothy to be able to do what he's done. It required sacrifice, didn't it?
It required leaving behind that which is familiar
timothy left
And went with paul
You know, he traveled and journeyed with him titus went and journeyed, you know with with this older single man
You know just to learn the things the word of god just to learn how
To build a church how to preach the word of god how to run a church how to be uh, discipled. That's that's what they did
You know, that's not the most exciting thing for a lot of people i'm sure
You know, there's probably a you know a lot of other things especially these days that young men would probably rather be doing that
They would think hey, that doesn't sound as exciting as you know, x y and z
And you know, we're living in a culture today. I mean, it's it's just dumbfounds me sometimes
The the level of prosperity that we're just accustomed to in this world in this country
Just the frivolous things that we can just engage in and look i'm not saying that you shouldn't
I'm, not saying it's necessarily bad. You know what it should not come at the expense of serving god ever
I mean good night some of the things that people can go out and do today. I mean, it's like
Not that long ago people would have been like you're doing what man, what are you rich?
It's insane
And we're we're just so used to it
And we're just so accustomed to all these these niceties and all these different hobbies and all these different ways in which we can just spend
Our leisure time, you know leisure time in itself is a is a privilege of the affluent
You know, oh i'm so poor
You don't get to say that when you live in the united states
You know when you're when we work 40 hours a week and have all our needs met
You know when we're just living in the lap of luxury. I mean there's been nothing like it in the history of mankind
it's the pinnacle of just
You know, it's it's prosperity at its utmost
So what i'm getting at, you know
Is that there's a lot of things that people can get caught up in and distracted by and pulled into
And leave the work of god undone and it's not right
If we're going to follow this pattern that we see in the book of acts with the life of paul
We're going to have to be like an apollos. We're going to have to be like a timothy
We're going to have to be like a titus
We're going to have to be willing to sacrifice and leave behind perhaps even that which is familiar
And maybe it's not even a geographical thing
Maybe it's we need to get out of our comfort zone a little bit and be a little bit bolder with people
You know
Obviously, you know, I have a role to play in help helping build this church. Okay, but so does everybody else that's here
You know and i've preached from time to time. Hey, you don't invite people to church you get somebody saved bring them in here
But you know what the cop-out is a lot of people say well, I don't know how to do that. Well, can you show us?
Can I show you how to invite someone to church? Is that what you're asking me?
Because i've preached things like this and then i've had some people come to me. Well, how do we do that?
How do you invite someone to church, right?
It's to me i'm like you need a class on this like you need to be discipled on how to ask somebody to come to church
Or how to like hey, do you need a ride? Do I need to help you know to you know, it's it's kind of a cop-out
That's what I think
Say well, you know if a deacon's not gonna put on a you know, an eight-hour class on how to you know
Get people to church then it's not on me
Well, you know
I don't that's that's kind of a cop-out in my opinion
Because to me it doesn't seem that hard
The hard part is actually finding somebody who will come to church
That's the hard part
The day and age that we're living which goes on the point. I was just making
People are more interested in sitting at home I mean didn't didn't wasn't it kick off day to day
Yeah, how did I know that?
Because you know, you're getting all the advertisements you're getting I'm getting a text on my phone. Hey, it's game day order a pizza
From pizza patron which they've gone downhill folks and they find another chain
I'm disappointed. This message is not brought to you by pizza patron
Okay, this is a you know, the great thing about tucson is that you're surrounded by mexican food
Some of the best you'll find this side of the border
Amen
But as far as pizza goes it's a bit of a dearth. All right, but when you got mexican food who needs pizza, I mean so
Mexican pizza. Well, that's what they're trying over at patron. It ain't working out so well
Yeah, not everything has to have a jalapeno on it. Okay
Maybe burgers. All right
But the point i'm making is that you know a lot of people today
The hard part of building a church is getting people to actually be interested enough in the things of god
It's not oh, how do I do that? How do I get somebody to come to church?
