(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The Bible reads, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them, and because he was of the same craft he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers. Now, the Bible here is talking about where Paul, he just finished with Athens, where he preached about the unknown god and the superstitions of the Athenians, and he's come to Corinth and he finds this Jewish man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla, and it says that they were of the same craft because Paul was a tent maker, and Aquila and Priscilla also made tents, and so he basically decided to join up with them, they were also saved, they were also believers, and so they're going to work together making tents and they're going to work together preaching the gospel. Go if you would to 1 Corinthians 9, are you okay just to the right of your Bible, and if I ask, Romans and then 1 Corinthians, because Paul talks a little bit about this in 1 Corinthians 9, about the fact that he basically worked a job, he didn't just preach full time, he actually did work a job in order to make money, he made tents in order to supplement his income, and he talked a little bit about that in 1 Corinthians 9, it says in verse number 11, If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power, you are not we rather. Nonetheless we have not used this power but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But I have used none of these things, neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me, for it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glory void. So here he explains that God is ordained, even in the Old Testament, that the Levites and the people who minister in the tabernacle and about the temple, they lived off of basically the tithes of the people and the offerings of the people that they brought to the temple. And he said, even so in the New Testament, God is ordained that those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But he said, but I have used none of those things. He said, but I have chosen to work a job. He said, I have chosen to minister to my own necessity and to make tests. Now, there were times when people did, you know, basically give up to Paul financially, and he did receive an offering. But by and large, you'll see him over and over again, working with his own hands, building the tents, paying his own way, as he moves into these new cities. Because you remember, Paul's going into brand new cities that have never even heard the gospel. He said that he sought to go where Christ had not even been named. And so he's going to all these foreign cities, and he walks into town, and he's preaching the gospel, he gets a church going, but he pays his own way, he pays his own bills, he works in a tent, In the book of 2 Thessalonians, he brings up the same thing. We don't need to turn there, but in 2 Thessalonians 3, he talks about the same thing. And he says that, you know, basically he could have the power to basically just receive a paycheck from being a pastor or being a preacher. He wasn't really a pastor, he was an apostle. But he said, I'd rather want to set an example for you to follow. Because he said, when we were with you, we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. And he said, I wanted to be an example to you in that area. Because he said, I know that among you, there are many that are busy, that are not working at all, he said. But they're busybodies. And he said, them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. You see, just like today, there were a lot of people in Thessalonica who didn't work. And they basically just live off of everybody else, and they refuse to work. And Paul said, you know, we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat if somebody refused to work. And so Paul said that he was working to try to set an example onto others how to work hard. And people needed to see that. Now, when I started Faithful Work Baptist Church a little over five years ago, you know, I did the same thing. I basically worked a full-time job and started the church, passed the church. And even when it got to a point where there was a lot of money coming in, I still chose to keep working, and I even hired somebody else to help, you know, around the church. You know, part of the reason why is because when I started Faithful Work Baptist Church, something that was really important to me was, like Paul said, to set an example that others could follow. I wanted to show what it was like to start a church without any outside financial support, just being totally independent. Therefore, a couple of guys already have followed that exact example that I've set, you know, and I explained this unto them. And they followed that exact example and started a church with no financial support, working a job, you know, doing it the old-fashioned way, and not relying on a bunch of other people but just relying on God and relying on the end of their own right arm, you know, to work and to make the living that they needed in order to pay their bills and so forth and start a church. And so that's important to be able to set that example of working. And that's what Paul's doing. But he's saying, look, it's still right for people to get paid to be a pastor or even a deacon. In the Bible, the deacons were a full-time worker, a full-time employee. And so now I'm at a point years later where I'm basically about half and half. You know, I've scaled down my fire alarm business, or rather it was kind of scaled down for me, and I'm basically, you know, doing half of that and half just working at the church and soloing. And, you know, I think that it's great to be able to devote more time onto that. But, you know, either way, what God's saying here is that it really could go either way. You shouldn't look down upon somebody who's just a full-time pastor and that's all they do and that's their only job because that is biblical. But you also should not look down on somebody who works a full-time job at pastors because that is also biblical. And a lot of people will look down on you like, oh yeah, he works a job, like he's not a real pastor. But literally, I can tell you, there have been pastors throughout the history of our country that have literally had churches that ran thousands and yet ran a business and worked full-time in that business. You know, there are examples of that. So what God is saying here is that either one is right. You can work a job and pastor the church if you're a pastor, or you can just be a full-time pastor, either one is fine. I've done different phases of my ministry. I've done both. You know, I've done a mixture. And that's what I find in Danny. That's what God is showing us in Acts 18. And I think it's great that Paul knew how to work hard with his hands. You know, there's something to be said for somebody who does hard work and can set that example. And the other thing about that is that, you know, if you're really going to be a biblical pastor, it is hard work, because the Bible says, He