Good morning.
It's always good to have your presence.
It's always good for us to be together.
And it is great to have our visitors with us.
We appreciate your presence as well.
as we consider
our lives.
As we consider our opportunities, the phases in life that we go through, the changes in life that come, we're not all in the same circumstance.
We're not all in the same position or the same time in life.
But one of the things that we do all have are opportunities.
This morning I want us to spend some time with a couple in the New Testament.
Oftentimes in scripture, especially in the New Testament, we read of individuals doing things.
We don't have as many references to families or couples or records of their actions as perhaps in the Old Testament, which is more a tracing of the events of the lives of
certain families.
But in the New Testament, there is kind of a shining example.
of a faithful couple.
We're introduced to them in Acts chapter 18.
I encourage you to take your Bibles and turn over there.
But this faithful couple who in scripture were told their names are Aquila and Priscilla.
This couple was one that shows up a number of times in the biblical record.
And as you look at their lives, you don't have a lot of detail about them.
Don't know if they had children or not.
We don't know about uh many things concerning their background.
except we know they were Jews.
And yet, as you see this couple show up in Scripture, there are some lessons that truly I believe should be learned from their lives.
We're going to begin in Acts chapter 18.
As Paul is preaching the gospel, as he is going through his missionary journeys, we find
Acts chapter 18 beginning in verse 1, after these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontius who had recently
come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome and he came to them.
As we're introduced in the text to
Aquila and to his wife Priscilla.
We find that Paul will encounter them in Corinth.
Now here in just a moment we're going to read why there was an association between Paul and Aquila and Priscilla, but a few things that we get by way of background, the very
little bit of background that we have concerning this couple, is this.
That Aquila was one who was born in Pontus and had recently come to Corinth from Italy.
This is an individual who was a Jew.
He was a Jew and his wife, by all indications, also of Israelite descent, were from Italy.
Specifically, the text indicates they were from Rome.
They were from the capital city of the Roman Empire.
They were living there in Rome when Claudius commanded, now that's going to be Claudius Caesar, commanded that all the Jews depart from Rome.
Now there's a reason for that.
The Jews were well known in the first century world as troublemakers.
And as disputes would occur, as revolts would occur there in Jerusalem, it would have an impact on those Jews who were living there in the capital city of Rome.
And so as a result of the disruption that is going on within society, Claudius sends a decree, all the Jews are to leave.
Now as you step back and think about that, here is a couple who they've made their home in a specific city.
They're dwelling in Rome.
By all indications, it wasn't a temporary location for them.
It was their permanent abode.
We're going to see some more indicators of that in a moment.
But now they've been forced out.
They've been forced to leave their home.
And yet you'll notice
very first lesson that we learned from this couple is that when God pushes a person's life into a new scenario, suddenly doors are open.
We need to learn from the life of Aquila and Priscilla that opportunities exist when changes that we had no control over come.
so many times in our lives, we're going to find circumstances that we didn't ask for, that we didn't have any say about, and suddenly here they are.
And yet Aquila and Priscilla, for them, that will be the beginning of the journey that is recorded in Scripture.
They're going to arrive in Corinth.
We don't know their circumstance when they arrive.
We don't know much about them.
We don't know their financial state.
All we know is what we read in verse 3.
Paul is going to come to them, as the end of verse 2 says, so because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tentmakers.
We don't know a great deal about them, but we do know that they not only were married, but they worked together.
Now, for some couples that works out, for some couples that doesn't work out.
There are some people who the husband and the wife should definitely be at the same office, they compliment one another well, they do their own thing, and everything's great
from it, and there's some offices.
That is just not going to work out.
And so here you have an example of Aquila and Priscilla and they are truly not just married, but they're a team.
Where one goes, everywhere in the text you find one of them mentioned, you find the other one mentioned.
They are those who are willing to work and to labor, they are those who are industrious, they are those who operate.
as we would put it in today's terms, their own business.
But notice a few other things that you have there.
At some point we know from the text of this passage and from the association that Paul has with them that they obeyed the gospel.