You know, I need a class and look i'm not against having class. Maybe we will one day. Hey, this is how you do it
Here's a program. Here's a system
But you know paul just took the time to spend to spend the time with people taught them how to do it, you know
Priscilla and aquila. They just saw paulus or everybody's doing and they said hey, come here
Let's talk and they just instructed them. They just they they did what you're going to have to do
Eventually, it's just open your mouth and start talking about it
You know, hey you get someone saved come get baptized let me tell you about baptism
Here's how jesus got baptized. Here's how the ethiopian unit got baptized and i'm not saying you got to spend 20 30 minutes at the door
You know, but that might be the thing that brings people in you never know
The hard part is not you know, uh how to do it it's finding people that are willing to
But you know, that's what i'm saying it's going to take to build the church to do the work of god
It takes about you know, leading behind that which is familiar
Maybe not even geographically, but maybe getting out of your comfort zone a little bit and being bold enough, you know
obviously everyone in the room here tonight is a soul winner and has gotten over the
You know the the the butterflies of preaching the gospel
Well, what could you go beyond that? You know, what what how much more could you stretch yourself on behalf of the ministry here in tucson?
Ask yourself that
So this is the journey of aquila and priscilla now what's interesting about aquila priscilla is that you see that you know
they're kind of forced into Corinth because of
the
Decree of claudius, you know expelling all the jews out of rome
But then when they're there they're saying, you know, let's make best out of a bad situation. They start making sacrifices
They're willing to just follow paul
They're going to ephysis, you know establishing home bringing the church into their house doing whatever they have to do to get the ministry
Off the ground to help be a blessing finding apollos instructing him discipling other believers and they're doing a great work for god
What's interesting is and if you would go over to romans chapter number one
Is that god allows them to then after all that to return to rome?
That eventually, you know a short time later probably, you know within five to ten years
They're back in rome where they had started
Look at romans chapter one verse one. It says paul
A servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle separating the gospel of god, right?
So he's writing verse seven to all that be in rome. So who's the book of romans written to?
To all those that be in rome, right? So he's writing back to rome
So he's writing to rome go back to romans 16 where he were
Romans chapter number 16. So if he's writing to the people in rome, you know, check chapter 16 verse 3
You got to kind of figure out that
Priscilla and quilla must be back in rome. Okay, because it says in verse 3 greet priscilla and quilla
My helpers in christ jesus. Well, we can't paul because they're in ephysis. This is rome. Hello
Are you confused? No, it's because they went back because they were in rome
It's because they went back because that same decree that claudius had put out there expelling them
You know, he died a short time later history tells us and that ban was lifted
you know, so, you know the application is that you know,
Sometimes god brings things into our lives that on the surface might be stressful
But it might be what the thing that god is using to stretch us
To make us a better christian to help us to grow god will put us into difficult situations. Maybe situations. We wouldn't choose
Maybe situations we wouldn't prefer but those might be the exact things that god is going to use
To force us to grow up in christ and to be a greater blessing to other people
Because it's a it would have probably been just a lot easier to just sit in rome the rest of their lives
And just run their little tent business in rome and never have to pull up stakes and you know be forced out into another city
And meet this zealot named paul and start following him around and then turn to these zealots themselves and then try to make other zealots themselves
That took a lot of work that took a lot of sacrifice that took a lot of uncertainty, didn't it?
