Acts 18

Speaker 1: All right, good morning, welcome to the Baptist Tabernacle. It is great to have you here with us today. I got to meet a lot of new folks that are here with us in the service. Good to have family members, visitors alike and your a with us here today. We could not be more excited to have you in our service. Hopefully you receive one of our weekly bulletins. And if I could beg and implore you to fill out that concession card, I would, but I'm not going to stoop to that level. But if you would be willing to fill that out and either drop it in the offering plate or at a welcome desk so we can have a record of your visit, we would sure appreciate it, but we're glad to have you here. I'm going to ask for the Brandon Schwartz to come and join us in a word of prayer. And once he's done in, I'm ask him to come and lead us in some songs.

Speaker 2: Let us pray, dear heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for allowing all of us to be here and gather in your house. Lord, I pray that you just be with the services today and let them be a blessing and an honor and encouragement to all the people here. Laura and I agree with Pastor Jeffress to give us the message in Jesus name. Amen.

Speaker 3: Amen. Let's all stand together here. Number three hundred and forty nine. Glory to his name. We'll see that just a moment with a slight up there so you can see it is hard to see right now. Right. We have a new program, so we're learning on the back. Here we go. Gorgias, name down at the cross where my savior died down a way of cleansing. Fromson I cry there, too. My heart was the blood

Unidentified: applied to glory to his name.

Speaker 3: Glory to his name. Warry to his name. Came there to my heart

Unidentified: was the blood of my boy to his name.

Speaker 3: I am so wondrously safe drugs and Jesus so sweetly abides with. There at the cross where he took me and more into.

Unidentified: Glory to his name. Warrior two is the. There, too, my heart was the blood of my glory to his name.

Speaker 3: I am so rich and

Unidentified: I am so glad I have entered an. And keeps me clean.

Speaker 3: All right, who is that?

Unidentified: Glory to his. Glory to his name. Then, too, my heart was the blood

Speaker 3: applied glory to his name. Good job singing here, let's continue singing a chorus here, we will glorify all along on the screen as we sing.

Unidentified: We will glorify

Speaker 3: the king of kings. We will glorify the lamb.

Unidentified: We will glorify the Lord of Lords. Who is the great.

Speaker 3: Borgia, hold the reins and majesty, we will bow before his song, we will worship him and righteousness we will worship an. He is lord

Unidentified: of the universe, he is the lord of all who live. He is Lord of. Heaven and earth, all praise to him. We get. In.

Speaker 1: Our ushers are coming forward at this time and we're going to take up our tithes and offerings and just a reminder, we praise the Lord you can see on the back of your bulletin, but we have reached our fundraising goal for the new playground. And so we're super excited about that. There will be a short business meeting after the service tonight in regards to that project. But praise the Lord for how he has supplied. And then we are in the midst of one other fundraising project that is our new team room that we're trying to finish out for the young people. And just as a reminder, for the month of July and August, there is a donor that is willing to match everything that comes in towards the team room. So any any donations that come in towards that will be matched by another donor. So we praise the Lord for that. If you are our guest with us here today, please don't feel obligated to participate. This is for our church folks, and we trust God to supply our needs through the people he has brought to our ministry. And so we're very grateful for each one. And I'll see. I'm going to ask Jerry Prader, because in mind, you can pray from there if you want to ask God's blessing on the offering. And then once he's done, you may be seated. Hey, man, you may be seated.

Speaker 3: Let's continue singing here this morning. This one stands together, we'll sing a song worthy of worship. He is worthy of our worship and all our praise blessing. For the. Worthy of praise, worthy of honor and more. Very worthy of all the lights off we can see.

Unidentified: Worthy of all that, the

Speaker 3: offerings we bring

Unidentified: you are worth. He was the creator you were.

Speaker 3: Save your sustainer, you are worth. Worthy and wonderful, worthy of worship and pray. Is worthy of reference, worthy of me.

Unidentified: Worthy of. Vanimo. Sean, were they about we met Mandy. Worthy of all this. This you are worth. Father Peter, you are worth. He saved your sustainer you are worth. Worthy, worthy. Wonderful word.