that desireth the office of a bishop desireth the good work. And so somebody who's going to be a pastor should be willing to work physically, because let me tell you something. Going out to nobody is a physical job. You know, and a lot of pastors, they want to be a pastor, but they don't want to do that hard physical work of just knocking doors and walking miles and miles. When you go soloing, you walk a lot of miles every day. And a lot of pastors would rather just sit in the office or whatever, but, you know, God has commanded us as pastors to do the work of an evangelist. And evangelist means somebody goes out and preaches the gospel to unsaved people. And that's going to take walking. That's going to take your feet shot in the preparation of the gospel of peace. It's going to take physically being out there on your feet, you know, the mailman's on one side of the street, you know, walking and sweating and drinking water, and you're on the other side, you know, knocking the doors. And like I said, you're not just dropping something off. You're actually opening your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. And so that's what we see about Paul here. He worked as a tent maker, a blue collar job, you know, just working with his hands. And that was a great example to the people in his churches that he went to. It says in verse 4, And he reasoned in the synagogues every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. So what I like here is that he's not just trying to reach a certain group. He doesn't just only go to the Jews. He doesn't only go to the Greeks. He's going to reach the Jews and the Greeks. And that's how we ought to be. We should just preach it to every preacher and not leave anybody out. He says in verse 5, When Silas and Timotheus will come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. So here's a guy who really cares about people. He's not just going through the motions here. He's pressed in spirit. Even after all the years of preaching, he still has a burden for the lost. He still looks upon his physical brethren, the Jews, and basically has compassion on them and wants them to be saved to where he's pressed in spirit. To where it's bugging him. He wants to get out there and get them saved. We don't want to ever get past that. To where it's just mechanical, going out and getting the gospel. We should be pressed in our spirit and say, Hey, the lost need to hear the gospel. If we don't go, no one will. And we need to have that attitude. It says in verse 6, And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, for henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Isn't that interesting? It says when they opposed themselves. So really, is it any skin off Paul's back here? No. They're not hurting him. And that's why he turns around, shakes his raiment. Similar to when the Bible talks about shaking the dust off your feet. He shook off his raiment and said, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, for henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Because you see, they opposed themselves. This term is used also in 2 Timothy chapter 2, when it says, A maintenance instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, the acknowledging of truth. Obviously, yeah, they're opposing the gospel. Obviously, they're opposing the Apostle Paul. But you know what? Really, they're the one who's losing. They're really shooting themselves in the foot. They're really the ones who are suffering here when they won't receive the gospel. And he says, Your blood's upon your own head. Now, hold on a second. Stop. Don't just blow past that verse. He said, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. But hold on a second. Is it possible that someone's blood could be upon your head? Because he said to them, Well, your blood's upon your own heads. I'm clean. But wait a minute. Is it possible that someone's blood could be upon our heads? Well, look at Acts 20, just two pages later here, and you'll see that it is possible. It's possible because it says in verse 20, and it says in verse 26, Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. Kind of like where he said, Your blood's upon your own heads. I'm clean. Here he says, I am pure from the blood of all men. Why? For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And he said in verse 20, to go up a little bit, He says, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. He says, Look, I have declared unto you all the counsel of God. I am pure from the blood of all men because I preached unto you the gospel of God. But see, look at Ezekiel chapter 3. Go back in the Old Testament now to Ezekiel chapter 3. There's three great big books at the end of the Old Testament. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Look at Ezekiel chapter number 3. It says in verse 17, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Here God's giving a principle. He's using a parable here of a watchman on a wall. Basically back then they had cities with walls around them and there would be people who would stay up all night, the watchman on the wall, and they would watch and they're looking for invaders from another country. They're looking for an enemy. And when that enemy would come, they would sound the alarm. They would sound the trumpet and basically the minutemen of the city, as it were, could basically get their arms in order and get their weapons together and be ready to fight so that they're not suddenly just taken by surprise and taken by the enemy. So God said, if you're a preacher, Ezekiel, you're like under that watchman. You basically see the doom and destruction coming. You see that the wicked is on his way to hell and you basically warn him for it. You hear God's word and you preach that word to warn people about coming judgment, and coming doom and destruction. And he says, if you don't warn them... And this is another verse that defeats Calvinism, by the way, the ones that say, well, whoever's going to get saved is going to get saved anyway because God chose the whole thing. You know, it's up to God. Here he says, no, if you don't warn them, they're not going to get saved. They're going to be destroyed. But I'll hold you responsible. He said, you're responsible. Their blood's on your head. You know, I'll require his blood at thy hand, which means that I'm holding you responsible. It's your fault, as it were. But he says, if you warn them and they just dismiss the warning and don't care, he says, you know what, they'll die, but at least you deliver your soul, basically saying it's not your fault. You know, it's not on your head. And that's what Paul keeps saying. He said it in chapter 18 of Acts. You can go back to Acts if you would. He said it in Acts 18, and he said it in Acts 20. He said, look, I'm clean. I'm pure from the blood of all men. He said, your blood's upon your own head. I warned you. I preached the truth unto you. I preached it to everybody. And he said, you know, if you oppose yourself and you don't want to hear it, that's your problem. I'm going