Now, what we don't have in the text is whether or not they obeyed the Gospel before this point in time or if they obeyed as a result of their association with Paul.
We're not told.
We do know back in Acts chapter 2 that there were those there on the day of Pentecost from the city of Rome who were present at the day of Pentecost who were part of the among those
who were converted.
Was that Aquila and Priscilla?
Did they have an association with the church going all the way back to the earliest days of church?
We're not told.
But we do know there were some from Rome who were present on that day and likely some who were converted on that day.
There is the possibility that as they come to Corinth they are Jews and as Jews they have an association with Paul and from this point forward they are converted.
Again, we don't know.
What we do know is this, Paul is going to stay with them.
So if nothing else we have knowledge, number one, they're Christians.
Number two, that they've obeyed the gospel.
And number three, that they saw their home as a method of their work.
They saw that they had the opportunity to turn
their home into the support that evangelists needed.
You remember that Jesus, when He would send out His twelve apostles, and also when He would send out the seventy there into the regions of Judea and the regions of the Jews as
He sent them out into the villages before He went into those villages, His instruction was that they were to go into a village and they were to find there a house.
They were to find amongst that group of people in that city someone, a family, that would house them so that they could do the work of God in preaching and teaching and
ministering.
And as a result of that,
They were to utilize that home, that location as their base of operations.
Jesus says, don't go from house to house.
You don't go from place to place.
You go there and that becomes the place where you begin to teach that city.
As a result of that, Jesus would also say if they go into a village or into a city and there is not a house found, there's not a Jewish family that's willing to accept a teacher
of the law and a teacher from the Lord to use their house, He says when you depart from that city, you shake the dust off of your feet and you pronounce a curse and a
condemnation on that city.
Because there was no one within that city who was of enough spiritual mindset
to use their home for God's purpose.
Now, Aquila and Priscilla, you see that shining example.
Paul comes and he stays with them.
Now, he also works with them.
They're of the same trade.
Paul also was a tent maker.
But here you have Aquila and Priscilla.
They obeyed the gospel at some point.
They were faithful to the gospel and they used their home to support the work of the gospel.
Go down in verse 18 of the same chapter and we read, So Paul still remained a good while.
Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him.
He had his hair cut off at Chinkria, for he had taken a vow.
And he came to Ephesus and left them there.
But he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, but took leave of them, saying, I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem.
But I will return again to you, God willing.
And he sailed from Ephesus.
And when he landed at Caesarea and gone up and greeted the church, he went to Antioch.
After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
Now you'll notice that when Paul leaves Corinth, with him go Aquila and Priscilla.
They had built an association, they had built a companionship with Paul.
they were a part of his work.
And so when he leaves, they leave.
They're going now to another city.
They left Rome because they had no choice.
But now their actions are purposeful.
Now their actions are determined not by Caesar, not by circumstance, but out of a willingness to serve the Lord.
In this couple you find an example of those who are faithful.
who are obedient, who are using their home to the benefit of the kingdom, but now their purpose and their actions start moving in directions because of their work for the
kingdom.
the reason for their actions begins to change.
So they come to Ephesus.
Now, when Paul arrives in Ephesus, that's just one stop over on his many stops headed to Jerusalem.
That's not his final destination, but Aquila and Priscilla are going to remain in Ephesus.
As you look at this couple, you're going to find that they don't just remain anywhere.
If they're going to be somewhere, they're going to be working.
They're going to be active in the congregation and in the work of the Lord.
So they arrive in Ephesus.
as they are there in Ephesus, as they remain in Ephesus, as Paul continues on his journey, we find verse 24, now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and
mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the Spirit.
He spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.
So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him.
And when he arrived, he helped, or he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.
For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
Now notice the actions and the involvement of Aquila and Priscilla as they are there in the church at Ephesus.
First, you'll notice that when Apollos arrives, they're present.
When Apollos arrives, they're active and they're involved.