Speaker 3: And breaks on the last almighty father, pastor.

Unidentified: Walking along and reading. Wonderful council. And Sam. Answer is. Without end, you are worth. You are worth. We save your

Speaker 3: sustainer, you are

Unidentified: worth. And Fred.

Speaker 3: He's a man, he's our father, he's our creator, he's our sustainer, and one of the things I like about him, he is our he is our savior. He is our lord. Let's sing this nothing but the blood. Two hundred and forty nine

Unidentified: in your hand book. Nothing but the. What can wash away my sin? Light up his eyes wide and make me all look and nothing but the blood of Jesus on. Precious is the flow that. It makes me white as snow. The mounty know

Speaker 3: nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my part in this, I see nothing but the blood of Jesus for my cleansing. This my be nothing but the blood of Jesus or.

Unidentified: Precious's. It makes me white as snow. Either fount, I know nothing but the blood of

Speaker 3: Jesus, we're going to sing this last verse and on the chorus we'll go a cappella on the last verse. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

Unidentified: Oh, no. No other fount, I

Speaker 3: know nothing but the blood of Jesus Archer, thank him for his blood. Hey, man, you may be seated. Lately, I've been looking back along this winding road to the old familiar markers of the blessings I have known. I know it may sound simple. But it's more than a cliche. There's no better way to tell you than to say

Unidentified: God loves in. If I do pass me on

Speaker 3: my wildest dreams when I go to sleep each night and go, I've had my share of hard times, I wouldn't change that if I could do through. Well, Godspeed, good. Times replay, and I can see that I've cried some bitter tears, but I felt his arms around me as I face my greatest fears, you know, I see more gains and losses and I have no more joy than hurt. As his race rolled down upon me, I deserved for Godsmack. I do bless me on my wildest dreams when I go to sleep each night.

Unidentified: I've had my share of hard times. I would change that if I could, because through it all. Godsmack. Or guy his. Say.

Speaker 3: His line was maybe. Áng. And his life will be mine. I could spend forever trying to tell you the best way he is, but the best way that I

Unidentified: can say it. Is this.

Speaker 3: Godspeed.

Unidentified: And Michael. Life, I feel

Speaker 3: blessed beyond my wildest dreams when I go to sleep

Unidentified: night. I had my share of hard times I would chase them.

Speaker 3: God. Angolite.