to move on. And, you know, that's one thing we need to work on, too. Obviously, when you're out stolen and you really want people to get saved, but some people, they get so upset that it just bothers them when people reject the gospel. And sometimes it can stop them from going stolen. I've literally taken somebody's soul with me. And as soon as they start seeing people reject the gospel, they got discouraged and said, man, I'm not doing this anymore. You know, but you've got to learn to just shake off the dust to your feet and just go to the next one, go to the next door, go to the next town. And Jesus said, you know, if any, man not written anything. And if any man, what is it? Go to Matthew 10. Go to Matthew 10. I want to give you the exact quote. It's a great quote. Let me turn there. Sorry. I have it memorized. You know, you get up in front of people and you draw a blank. Matthew 10, 14, it says, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of that house. So it might even just be an individual house where somebody just really just rejected the gospel. Or it might be a whole city. You know, you go to that city and just nobody wants to hear it. And he says, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. And he said, well, what's the significance of that? Why do that? Why shake the dust off your feet and God's going to judge it like, or worse, than Sodom and Gomorrah? Because it causes you to not be angry. Because God doesn't want us to get bitter and mad, you know, from going out and preaching the gospel and people rejected. He doesn't want us to go away mad. He doesn't want us to go home and I get home to my wife and say, oh man, I can't believe I was out so late and everybody was rejecting me and they're mad. You know, it just makes me so mad. You know, we shouldn't be like that. You know, when we go out and they reject the gospel, you know, just shake off the dust of your feet and say, you know what? Not my problem. And you know that no matter how bad they cursed you or whatever they said to you, you know what? God's going to take care of it. They've got something coming to them that you just don't have to avenge yourself or be all mad or I'm going to show them. You know, God will take care of it. And this will help you to not be bitter and angry because you're being rejected. You know, I was soul winning yesterday and man, a lot. You know, I was soul winning for a substantial amount of time, two different times yesterday and just nobody got saved. I mean, it was just one of those days and especially the first days, I was out by myself. Later on, I went with Brother Saquara but in the early part of the day, I was out by myself then I went with two people. And I was in this neighborhood where everybody was, it was like a 55 and over neighborhood. And I'll tell you something, there is nobody that's more unreceptive to the gospel than the elderly today. I don't know, you know, and I think part of it has to do with what I preached on Sunday morning. You know, a lot of people just kind of already made their choice. You know, it's just kind of too late for them. But the sad thing is that when you go to neighborhoods where it's a lot of older people, sometimes they just really are not receptive to gospel and in fact, it's almost like clockwork that the younger the crowd, the more receptive. I mean, the older, the less receptive. It's almost exactly like that. So I'm in this neighborhood and everybody's older and everybody's retired and I'm knocking doors and knocking doors and I mean, people were just, not only were they not getting saved, I mean, they were just rude, they're mad, they're angry. You know, it's just, hi, how are you doing? Just want to invite you to church? You know, oh yeah, you're a giant. It's like, oh whoa, sorry, all right, have a good day, see you later. You know, I mean, I was just being friendly, just okay, no problem. People don't want to hear it, I'll just move to the next door. You know, I'm not trying to force it down in anybody's throat because I know that there's plenty of fish in the sea. You know, I'd rather go and talk to somebody who wants to hear it. And so I finished this day, I spent hours on this and this was, this was a neighborhood I'd started a long time ago. Big, big neighborhood and shook the dust off my feet. I mean, I literally just went like this and just said, you know what, I'm done with this neighborhood. You know what I mean? Because I spent probably 10 hours in that neighborhood. You might remember, Matt, you did some hours with me in that neighborhood. You may not remember, it was when you first started coming to our church. But we went out there and it was a lot of elderly. He's been in the same neighborhood. We didn't have anybody say, I've never, I mean, I spent 10 or 11 hours all together on the neighborhood at least. Nobody, nobody even gave us the time of day. You know, nobody gave us the time of day. And the Bible says, you know what, just move on to the next one. Because there are places where you're going to find plenty of people who want to hear the truth, want to hear the gospel. Don't be weary and well doing it. Don't get all bitter and mad. Don't get emotional when you're out soul winning. I mean, if somebody yells at you and curses you, you know what, just shake it off. Shake the dust off and go to the next one and don't bring that anger and bitterness. But it's just, sometimes I just laugh about it. Sometimes it's just funny. You know, just don't worry about it. But the Bible says to you, the Bible says here that, you know, he shook off his raiment and he said, you know what, your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean. From henceforth, I will go into the Gentiles. Because he's starting to see a pattern here finally that every town he goes to is most of the Jews that are rejecting the gospel and most of the Gentiles that are receiving the gospel. And he says there, I'm going to go where it's receptive. I'm going to go to the people who want to hear it. And that's what we kind of do at our church. We try to gravitate toward areas that we feel like are more receptive. But in the long run, we're knocking every door. We're not leaving anybody gone. But it says in verse 7, he departed thence and entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. So this guy lives right next to the synagogue, okay? Well, remember the synagogue is where Paul just was shaking off his garment saying, man, I'm through with the Jews, I'm going to the Gentiles. So they don't like Paul very much, okay? And it says that that's where Paul's staying. You know, so Paul's staying right next door to the synagogue after he's just gotten this big pipe down there with them. So that's not very good. But it says in verse 8, And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house. So this is great. Now the head of the synagogue, just guessing, he believed on Christ and many of the Corinthians here had believed and were baptized. So they, you know, get faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You see that