It's been a sad thing in my life growing up.
as the son of a preacher, as one who has been a part of the body of Christ since he was born.
to see families move with their focus being a job or some physical matter, and they move, and where they were once well connected to the body of Christ, where they were once
active, where they were once faithful, now their focus gets on physical things, and they move, and they go to a new place, and they never again faithfully serve in the body of
Christ.
That wasn't Aquila and Priscilla.
When they moved, when they relocated, they were going to be active.
When they moved to a new city, there wasn't the possibility that they were going to go there and not find the local church.
That wasn't going to happen.
Aquila and Priscilla were going to make certain that they had association with the body of Christ, that they were faithful in its service and supporting its work.
So now Apollos comes to Ephesus, and Apollos is one of these individuals who is young, who is eloquent, who is able to speak.
He has fervor for the message, and yet as they're listening they realize that he's also missing some information.
If you kind of just think through the situation here with Apollos.
Apollos is by all indications one of Jewish descent.
He is one who at the time that John was preaching would likely have been one of those Jews that was in the region of Israel who was of those number that it is described that all
Israel went out to hear John.
And the message of John was
that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
The message of John was that this is the Messiah who is coming and we need to be ready for him so when they hear Apollos they hear him in the synagogue.
Here is Aquila and Priscilla, and though they are Christians, though they are members of the body of Christ, they're still going to the synagogue because they're still trying to
reach their countrymen with the message of the gospel of Christ.
So when they hear Apollos, they hear him in the synagogue.
They also are aware that he is one who has been baptized by John, that is the message that he is preaching.
But the indication of the text is that
Apollos' association with John was such that he heard John, that he was baptized by John, but then did not remain in the region of Israel and had never had an association with
Jesus, with the disciples, with the apostles, or with the church.
He's not coming when he comes to Ephesus, he's not coming into the church and the assembly of the body of Christ.
He is coming to the Jews, to the synagogue to teach.
That's where Aquila and Priscilla hear him.
So as he is teaching and boldly teaching concerning the Messiah, his message is right, but it's outdated because the Messiah has already come.
The one who John spoke about,
The one who John baptized for the remission of sins and repentance and in anticipation of the kingdom has already arrived, but a policy doesn't know it.
So Apollos is preaching fervently that the Jews should be ready for the Messiah, yet the Messiah has already come, he's already lived, he's already died, and he's already ascended
back into heaven, and he's established the church.
And Apollos doesn't know, because he wasn't in Israel by all indications when those events occurred.
All right, so now you have Apollos.
He's in the synagogue, he's teaching, and here's Aquila and Priscilla, a faithful,
couple and they hear him and they see an opportunity to take one who is obedient to God but lacking in knowledge and feed into him what he needs to become what the church needs.
You see here also in the life of Aquila and Priscilla that they didn't just use their home as an opportunity to support the work
they use their lives, their words, and their actions to create the teachers the church needed.
So, Aquila and Priscilla are going to pull Apollos aside, and they're going to teach him more perfectly the things that have occurred.
They're going to make him aware of the coming of Christ.
You'll notice that when he comes,
to Ephesus, he teaches in the synagogue, and yet when he leaves from there to Achaia, verse 28, he is preaching that Jesus is the Christ.
His message changed.
When he arrived in Ephesus, his message was, we need to be prepared for the Messiah.
When he left Ephesus, his message was, the Messiah has come.
and he was able to soundly defeat all the arguments of the Jews that Jesus was not the Christ.
They teach Apollos, but they do more than that.
As they're ones who are patient and willing to teach someone who's not perfectly understanding the truth and needing further instruction, they also go beyond that.
For this is a couple in a picture of faithfulness who put their reputation on the line for the benefit of the work of others.
You'll notice there at the end of the chapter beginning in verse 27, when he desired, that's Apollos, desired to cross to Achaia.
Achaia is the region of Corinth.
Where had they just come from?
Corinth.
So the church there in Corinth knows them, but they don't know Apollos because Apollos has been amongst the Jews, not amongst the Christians.