But look what it accomplished
for the work of god
Look what accomplished for the cause of christ would have been a lot easier sure to just sit in rome on their duff and done nothing
But you know look what they were able to accomplish even through that difficult circumstance
Verse five likewise
Greet the church that is in their house
So it seems to me like they got back there got reestablished
And are doing the same thing. They went out there into the world. They were forced out
God grew them and then they were actually able at one some point be able to return back
And take what they had learned with them and be a blessing
Uh, then when where they had, you know where they had started where they had been
You know, but if they just stayed in rome that never would have happened
They would just been their typical
You know romans they've just been typical, you know people that were citizens of italy
But because of the situation the difficulties they had because of you know, just some random law written by some random emperor
You know, they ended up becoming these great powerful
Missionaries these christ these uh, this great christian couple that is doing great works for god, okay
It's not something they probably would have chosen for themselves. But nonetheless
Uh once they got on board with god's program man, they were all in
If you would go over to uh
Keep something in romans. We'll come back one more time tonight at the end
But uh, i'll hurry up. I know i've been going long in the morning
So i'll hurry up and go to luke chapter number 12 luke chapter number 12
So we're just looking at a real simple lesson tonight out of the ax 18
The journey of aquila and priscilla, you know, we look at the geographical
But there's some spiritual application to be made out of their geographical, you know, wanderings whatever you want to call it
And we see that they're willing to sacrifice and you know, one thing also that we learn from this is that
You know in the christian life we can't always boast ourselves of the morrow
You know, it's kind of a foolish thing to sit there and just assume that life is just going to continue to be the way
It has always been
Because we don't always know the directions in which god is going to take us
10 years ago if someone had come to me and said you're going to be the deacon of faithful word baptist church
Pastoring a church in tucson i'd have laughed
That's you know, I would have not have chosen that for me. I would not have said oh, yeah tucson sign me up
Yet here I am stuck
I'm, just kidding
Right, and I like to think honestly I say I say hey, this is it. We're in full tilt
But you know even then I I I don't know what what has god got in store, I don't know i'm assuming this is it
You know, I would prefer that at this point in my life that you know, hey i'm we're established finally
We went through our little limbo wandering from you know apartment to house and so on and so forth from
One end of the country to the other and you know, and now here we are established got a foothold somewhere. Praise god, you know
If this is where god wants me but also there's the principle is that we're learning tonight is that
Don't always assume that's going to be the case and i'm not
Saying that like trying to brace you guys like hey, just so you know
You know i'm out of here, you know, it's not at all what i'm saying
Okay, what i'm saying is that's that's how we should look at life
And not assume that you know
The way it's always been has been is the way it's always going to be
The bible says in proverbs 27 boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not when a day may bring forth that's proverbs 27
You know, we shouldn't boast of tomorrow. Oh tomorrow i'll do this. So the next year i'm going to do that
And have all these great plans. Look it's great to have plans. It's great to have a direction
It's great to have those things but don't act as if it's set in stone. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow
We can't control what's going to happen when we walk out that door
I mean there could be a comet hurtling towards us right now, right? Who knows we might not even make it out of this building folks
That's not a threat, okay
The other part of this verse I love it says let another man praise thee
And not thine own mouth a stranger and not thine own lips
And that's what you see in priscilla and aquila
Paul has a lot of great things to say about aquila and priscilla and we'll look at it here in a minute
But he's bringing them up in second timothy, you know, he's bringing them up in the book of romans, you know
They're being they're getting their own chapter in acts 18 their main care, you know, their main characters in that chapter at least
You know, but it's not they weren't going around saying well, don't you know who we are?
Right, that's not what they didn't set out with that intention
They didn't send out to be lifted up, you know, all these thousands of years laters as you know, a great people of faith
That's not what they set out to do they were kicked out of rome they were kicked out
They were told get out of here
They are probably uncertain. They probably didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow
But you know when they saw god's leading they just followed it
And not for some, you know vain glory not for some self-anggrandizement
They just did it because that was right because that's that's the christian life you grow you learn
You develop you you teach others you help them. They were just going on and as a result, they had the praise of the apostle paul
I mean, it's one thing to have another man praise me. It's another thing when the apostle paul is praising you
And lifting you up and saying hey salute them greet them and treat them
Well for my sake when paul is bringing up so many people in his epistles and say, you know salute so-and-so
You know make sure that when timotheus comes to you, you know, he he has no carefulness, uh, you know
He's able to come without fear take care of this guy take care of that guy
And all those people that paul says that about you know, they weren't boasting themselves
It was another man that was praising me they were just from day to day doing what was right
consistently
Not boasting themselves. No more the bible tells us in james 4 go to now
You that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes the way
For you ought to say the lord will we shall live and do this or that
But now you rejoice and your boastings all such boasting is evil
So he's not saying, you know don't have any clue I I have no idea what i'm going to be doing
You know a year from now. We truly don't know what we're going to be doing a year from now
He's not saying live some aimless directionist directionless life
You know have a goal have something you're moving towards
But you ought to say if the lord will we shall live and do this or that always understanding
Always having in the back of your mind god you have the you know, it could move in and shake things up
And our attitude should be please don't it shouldn't be oh god, please don't
What it rather should be is
Not my will but thine be done
If god said wants to put his finger there and mix things up saying go ahead
Because I know whatever god does it's going to turn out for good
I mean i'm sure priscilla and aquila are looking back and they're
You know, they maybe they you know sent flowers to claudius's grave and said hey, thanks for kicking us out
It turned out pretty good for us it worked out pretty good
We got to meet paul. We got to get saved and understand the things of god. We got to become
Help establish churches and bring up other men of god. We got to do these great works for god and now we're back
And we're going to continue serving god here
It might not have looked at on the outset
But in the end it turned out well, did I have you go to luke 12?