in verse 8. Then spake the Lord of Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city, and he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. So basically there was a lot of opposition, a lot of anger, and Paul, I think God's telling Paul that because he might have been a little nervous, you know, staying in the house right next to the synagogue and there's been all these problems. And he's been persecuted and beaten and stoned by the Jews in other cities. So God just tells him, look, Paul, don't leave town. This is where you need to be. There are going to be a lot of people in this town that are going to get saved and he's saying, I promise you, you're not going to get hurt, just stay here. So he stayed there for a year and a half just soul winning, preaching, getting a lot of people saved. Then it says in verse 12, and when Galio was the deputy of Micaiah, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the Judgency. So after a year and a half basically, all of a sudden, they decide to arrest him and bring him unto the governor. Galio. Remember, God's already pretty much told Paul that he's going to be okay, right? Well, it says in verse number 12, they brought him to the judgment seat saying, verse 13, this fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. You know, worship God contrary to the law? Like, you know, we live in America, right? And we supposedly have freedom of worship, freedom of religion. And our government does not have the right to infringe upon our religion. And you know what? Even if it thought it did, because a lot of people think that our rights come from the Bill of Rights. No, our rights come from our Creator. They're endowed by the Creator. The Bill of Rights is just a part of our government that is secured, that is instituted to secure those rights for us. But our freedom of religion comes from God. So even if we didn't have the Bill of Rights, we would have that right from God to exercise our religion. But thank God in America, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, that actually spells out that the Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So we have the right to freely exercise our religion. And so these people bring him in and they're trying to get him convicted in court. And it says in verse 14, when Paul was now about to open his mouth. So Paul's about to defend himself. But look what happens. Galio, this is the judge, this is the magistrate of the governor. He interrupts Paul. He doesn't even care what Paul is saying. And said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. And he draped them from the judge, and he says, Get out of here. Case dismissed. You know what I mean? I don't care about your religious squabble with Paul. Get out of here. That's good, right? But then look what it says next. It says he draped them from the judgment seat. Get out. Next case. Get out of here. Verse 17 says, Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes. Remember that chief ruler of the synagogue that got saved? They decided they were going to beat the fire out of him. So it says all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. So right in front of this Galio, right in front of this magistrate who just said, Well, I don't care about stuff like that. They beat him before the judgment seat. Now, I don't think that was legal, right? For them to just take a guy and just start beating him. But look what it says. And Galio cared for none of those things. So he didn't really care that they beat him either. He just doesn't care one way or the other. Now, what's funny as I read this, this is kind of how the government is toward us as believers today. This is kind of how our nation is today in the United States. Because, you know, if you think about it, we do have the freedom of religion. You know, usually if somebody tries to take you to court just for preaching the gospel or going soul-winning, it's going to be case-dismissed because of our freedom of religion in this country. But at the same time, the government's not really just that excited about protecting us either. You know, it's funny, we were out soul-winning and we're out knocking doors and somebody gets mad at us and says, You know, we didn't do anything wrong, but somebody gets mad at us and says, We're going to call the police because we can't be knocking doors and we're disturbing people and, you know, we don't have a right to do it. And I said, I said, Hey, you know, this is America. I have the right to freely exercise my religion. I'm just preaching the gospel to people, blah, blah, blah. And so, you know, it's private property, blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? Every house is private property. Every driveway, every doorstep is private property. But the Bible tells us to go preach the gospel to every creature and from house to house. So basically, the next door, we're not bugging anybody. We just knock on the door and if they don't want to hear it, you know, we just say, Hey, have a good day. Move to the next door. So we're out doing so many and they're saying they're going to call the police and blah, blah, blah. So, you know, they're going to have us arrested. So we're just like, Okay, I told them, I said, Well, if I'm breaking the law, call the police. And she's like, What's your name? I said, My name is Donald. So anyway, I keep knocking doors. Okay. And it's funny because I hear this lady calling the police on the cell phone. This was just today. This was just a couple of hours ago. It's just today. She's calling the police on the cell phone and I can just hear them telling her like that they're not coming. You know what I mean? Because, you know, soul winning is not a crime. You know, you remember that sort of skateboarding is not a crime? You know, soul winning is not a crime. Okay. But, you know, the police is not going to just come rushing out with the SWAT team. You know, we've got a couple of suspects and shirt tied. They're out, you know, giving out invitations to a Baptist church. You know, we're going to need backup and bring a shotgun. Okay. Obviously, they didn't care because we have the right to go out and preach to God. But you know what? If you don't exercise that right, it probably will be eventually taken away because if you don't exercise your rights, you lose them. You know, and if people don't preach the gospel, then maybe they will make it a little easier to go around in the streets or wherever. So we're out, you know, slowly preaching the gospel. No, the police did not come and arrest us. The police have never come and arrest us because there's no law that gets set. You know, basically, Officer Galio answered the phone and said, I don't care about words and questions about your religion. Who cares? Okay. But at the same time, you know, we've had people come here and threaten us and crowd around our church and the police, I don't know if you used the police chief of Tempe or the assistant to the assistant to the assistant to the assistant or something like that. Who was it? It was the chief