And so now he wants to go to Corinth, he wants to go to Achaia, he wants to continue his work and his teaching and his preaching there in Achaia, but nobody knows him.
So verse 27, when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, the brethren who?
The brethren from Ephesus, among whom are Aquila and Priscilla, they wrote, exhorting the disciples, the disciples where?
The disciples in Achaia, the disciples in Corinth, to receive him.
And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.
Here you find Aquila and Priscilla, not only are they obedient to God, not only are they active, not only are they working, but they're also opening doors for others who are
faithful in their work.
Aquila and Priscilla were ones who were not ambitious in the sense that they wanted the spotlight.
They were those who were humble and willing to listen to others.
They were those who were willing to be taught.
They were those who were willing to use their home to help the ministry.
They were those who were willing to put their reputation on the line to further the ministry.
when Paul will write to Corinth in 1 Corinthians, there's three names that Paul uses in substitution of the teachers who were drawing away people after themselves.
He uses his own name, he uses Cephas or Peter, and he uses Apollos.
Apollos not only had gone to the church at Corinth and had become one who had been effective in his work,
but he had become so effective he was listed in 1 Corinthians as the shining example of what a faithful teacher was together with Paul and the Apostle Peter.
And that work only occurred because Aquila and Priscilla were willing to humbly take Apollos aside, teach him what he needed to know, and then pave the way for his future.
but then consider we also are again introduced to them in Romans chapter 16.
Paul, as he writes to the churches, will often mention those in the beginning of the book and in the end of the book who he has association with.
He will send greetings to them.
In Romans chapter 16, verses 3 and 4, the very first greeting as he sends this letter to the church at Rome, a church he has never been to physically, never been in person there
in Rome, but desired to come.
We read in chapter 16 verse 3, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also to
all the churches of the Gentiles.
Paul, as he writes to the church at Rome, knows that Aquila and Priscilla have now made their way back to Rome.
The circumstance that had caused all the Jews to leave and be put out of Rome has now ended, and they've been able to return.
Their time in Corinth is over.
Their time in Ephesus is over.
They're back at the church of Rome.
And so Paul sends greetings to them.
But he also tells us
that some events occurred that we don't have the actual record of.
that Aquila and Priscilla had put their lives on the line for Paul.
that they had been willing to sacrifice themselves had it come to it to save his life.
Aquila and Priscilla were those who were, as Paul describes, fellow workers.
But notice again in the text not just what's stated, but what's also readily available to us as Paul writes.
Here is Aquila and Priscilla.
They were in Corinth.
they were in Ephesus.
While they were in Corinth, they were there with Paul.
While they were there, they were working.
While they were in Ephesus, and when Paul went beyond and went past them and went on on his journey, they were still working.
When they arrived back in Rome, Paul says, that couple.
their fellow workers with me and that tells you they're already still working.
They're back in Rome and what are they doing?
They're working with the church.
They're already active.
They're already in association there again with the body of Christ in Rome and they're working.
but also they're those who are willing to risk everything, even their own lives, for the gospel.
Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, as Paul writes to the church at Corinth again, they will be mentioned.
1 Corinthians chapter 16 and in verse 19, the churches of Asia greet you.
Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord.
with the church that is in their house.
Now we find out something more.
Not only had Aquila and Priscilla allowed Paul to stay with them as Paul was ministering there in Corinth.
Not only had they allowed Paul to participate there in their trade as they were tent makers.
But now we find out as Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, as they have also left Corinth, they've come to Ephesus, that now the congregation is meeting in their house.
The ladies, I know that there are times where the mindset is, people do not need to come over to my house, my house is a wreck.
No, no, the floors are not swept, the walls are marked up, the dishes are not done, all the things.
But Aquila and Priscilla, not only did they open their house to the ministry, they opened the house to the entire congregation.
And it was their meeting place.
That was the place of their assembly.
Now, this does begin to indicate that these two individuals were of some means.
For they had a dwelling place where the church could assemble.
They had a location.