We all know this parable verse 13
And one of the companies said unto him master speak to my brother to divide the inheritance with me
And he said unto him man who made me a judge to divide her over you
And he said to them take heed and beware of covetousness
For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses
I mean imagine being that guy, you know, i'm gonna well i'm gonna go tell jesus
You know, he's got some squabble with his brother about the inheritance. Well, we'll go see what jesus says about it
And jesus says you know what your problem is is your covetous
That didn't go the way you were planning did it?
Well, what did jesus say it goes back to his brother so what do you say well, so that's coaches
Well who gets it? I don't know
Self yourselves to be defrauded. So paul wrote
He's saying take heed and beware of covetousness and notice the take heed
You know and again this goes back to us saying earlier. This is look covetousness
If there's one thing that you know, I know I preach a lot about but to me
It's just it's one of the things that we need to be preaching about today
Because I mean again it goes back to what I was saying we're living in such an affluent society
Or even you know, the poorest among us are enjoying some of the just the most
Just luxurious things that the world has ever known
Just walking around with computers in our pockets that can just entertain us endlessly
There's food everywhere
You know, we what what kind of what fare do you want?
Driving around in air-conditioned cars and you know and having you know, just the world at our fingertips
And if people want to go out there and just make a ton of money you can do it
So take heed, you know, that's that's why I bring this up so much
We don't want to get caught up in covetousness take heed because i've seen it happen
Where people just get more concerned with their comfort they're more concerned with the cares of this life than they are the things of christ
And it'll take them right out of church. They'll take them right out of serving god
You know and if it happens to anybody in this room
You won't be the first and you certainly won't be the last person that it happens to
And jesus warned about it repeatedly throughout the gospels
Okay, many several parables written about that and he's speaking another one here and he's saying take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life
Consenteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess it
Your life isn't about stuff
You know, what what what good is that what's life about for you things stuff
clothes and gadgets and gizmos and cars and houses and lands and hobbies and
That's not what life consists of go tell that to priscilla and aquila
Maybe they had an I mean if they're hosting a church in their house, they must have a nice house
I mean we we might be able to squeeze everyone in our house, but you know, it's not going to be that comfortable
I'm, not looking to you know, put a hundred people in my house
You know, and i'm sure they were running a decent-sized church then
You know
Here's the thing, you know
If we're going to make our life all about these things we're going to miss out on the things that really matter
If we're going to make our life all about possessions and things and stuff
You know, what good is it?
Yeah, priscilla and aquila might have had some nice things but they use it all the glory of god
They were you know, they got forced out of rome and they went back to making, you know, they're making tents
They're journeying with paul. They're traveling light
They're making do with what they got and they're just dedicated to the things of god
They're just giving themselves the service and the work of the lord
Did they profit a lot in this life where they did they have abundance of wealth in this life? Probably not paul certainly didn't
You know, he said i've learned to be a based i've learned to suffer one i've learned to be content
Whatever so ever state I am
He knows how to suffer need and how to abound why because he did it
Because he suffered need he's been destitute. He's been without proper clothing
He's gone, you know in fastings and watchings without sleep without food all for the cause of christ
He did not make his life about things and stuff
And hobbies and houses and lands and weather
I mean that's that's what some people's life is caught up in the weather
That's that's that that's you know, that's what's steering and directing their life what the weather's like somewhere
That's friend that's that's vain that's not that's an unchristian attitude
Sit there and look I understand that we're living
Now where hey, you know, there's some other church some other place where the weather you like it better great
You can go serve god there
But i'm saying some people forsake churches because of weather
Because they like the weather conditions in other places
Is there a good church there don't know and they're gone it's like how spiritual
You know, but it takes a little bit more than putting on a t-shirt once a week to actually have a walk with god
You know and and people want to just have all these
And look i'm not against people having scripture verses and all these christian sayings in their church
Not really my stuff on their shirts. It's not really my style, but you know what?