of Tempe police came over and said, we're going to make sure that everything's fine and that you're protected, you know, at your church on Sunday and that nobody bugs you guys. And then of course, Sunday rolls around and they have a bunch, they have some police here that fully protect us and they were like all the way around the corner where they can't see us. So I go over there and I'm like, can you take care of this problem over here? You know, aren't you guys supposed to be like stopping these people from mobbing us? You know, and we had people just trying to crowd around and harass our church members and I said, isn't that where you guys are here? And they're like, well, I need to see your ID. And I'm just like, oh, whatever, see you later. You know, I got in the car and drove away. So that's the gallios of this world, you know. You got to understand that people can't preach the gospel. It's illegal. Soul winning is illegal. They even told us that going door to door anywhere in the whole city of Tempe is illegal to go. And you know, they'll try to intimidate you, but you know, God is still telling us they just fear not. You know, just go out and preach the gospel and people try to intimidate you, but you know what? Just do what's right, preach the gospel and you know, let the chips fall where they may. Everything's going to be fine. God took care of him here. God had this guy in place because he wanted Paul to be able to do great work in Corinth and so this guy, Gallio, allowed him to keep preaching and keep winning souls and keep doing what he needed to do. Now, another guy in the story gets beaten. Paul gets off scot-free. Another believer gets beaten. So yes, it is God's will sometimes for his servants to go through persecution and Paul had been beaten at other times. This time, Paul gets off the hook. This time, Sosthenes is the one that's going to protect us from everything but he won't protect us through everything. Sometimes he'll bring us through stuff like Sosthenes had to go through here, persecution, but we just need to keep doing what's right and not let fear stop us from doing what's right because everybody's always going to tell you, well preaching the Bible is illegal or preaching your soul winning, that's illegal and you can't knock doors and that's illegal. You know, what's next? Is breathing illegal? That's why it's illegal. When they say, can't you see that sign? You know, it's like, well what if they put a sign that says no breathing? You know, am I not allowed to breathe anymore? And you know, they can't make soul winning illegal. They can't make the Bible illegal. People throughout history have tried to burn the Bible and make Christianity illegal and Communist China make it illegal, but you know, there's still all kinds of people in Communist China in hotel rooms baptizing people in the bathtub and preaching in hotel rooms, the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can't stop it and God doesn't expect us to give up here. He expects us to keep doing what we're doing and to stand against opposition and just keep preaching, keep serving God. And so we saw Galio here. He was used by God to spare Paul, but he wasn't really exactly the champion of protecting an innocent person from being beaten. But look at verse number 18, it says, and Paul after this tarried there yet a good while and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed dead into Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Now this part about shaving the head and having a vow, I'm going to talk about that when we're in Acts 22. I've got a sermon all ready to go on that one about a month from now where I'm really going to get into that in great detail. So I'm not really going to touch on that tonight, but in Acts 22 I'm going to really talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head and so forth. And so I'm going to talk about that vow and the shaving of the head in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in the Spirit He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord knowing only the baptism of God. And He begained 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 this guy rooted to call us you say was he already saved? Yes, he was. He says let me explain know you why. only shortly after Jesus Christ has come and been crucified and risen within. This guy Apollos is not in Jerusalem. He's in another part of the world right now. He's in Asia Minor and he's basically heard John the Baptist preaching when he was in the area of Judea because that's where John the Baptist ministry was. He heard all of John the Baptist preaching. He was actually baptized by John the Baptist. But he did not stick around long enough to see Jesus Christ come on the scene and his ministry. He had traveled to another part of the world into Asia. He hadn't heard that part yet. That's the part that they're expounding on even more perfectly. But he was already instructed in the way of the Lord. He was already fervent in the Spirit and speaking and teaching diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. Now here's what you have to understand. Before Jesus Christ came on the scene, there were a lot of people who were already saved. Because there are all kinds of Old Testament saints, right? All throughout the Old Testament we see the saints. Those who are saved. Those who are called upon in the name of the Lord. Just like David also described the blessedness of the man under whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose sins are forgiven or whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blesses the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Abraham believed God and was imputed under voracious. Abraham called upon the name of the Lord, Genesis 12. Isaac called upon the name of the Lord. So all throughout the Old Testament we have people who are saved by calling upon the name of the Lord. And they were not saved by works. They were saved by faith. No one's ever been saved by their works. Because our works have never been good enough. The people in the Old Testament weren't good enough to go to heaven. It was all by grace through faith. Now a lot of people will say this. Well the people in the Old Testament, they didn't know as much as we know today. And they had no idea about salvation and stuff. Well hold on a second. Did they know as much as we know today? No. Of course not. We know more. We have the whole Bible. They didn't know the name of Jesus. They didn't know everything about that. But see people will try to pretend that they know exactly how much they knew and they don't. Because before the written word, the Bible says God would summon times in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. So in the Old Testament, even before Genesis was written, God spoke to man through the prophets, including the Bible says in Jude, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their deeds, which they have ungodly committed, of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. Did I mention that they were ungodly? That's