Speaker 1: Hey, man, thank you for that for Matt, Leah. Appreciate you all working on that song to sing for us today. Take your Bibles if you have them. In terms of the Book of Acts acts, track number 18. Acts chapter number 18 is where we're going to be this morning, we're actually look at the majority of this chapter, though we're not going to read the whole chapter. Somebody say, man, all right, let's go ahead and say, if you found your place there in honor of reading God's word while you're maybe still trying to read to other verses to kind of introduce some of the main personalities in our passage here tonight or this morning. First, I'd like to read you Romans 16 three, Romans 16 through the Bible says this is great. Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. In First Corinthians 16 19, Paul said this. The Churches of Asia salute you, Aquilla and Priscila salute you much in the Lord with the churches in their house. Now, if you're in Chapter 18, look with me a verse number one. The Bible says after these things called The Departed from Athens, came to Corinth, found a certain Jew named Aquilla, born in Pontoise lately, come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius, the emperor, had committed all Jews to depart from Rome and came under them. And because he was of the same crafty abode with and fought for by their occupation, they were tent makers. He reasoned in a synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks now dropped down version, reteaming, if you would, same chapter. Miles says and Paul after this, Terry there yet a good while it took his leave of the Brethren and sailed thence into Syria and with him, Priscilla and Aquila having Sean his head in Syria for he had a vow and he came to ethicists and left them there. But he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews when they desired inventory longer time with them. He consented, not obey them farewell, saying I must by all means, keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem. I will return on you if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus now down to twenty four. I told you most of the chapter. So it's in a certain you name Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to emphasize this man was instructed in the way of the Lord being fervent in the spirit. He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in a synagogue room. When Aquilla and Priscila had heard, they took him up to them and expounded on him the way of God more perfectly when he was disposed to pass into the brother wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him who when he was come help them much which is believed through grace, will he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly shown by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Let us pray and ask his blessing on our time and his word here this morning. The Holy Father. We thank for this day. Thank you for the opportunity. We have to be together and to look into your word. You help us, Lord, to open our hearts to what you have for us. I mean, your Holy Spirit be at work. I mean, give me the words I'm supposed to say here this morning. It's in Jesus name. I ask these things a man and can may be seated. OK, so this is not a new message, I'm actually preaching this once here before, but it's the next passage in acts. And so I thought it'd be OK to revisit it, seeing as I think I approached it on a Wednesday night, which means most of you wouldn't have heard it. No offense, some things just go together, peanut butter and. Oh, say celery jelly will take that Batman and. OK, Mario and LBG, OK, OK. Taxes in. OK. OK. Oh, that's sweet unity, all of that. That's not what I thought you were going to say, but a lot of us money. One thing that probably every person in this room would list as one of their life's goals would be to one day find that one special person that you will love for the rest of your life, someone who just goes the other with you like you were always together or like you were made for each other. Perhaps this morning you've already found that person. Perhaps this morning you're still looking for that person. If that's the case, you you probably shouldn't tell your husband that you're still looking. Just just let God work in that that marriage and make it what it needs to be. But this morning, I will look with you at a couple in the Bible that you've probably heard of, but perhaps you don't know very much about. Aquilla and Priscilla are often mentioned in passing or as some kind of little sidekick thing to Paul. But this morning, I want to make them the focus of the message. And I believe that if we will allow them to Brazil, Equilar can demonstrate for us what a godly Christian couple ought to look like. This couple is not in the ministry. This is not a pastor or a missionary or youth pastor and his wife. And the reality of life is that not every man will be a preacher. Right. And we need Christians at all levels of society. OK, Vogul, bold Christians work school out of the ball fields, we need Christian men and women at all levels of the community, but just because a person is not in the ministry, so to speak, does not mean that God does not expect to use their lives to promote the gospel of grace wherever they may be. And then, OK, so let's look at what I believe will be some of our biblical goals for a Christian couple biblical goals for a Christian couple right here in Acts Chapter 18 and of course, all of the centers around Priscila to grow up. And the first thing I want you to see about these two people first, we don't know. Are they all? Are they all? No idea. So you don't to do this, but just kind of read your situation into into this passage. You're a newly married couple who are newly married. I've been married for many, many, many, many, many, many years. Then read that so-called married for many, many, many, many years. Whatever the case is, you just read that into what they are going through here. Now, the first thing I want you to see is that Priscilla and Aquila stuck together. When times get tough. Look back in verse number two with me if you want. The Bible gives us a little bit of