That not better be the the depth of your christianity
a graphic t-shirt
You know, that's that's not even skin deep it's on the surface of the skin
And jesus is warning about it repeatedly i'm going to continue to warn about it
Amen say man you bring up covetousness and all this stuff a lot. Yeah. Well, you know, jesus said take heed
Take heed
And i've seen it too many times
And I know i'll see it again
But it's not going to because I didn't preach it
And he spake a verbal unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully
And he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no room to where to bestow my fruits
And he said this will I do
I will pull down my barns to build grainer and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods
He said i'll just make bigger barns and i'll store more of it up and i'll just lay up treasures for myself
I'm not going to give it to the poor. I'm not going to give it to somebody
I'm not going to be a blessing to other people. I'm just going to keep it all for me because it's all about me
It's all about my stuff
And I will say to my soul soul that has much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry
I mean that's what people are that's that's the life that people want today
Work as little as they have to and just take their ease and just be comfortable and get fat and sassy
And have some big bankroll where they don't have to do anything
But god said unto him they see that's the thing that's the factor so many people live out and they're thinking god
It should be the first thing that comes to our minds especially as christians, but what would god have me do
Well, what does the bible say?
What did jesus teach?
You know, how should what should be my approach to life? How should what should my priorities be? Well, what did jesus say?
What does the bible say?
But it's the furthest things from so many people's mind even among god's own people even among christians
The thought never crosses their mind. Well, what would god have me do? What does the bible say?
But god said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required to be then who shall those things be which thou has provided
Yeah, go ahead and lay up all that stuff. You know what you're you're gonna die
You don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow
And if we live our lives
Just only thinking about tomorrow only thinking about that which is a far off and just making our lives all about ourselves and things
You know what? The bible says it says we're a fool
That's the fullest way to live your life
So is he verse 21 that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward god and he said in his disciples
Therefore I take saying to you take no thought for your life what you shall eat
No for the body nor what you put on the life is more than meat. The body is more than raiment
Consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap
Which neither have storehouse nor barn?
But god feedeth them how much more are ye better than the fowls?
So it's not even laying up riches. It's also we shouldn't even be careful for our needs
You know and and a lot of us could say well because it's not even a possibility for so many of us to have great wealth
It's like well, I got that one, you know check no problem. I'm going to worry about laying up stored treasures for myself
I haven't got treasures to lay up
You know, that's probably all of us probably fall into that category
But you know the one other category that we could all fall into also
The thing that we could be tempted with is worrying about not having enough
Worrying about not having our needs met and people do this
Do it's not that they're trying to get wealth
But what they end up doing is they just start, you know, skipping church for work
You know just making it like why because I gotta meet this bank where i've got these bills to pay and look i'm not saying
Don't pay your bills. I'm not saying uh, don't be responsible. But what I am saying is put god first
And god will help you and god will take care of those things
It's really easy to rip on the rich guy. It's real easy to rip rip on the guy who's laying up all this wealth for himself
Right, but you know what? It's it's what about us where we have to actually walk by faith and not by sight
Where we actually have to trust god
We actually have to maybe get down on our knees and say god. I don't know i'm gonna make ends meet help me
Okay
He said in verse 424 consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap which I already read that
Well, you know the rest of this of this uh, uh this parable
Go to romans 8 chapter 28. I'll close. I I threatened to close earlier
I said i'd be done about 20 minutes ago, right? No one here is keeping track though, right?
So
This was a this is the lesson that we learned from the journey with priscilla and aquila in acts 18
Is that you know, they did great things for god. They had the apostle paul praising them
They had they they're lifted up in scripture as these these great people of faith, but at what expense did it come to them?
How did they get there?
sacrifice
By spending a season of our lives just basically transient
Wandering with with paul going wherever they had to go. Yeah, just making tents and just you know, uh, uh,
Getting by trusting god ultimately
Having to walk by faith. That's how they got there
You know and it's a lesson for us today
And you know, sometimes we might find ourselves in life kind of wondering how things are going to work out or you know
maybe even bemoaning the
Things that have fallen under us. I mean i'm sure when
They were kicked out of rome and they're on their way to court. They're thinking
What are we going to do?