Jude being preached by Enoch. So Enoch in the Old Testament, let me ask you this, which came first? The book of Jude or the physical man Enoch? Well hold on a second. The words of the book of Jude actually are before the world even began. Because the Bible says in the beginning of the word, right? But physically, chronologically, yeah, Enoch lived long before Jude lived. But you know, Enoch was actually preaching words from the book of Jude, which existed before the world began. So therefore, New Testament scriptures being preached by a man before even the flood had taken place. So you can't sit there and say, well this is the only book of the Bible they have, Genesis through Deuteronomy. That's not true, because they have prophets speaking all kinds of other word from God. That was not written down until much later. Because let's face it, the book of Genesis was only written, like what, 3600 years ago. 3700 years ago. This world has been around for 6,245 years approximately. So if the world's been around for about 6,245 and a half years, no I'm just kidding. If it's been around for about 6,250 years and yet the books of the Bible were only written going back 3700 years, that means for a long time it was just a spoken, preached word. And it wasn't permanently written down by Moses and by all these other holy men of God who speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We don't want to forget that the word was first spoken before it was written down. It's funny, I was talking to a guy today and he was a Mormon and I'd gone through showing him that salvation was all by faith and I wanted to show him that Jesus Christ was God because they believe in multiple gods and they believe that he's the son of God and that our God used to be a man and he had a God who created him and there's other planets and other gods and we can become God. They don't like to always admit that but when you pin them down they'll all admit it eventually if you pin them down. That they do believe that there are other gods and I have a quote here from Brigham Young saying how many gods are there? I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not gods and worlds and you know. So this is Brigham Young saying that there's other gods and there's always been gods and we don't know how many there are. Well I know how many there are. One. Bible says there's one God and one mediator between God and the man Christ Jesus but I was trying to show him that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and I showed him a lot of scriptures but I took him to the one where a guy walks up to Jesus and says good master what good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life and Jesus said unto him why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. And I asked him I said is Jesus good? Of course. And I said okay well then he's God. Because it says right here that when the guy called him good master he said why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. So I said either Jesus is not good or Jesus must be God because he actually stops this guy who calls him good and says you know that the only one that's good is God right? You know that right? Yeah but Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He was God in the form of man and I showed this to him and here's what he said to me because he didn't know what to say. Well I guess if you look at it like that I said well that is how I'm looking at it because I said the only other way to look at it is that Jesus is not good. And so he's thinking real hard he doesn't know what to say. And so finally he said well that G right there is capitalized when he said good master and this G isn't capitalized. So he said that's why. And I said I said wait a minute. So when the when the when the rich young ruler came up to him did a capital G come out of his mouth? Or did he write it on a piece of paper and show it to him? I said this is a conversation. The man walked up to him and said good good good good master big G good master. What? Good thing little G. So I knew that I may have inherited your life and Jesus said why call us now me? Good. There's none. Good. This is what people get confused but a lot of people do the same thing and they'll say like if you're if you're King James Bible doesn't have the S capitalized in this verse where it says spirit you have a corrupt Bible. No you don't. That doesn't make any sense because guess what? It's a spoken word. Blessed is he that heareth and they read the book of this prophecy and keep those words which were written there and holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It was a spoken word long before it was a written word. Did you know that in German every noun is capitalized? Every noun and no other words are capitalized except pretty much just nouns. I mean there are exceptions to that but every noun is capitalized. And did you know that in Greek for example the Greek that the New Testament is written in? Nothing is capitalized it's just all lower case. Because God never promised to preserve spellings and capitalizations and punctuations. He promised to preserve what? His words. So it doesn't matter whether music has a K on the end of it or not. Music with a K, music without a K, spirit lower case, upper case hey capitalize all the letters. Capitalize the S but not the P capitalize the R. It doesn't matter. It's the word that matters and people get so hung up on these little things and how things are spelled and they'll try to say well the King James bottle has been changed because it used to be spelled like this and now it's spelled like this. It doesn't matter how you spell it. And people are being deceived today and confused. Somebody said to me well which version of the King James do you use? No, because of this propaganda. And a lot of people who are putting out this propaganda pretend to be King James only supporters. Really they're just confusing people and that's their goal. And Dr. Jack Scott is one of the ones who's really big on this with this little King James Summit where he basically sewed all this confusion and said there's like I don't know how many thousands of mistakes he said or discrepancies in the King James. Hey there's only 31,000 verses Dr. Scott and if there's that many thousands of mistakes is every other verse wrong? If there's 16,000 discrepancies so I guess there's one every other verse. You know this is the nonsense in garbage and these people plan to be King James but then they confuse you by saying the Cambridge and the Oxford because this one has a capital S and a lower case S. And they'll show you differences quote unquote but if you look at the grammar and the spelling and punctuation there's no difference. It says the identical thing. It's the same. You know what I mean? Because it's just a difference in time period of the language. I mean look the language changes but it's the same word. It's the same words. It's not the same spelling maybe or punctuation but guess what? People don't talk in capital and lower case letters. So I'll put it to