background about what personal will have just gone through. Bible says that they had lately or just recently come from Italy because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart for love. So Republicans across these two people in the city of Corinth, they've just moved in there. They're new to the area. They're completely foreign to the court, the court, the city of Corinth, because they've been expelled from their home in Italy. One ancient historian tells us a little bit about what this supposed is talking about. He's given us some interesting facts about the culture. At that time, the Roman government had a really hard time distinguishing between Jews and Christians and the Romans eyes. They were the same, which is great for Christianity because Judaism was an approved religion. You could be a Jew and not expect a face too much persecution from the Roman government. So Christianity just kind of slides right in there with them. But in Rome, the Jews were were rioting and causing a great disturbance. How many of you were surprised by the. Based on what we've read so far, well, what was it that had gotten the Jews so riled up? Well, historian says that Claudius expelled from Rome, the Jews constantly rioting at the instigation of Christ. Jews were upset about the Christians, Jews were upset. Believe it or not, believe it, because the Christians were taking their power, the Christians were encroaching upon their territory, and so they were causing a big uproar in Rome. And so Claudius expelled all Jews from the city. Now, Priscilla, they get caught up in this expulsion and they must find a new place to live. Now, we know that being a Christian during this time is not necessarily an easy task. This couple is facing opposition not just from the government now, but from their own people. Remember, the Bible tells us, number two, that that Aquilla was a Jewish man. And so he would have been seen by others as a traitor to his Jewish heritage. And so just imagine if you would be in a position, what kind of strain this turmoil would cause, a relationship there being expelled from their home, their their being there. People are turning their backs on them because they've chosen Christ. All right. In the new city, their new town. And yet the testimony of the pursuer is that they didn't allow life's difficulties to tear them apart. Perhaps, Priscilla, if she wasn't the way she was, God said, well, you can go to court and stay in here, have fun, enjoy your life. Perhaps because could argued over what city to go settle in. Who chose court? We don't know. But they're both they're they're together. You see, if anything, the difficulties in Brazil and his life only made their relationship stronger. Those of you who have been married for many years, have you found that life's difficulties can either drive a wedge between you and your spouse or they can bring you closer together? Priscilla and Aquila, as a godly Christian couple, grew stronger in their relationship when they face difficulty not driven farther apart. I think we can all agree about the importance of finding someone who will stick by you when things get tough. Is he alive? It's not easy. Or have you not figured it out? Yes. There will be tough times that you have to face, and in those times it is important that you have someone there who will stand with you when no one else will. I can tell you just from my own personal experience, and I know this is not unique to me, so I don't think I'm trying to sing a sad song. I'm just not from my own personal experience. There are many times where I feel like no one's on my side. Except my wife. I feel like everyone's against me, but I can always count on my life. Now, that doesn't mean she you know, I go home, she's like, oh, cheeriness, it's OK. If you know my wife, she's not like that. But I never doubt that she's got my back. Which is a huge blessing, and I thank God for that, and if you've got a wife or husband that you know you can trust, always have your back. You know, you've got a great gift. That's the way procyclical are. They made a great team in Hirschmann three. We find that this husband and wife team really were a team. Now, this is where I don't know if Alicia and I would be able to to hold up. You'll you'll understand why in just a moment. The Bible never gives us any indication as to whether or not Aquilla in Brazil had any children. There's no kids ever mentioned. I've read commentary and commentary and commentary. Nobody can tell you whether they had any kids, but I tend to believe that they did not have kids for a few reasons. Number one, there were often on the move, it removed the kids. It's an adventure, they bring a lot of stuff, I mean, I saw I mean, this past week and it was this this wife had posted pictures of her pile and the kids pile and her husband's pile. The husband's got a duffel bag. They've got like eight suitcases. I mean, just kids just from all kinds of paraphernalia with them whenever they have to go anywhere. And it's hard to be super mobile when you've got children. So I tend to think they might not have had kids. We also see that Priscilla is extremely active in the work of the church. They even allow the church to meet in their house. I mean, if you've got kids, you know, it makes it difficult to have guests over all the time. Right. I mean, kids are messy. They leave their stuff. Everywhere. Like, it's amazing how quickly a kid can take a perfectly clean room where everything's in its box, everything's in the toy box and just explode everywhere, I mean, you find the toys on top of the TV. How did it get up here now? I have it in my own stuff up into the beams in our house, so I guess I can't complain too much. But anyways, now, since they might not have had children, Priscilla is is much more free to be involved in the different aspects of their life. We see the strong relationship that they had because number three, we see that they work together. They worked to gather. Husband and wife, team together all day, go home still together. And some of you do this. More power to. I don't know how we've done it a few times, but always for very short times where there's a definite