This is not what we this is not what I had planned
There was probably worry. They were probably fraught. They were probably
concerned
But look how it turns out they ended up back where they started in romans 16
And then there's this great verse in romans 8
verse 28 that we all know
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are called according to his purpose
Look if we just love god and just trust him
He'll take care of the rest
He'll guide us and show us. I mean, it wasn't like
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't like persona quill just sat there and said, okay god, we're hungry
You know
He said well, you know how to make tents, don't you?
Yeah, why don't you make some tents?
And and and i'll make sure that you can sell some tents
You know god provides a very practical way
God also chastens us in very practical ways, you know, we're always preaching about the chastening hand of god
Like i'm not talking about some giant, you know, like, uh, you know in daniel's day with uh,
Belshazzar when the when the hand comes out and writes upon the wall
right
Tikal tikal, uh mikkel you farcen or whatever, you know thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting
It's not like some literal hand is going to come down from heaven and spank your butt
Some big paddle going to come out of the sky
But god chases us very practically too, doesn't he?
And if we find ourselves kind of tight and things are getting kind of lean and everything's kind of going sideways on us
That just might be god going. Hey, I need your attention
I'm trying to get you to do something. I'm trying to get you to see things my way
That's why it's so foolish to put other things in front of god and think that they're going to work out
Just fine like that that guy and luke that we read about the rich man
He thinks i've got all this stuff has no thought for god
And i'm just going to build all these barns and god's like well
But what about me and god can just come in and just touch it and it's like your soul's required of you
If people live their lives this way
They get so caught up in the things and the stuff and all that and make all these plans with no thought to god
And they never stop to think that god just might put a stop to all of it
God might just take a wrench and just throw it right in the gears that you've laid out
And bring your all your plans to a screeching halt
Does god do that? Sure he can
And I believe he has and I believe he will
But you know what if we love god
And if we trust god, we know
All things are going to work together for good. I guarantee you that's what aquila priscilla said at the end of their journey
When they ended back up back in rome
Then you know they're being there's being hailed by paul they're being uh, you know
Paul's saying hi from you know from wherever he's at in the world
Their old friend is writing some letter and saying oh by the way
Make sure you salute aquila priscilla and the church is in their house
You know, they're getting some fond little note from the apostle paul
They're probably looking at each other and said well that turned out. All right, didn't it?
Things weren't so bad after all
You know if they could go back in time to that
And
And meet themselves when they first got kicked out when claudius had written his little decree there
They probably would say hey, it's gonna be all right
Okay, but you know when that things like that first happened
That's when it's that's when we have to start walking by faith and just trusting god
And be willing to just go on that journey wherever god's gonna take us and just love god serve god
Not get caught up in the affairs of this life not getting tangled in the affairs of this life
So we can please him who's called us to be a soldier and just endure hardness and you know if we do that
Things are going to work together for good no matter that's the promise that we have in roman's eight. That's not just
That's not just something you you know, your grandmother knits on some
You know, what do they call that cross stitching?
There's some embroidery that you hang in your in your grandmother's bathroom
You know right next to you know, uh first corinthians 13 or whatever
That's you know, I know this is a little hallmark greeting moment here in roman's eight that's kind of been commercialized
But this is the bible
This is the word of god and we have the promise that all things work together to good for for good to them
That love god, that's the important part. That's the key phrase in that verse
Well things don't seem to be working together for good
Well, how much are you loving god?
You know, i'm not saying that if you love god, you're never going to have problems
But those problems might be the exact things that god is using to get you where he wants you to be
You know that that thing in your life might be claudius's degree in your life
That's going to force you outside of your
Bounce it's going to force you outside of that which is familiar and force you to grow and force you to trust god
And and actually make you a profitable and fruitful christian yourself
So we need to be able to just recognize that to see that and accept it and just just make the main thing
Loving god love god love god. What's what?
You know, what's the application? Hey, what do you need to take home with you? Love god?
Don't stop loving god. Just keep loving god. Keep trusting the lord keep serving him
Day by day
And god will lead you god things will work out
For the best it might be a bumpy road, but you know what it ends well
But you know what it ends well, it's the destination is worth it. Let's go ahead close the word of prayer