you this way. If you have a doctrine that's just only going to be true because of a certain capitalization well you're wrong because if you can't get it from hearing it out loud then you got the wrong doctrine because you should be able to get the same doctrine from reading it as hearing it because it was originally spoken later written down and it was delivered through inspiration of God as holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So I'm not sure what that has to do with this chapter whatsoever. Oh yeah. I still don't know what I'd do with it. But anyway these people in the Old Testament they were already saved. Oh yeah I remember now because they had all this spoken prophecy right? They were hearing all kinds of God's word and calling upon the Lord for salvation. So when Jesus and John the Baptist come on the scene. Let's just skip John the Baptist. When Jesus came on the scene there were already people that were already saved that might have called on the Lord 30 years ago to be saved or 40 years ago. So there are all kinds of people that are saved in the Old Testament. Now when Jesus came on the scene he got a lot of people saved that were not saved. John the Baptist got a lot of people saved that were not saved but also they were preaching to people who were already saved in the Old Testament. Now you say well how does that work? Did they have to get saved again in the name of Jesus? No. Because they were already saved. This is what Jesus said in John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice. He said they know not the voice of strangers. A stranger will they flee from. He said all that came before me were liars, false, any other previous messiahs. He said basically my sheep did not hear them. But he said my sheep hear my voice. They follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my head. So he basically said you don't hear my voice because you're not of my sheep. He said he that is of God hear it God's words. Ye therefore hear it not because you're not of God. So when Jesus Christ came on the scene there's all these people that are already saved. Guess what? All the people who were already saved, when they heard Jesus preach, they said that's the voice of the shepherd. That's the truth. And it's the same way today. When a saved person hears God's word preached, they believe it. They know it's true. They hear it. They recognize it. And when unsafe people hear God's word preach, there's foolishness under them. They don't get it. They don't see it. Go to 1 John. 1 John chapter number 3. And the reason we're having this discussion is we're talking about whether Apollos was saved or not. And I believe that clearly he was saved because he didn't need them to preach him the gospel and him to believe and then get baptized. It doesn't mention anything like that. It just says that they took him and expounded on them the way of God more perfectly. So he already knew the way of God. He was already preaching great sermons. He was already preaching the Bible. He just needed somebody to give it to him more perfectly, which means more completely, more of an entirety of the message. Because he didn't have the whole picture. Because he hadn't heard about Jesus Christ yet. He had only known the Old Testament and John the Baptist, you know, pointing forward to Jesus Christ, saying, He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear, and so forth. But look at this key right here. This is in 1 John 4, verse number 5. It says, They are of the world. Therefore, let's start with verse 4, the famous verse. Year of God little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we, the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. You say, John, how do you know the Spirit of truth versus the Spirit of error? How do you determine here who is of God and who is not of God? You say, well that's easy. He said, I'm of God. I'm preaching the word of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we, the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Jesus said the same thing to the Pharisees. He that is of God, heareth God's word. Ye therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. So the people who were saved into the Old Testament, they're still saved. And when Jesus came, they heard and believed and knew that it was him. They recognized him as their savior. Those who were not saved either got saved or rejected him. You know, that was their choice. So that's a key doctrine. That's really important. You may not think it's important, but as you study the Bible, you see how important that doctrine is. And a lot of people don't get that. They don't understand that. That when Jesus came, there were a lot of people that were already saved, you know, because they're mixed up in dispensationalism as part of it. But this is a test of salvation right here. This is the test. You know, because people say, how do you know people are really saved or not? Well, you can never really know for sure that anybody is saved except yourself. You know you're saved, right? Because you know that you believe on Christ. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether other people are saved and you're not always going to know. You can only really go by what they say. But sometimes you'll look at people and they live a really sinful life and you'll say, well, there's no way that person is saved because I've seen him drinking or I've seen him with his girlfriend fornicating. But you know what? That doesn't mean that he's not saved. Because he could just be a backslidden believer, but he'd still be saved. But you want to know the real test of whether somebody is saved too, that God gives here, is when they don't hear God's word. I mean, when you walk up to somebody and they claim to be saved and you just show them something really clearly in the Bible and they just don't get it. They don't see it. It doesn't make any sense to them. They don't believe it. You can just show them point blank. This is the truth. And they just, oh, I still think it's this other way. Now, that happened one time. You know, maybe they just, that's their little stubborn issue that they don't want to face or something. But then when you show them something else, and then when you show them something else, and then when you show them something else, it just seems like everything you show them, they're just not getting it. It's just going straight over there. And they can hear God's word preached and they just don't get it. They're not saved. Now, when you just show somebody something and they just, they comprehend it, they get it, they see it, they read the Bible and it makes sense to them and they understand it, that is the proof that they are saved. And so basically when you show, let me give you an example. And you may wonder why I'm dwelling on this point because this is an important point. When we're out soul winning, we don't show everybody everything in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, do we? Well, let me start here with Adam and Eve, you know, going through