If you think concerning Roman dwelling places, you would remember that quite often the houses in the first century were, the living quarters were around a courtyard and there
was a courtyard there in the midst of the house.
Perhaps that was the type of house that they had.
Perhaps the church assembled there in their courtyard.
Maybe that's it.
But either way, what you see is you see a husband and a wife who are bound and determined where they are.
to use the resources they have for the church.
Quill and Priscilla were workers.
They were laborers.
They were teachers.
They were exorters.
They were benevolent.
And they were willing to host even the entire congregation in their home.
But then consider 2 Timothy chapter 4 in the last mention that we have of this couple.
Paul's life is almost over.
Paul will write earlier on in the chapter that he's ready to be poured out.
The time of his departure is at hand.
Paul, likely in the scenario as he's writing this book, is sitting in a Roman prison for the second time.
And not too long forward from this point in time, by all indications of history, will be beheaded by Nero.
And yet, in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and in verse 17, we read, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the
Gentiles might hear, as also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.
To Him be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Greet Prisca and Aquila.
and the household of one Cyphorus.
Erastus stayed in Corinth, but, trophemous, I have left in Miletus.
As Paul writes these closing greetings, by all indications, the last words that we have record of Paul penning, he's going to tell Timothy to come to him before winter, to bring
the scriptures to him, to bring the parchments with him.
to bring his cloak that he left behind.
But he's also going to tell Timothy, you make sure and greet Aquila and Priscilla.
This couple was faithful.
from the time they obeyed the gospel until the time that Paul's life was over.
They were diligent in the work.
They were willing to use the resources they had to serve the Lord.
Brethren, we need more couples like that.
We need more who are faithful.
as this life goes on.
Excuse me.
I have had the blessing and the opportunity.
to spend time with faithful couples.
some of whom have now gone on to their reward.
Sorry.
and we need their replacements.
We need those who are willing.
whose love and honest desire every day of their life.
is to serve the Lord.
whose faithfulness to the Church and to its mission and to the message of Christ.
cannot be weakened, cannot be untethered.
and will last through the storms of life.
There are going to be times in our lives where we end up in a circumstance where we think, never intended to be here.
I don't know how I got here.
This was not under my control, yet here I am.
to which I remind us that that may be the beginning.
of our work.
Paul met a couple who had been kicked out of Rome.
And when Paul's work and his life was nearly over.
they were still working.
We need more couples.
We need more homes.
We need more families all over the globe who say my house will be home base for the work of the Lord.
and wherever their house goes, whether Corinth or Ephesus or back to Rome.
the work of the church is going to flourish because their work will not end.
If you're here and you're outside the body of Christ, you cannot be faithful to the Lord unless you first do what Aquila and Priscilla did, which is obey the gospel.
They were willing to be obedient to the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.
And then they realized
the message required something.
Jesus would say of His disciples, you cannot lay your hand to the plow and then look back.
And so they understood that when they started that commitment to God, it was going to be their commitment together in their home, in their marriage, in their family, for the rest
of their lives.
And so they labored.
If you're outside the body of Christ this morning, don't stay there.
Salvation is found in Christ.
You obtain access to that
salvation when you hear the Word of God, that message which Apollos so eloquently and forcefully declared.
When you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because the Scriptures attest to it, they prove it, and they prove it beyond dispute.
You're willing to repent of your sins, change your way of life to conform to the Word of God, to confess the name of Christ and be immersed in water for the remission of your
sins, dying to your old life.
willing to live for Him.
But that's the beginning.
That's step one.
then what you have said is, God, everything I have belongs to you.
And you've got to be willing and ready to be working and serving faithfully as a servant of the King, one who will serve even if it costs you everything.
If you have need of the invitation of Christ, to put Christ on in baptism, why not do that this morning?
If you've been faithful in the past and you look at your faithfulness and go, you know what?
If Aquila and Priscilla are the standard, I've got some more work to do.
And we will gladly pray for you and encourage you to do that.
If you have need of the invitation for any reason, why not come now as we stand and as we sing.