that and then Cain and Abel, and then, okay, then there is the flood, you know, just a couple, have you got a few more minutes? Okay, the Tower of Babel, you know, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, you know, so then Joseph is sold into slavery. You know, we don't, you can't teach them the whole Bible, right? Nor can you teach them every doctrine of the Bible. So does a person have to believe and know and understand every doctrine of the Bible to be saved? No, they just have to believe on Jesus Christ. They just have to believe the gospel, right? Just that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and put all their faith and trust Him to save them from hell and take them to heaven. You know, just the basic death, burial and resurrection. But here's the thing. Let's take, for example, the virgin birth of Christ, right? Now, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. That's an important doctrine, isn't it? He's not the child of Mary and Joseph, no. He was born of the virgin, okay, conceived of the Holy Ghost, okay? Now let me ask you something. Can a person be saved without even knowing about the virgin birth? Absolutely, because, you know, sometimes you just might explain to them, hey, he was God in the flesh, he died for us, but you may not have explained exactly how he was born of a virgin. They might not have heard that fact, right? But let me ask you something. Do you think anybody who's saved denies the virgin birth of Christ? No, because once they're shown it from the Bible, they're going to hear God's word, okay? Now if I show someone, let's say Matthew claims to be saved, right? He says, oh, I'm saved, I believe Jesus Christ. And I say, hey, did you know Jesus was born of a virgin? What, really? Yeah, let me show you right here. And I show him like three verses that say he's born of a virgin, and Matthew says, I don't believe that. You think Matt's saved? I think Matt's saved. No, I'm just kidding. But not if you believe that he's not saved, you're right. I'm just teasing. Yeah, you're right. If he said like, well, no, the virgin birth is false, he's not saved. Okay, what about this? Do we necessarily go into some creation seminar at every door when we're soul winning? Yeah, we may not even touch upon that. But if a person believes on Jesus Christ, right? Maybe they never even thought too much about evolution versus creation, right? And maybe they just got saved just by believing on Christ, and maybe they don't know how old the earth is. They might think it's still millions of years old, they just haven't thought about it, they just don't know about it. But then what if I say, hey, did you know that the earth is not millions of years old? Look at Genesis 1. See how evolution isn't true because everything brings forth after its own kind? You see that? So wait a minute. If I show them that, and they say, no, I still believe in evolution, are they saved? No. Because they're rejecting God's word, they're rejecting the truth because they're not of God. And they don't hear God's word. Okay, now people get up and say, yeah, you can be an evolutionist. I don't believe evolutionists are saved. No, they're not. Because they're denying God's word. And that just shows that they don't believe it anyway, and that it's a lie to them, and they're calling God a liar. Therefore, they are not of God. The Spirit of God does not dwell in them. They have made him a liar, and the truth is not in them. And Jesus Christ is the truth. And His word is not in us if we call Him a liar. That's what it says in 1 John 1, 8, and 10. There's more context there. But the bottom line is that we don't have to explain everything to people when they get saved. They just have to be trusting Christ. But the true believer will hear the truth on these issues when they see it in the Bible. And not say, oh, I still believe in evolution, and whatever. Does everybody comprehend that? Because I want that really to sink in and understand it. Because a lot of people say, well, all you have to believe in is Jesus. You can believe in evolution, and you can deny the virgin birth and still be saved. Well, not if you've heard the word on it. Not if you've seen it. You better hear that word or else something's wrong with you. You are not saved. That's why you don't hear God's word. And that's why Old Testament saints received Jesus. And those who were not saints rejected Him, or they converted, repented, and believed on Christ, and turned from their false religion unto the truth. Let me just quickly blow through the end of this chapter here. We're out of time. But it says in chapter 18, Priscilla and Aquila, they took Apollos aside and expounded them in the way of God more perfectly. Now, this was a great thing that they did. Because not only are we called to win souls, but when we find somebody who's already saved, but they lack knowledge, we should expound to them the way of God more perfectly. And if we can train them to be a soul winner, we've really done a lot for the Kingdom of God. Look at verse 27. And when He was disposed to pass into Achaea, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive Him, who when He was come helped them much which had believed through grace, that's salvation right there, believing through grace, that He might publicly, or that before He mightily convince the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Now, what does the word Scriptures mean? The written word. The written word. This comes from the word script, or writing something down. So He's using the what? The Scriptures to show that Jesus was Christ. Is that Old Testament or New Testament Scriptures? This is not the spoken word here. It's the spoken word written down. So that means that in this case it was purely Old Testament Scriptures. So do the Old Testament Scriptures prove that Jesus was Christ? Apparently they do, because that's what they use here. And we see the New Testament believers using the Old Testament to preach the Gospel, because no, they were not saying different in the Old Testament, because Jesus rebuked Nicodemus for not knowing about being born again. That was long before he died on the cross. And he said, I doubt I'm master of Israel. I know it's not the same. He rebuked him for not knowing. He expected him to know about the new birth. And you say, how would he have known that from the Old Testament? Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word. God, help us to read this chapter and be inspired by these great men. Paul, Apollos, Silas, Timotheus, and also a great lady, Priscilla, who was used to win souls to Christ and preach your word to the lost, and to help this man Apollos grow to a new level. Please just help us to read this story and be stirred in our spirit, as Paul was, to want to go out and preach the Gospel and win the lost to Christ. Help us to not fear the opposition and people who threaten us or even beat us or have us arrested. God, help us to just keep on doing what we're supposed to be doing. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.