start and end to us having to work together. But. It does show how strong the relationship was that they could spend all day together and then go home and still be with the same person, they can work together without being easily offended. This is usually the man's fault. Are our ego just, you know, kind of gets in the way, we have to be smarter, we have to be more capable, and when we're showing them or not, then, you know, it takes some humility to admit, you know what? You're right. I couldn't do that. And I did need your help. But just think of all the things that could go wrong with a husband and wife working together all day long, not allowed. Marriages these days could survive a relationship like that. If you're not together with your wife and an occupation and then go home and live with your wife, then you need to find someone that you can team up with is someone that will stand with you. When things are tough, you need someone that you can be a partner with. You may never be employed at the same job as your spouse, but you better find someone that you can be a team with, someone that complements your strengths and weaknesses. Not like, hey, you did a good job on that, but someone that completes you, you're strong in this area, you're weak in this area, and they complete your strengths and witness weaknesses. You are, after all, looking for a partner in life. And so you need someone you can team up with that's a little lower. There were also unselfish and sharing the things that they had. This couple use their place of employment to be a blessing to the work of law. It's important for a husband and wife to be on the same page about using the gifts and talents that God has blessed them with to serve him together. Paultre The Bible tells us that Paul comes to them in Corinth in a time of need, a calling for help. Paul in two ways. First, they gave him a job. Second, they gave him a place to live. Now, it's one thing to come home every night, the person you love and be together, it's another thing to have a perfect stranger staying in your house who is always there. Did they have a big house? Probably not being a tent maker back in those days wasn't exactly a lucrative business. That's they did. I mean, you're not printing your own money as a tent maker. It was no doubt a little inconvenient to have people living with them come over a long day of work. And it's not just you and your husband. It's you and your husband and Paul. You sit down to eat. You're used to just making food for you and your spouse, and it's not just you and your spouse, so it's you and your spouse. And Paul. You wake up late at night to use the bathroom. Somebody is already in their. It's not your spouse, is Paul. And that gets pretty inconvenient. But despite the inconvenience, Priscilla Aquilla open their home to be used by the Lord. Think about this. Can you name another Christian who's lived since Christ, who was more used by God than the apostle Paul? I can't think of anyone I'm sure we can name some names that would come close, but I mean, this is Paul and you having an opportunity to be a part of his ministry by sharing your home. So that's pretty unique situation. And they were willing to do it. You know, one of the biggest things you should look for in a person that you're going to spend your life with, a person you're going to minister with for for the rest of your life is unselfishness. Unselfishness is one of the hardest things to find. Ladies, especially the man. And unselfish man, there ought to be a verse or something. It's like, you know, it's like the virtuous woman who, you know, who can find an unselfish man who can find. Thank you so much. All right, so stick together, they're a team, they're unselfish, they're letting God use what they have, but then they're willing to go wherever God led them. Remember when we met Priscilla, they just moved from Italy to Corinth from the court will drop down if you were. Where did we go next? It's the first time raising eyebrows, raising. Suzanne and Paul, after this story there, you had a good while, then took his leave the brother and then in Syria with him, Priscilla Equilar, having shook his head and said he had it out. So eventually, Paul left Corinth. He went on to visit other cities and kind of left Brazil alone for a while. But then picture this. You're home with your beautiful wife, enjoying a nice, quiet day. You've just mowed the lawn. He Aquilla is putting up his 029 lawn mower. He's going in for a nice glass of lemonade mixed because that's the best way to drink it. He's about to sit down. He's going to check the college football scores and there was a knock at the door. He has even got his rear end into his lazy jurisdiction's back up cousins where he knows the salesman salesman. I mean, somebody doesn't want to see me, a bill collector who knows. All right. Goes to the door and he opens it. And standing for him is this disfigured man with dirty clothes and a shaved head. She had been kind of a weird thing to see back in those days, and you see a lawsuit, Aquilla immediately regrets opening the door for this homeless man who no doubt wants some kind of handout. Then he realizes this guy looks kind of familiar. I know this dude. Is Paul. Paul, what happened to your hair? Well, obviously, I shaved it. Yes, but, Paul, why did you shave your hair? I made a vow to God. OK. Brandon. If you show up to church with a shaved head. We're asking questions. And if you respond and say, obviously, I made a vow to God, we're going to have more questions. It's just it's just odd. So was like, oh, OK. Pakistan says, hey, so I'm going to emphasize. It's great, cool, congratulations for finally love this, no, no, you don't understand, I want you guys to come with me. Paul, we just kind of got settled here in Corinth. I know, but this is a really special see, we're going to take the gospel ethicists and I want you guys to come be a part of it. Pauline, I'm not a preacher. I don't care, I want to cut deficits, but I will tell you that happens. They want to emphasize. This was an eight day journey from Corinth that are even uprooted once, but when Paul set sail for this facility in Qatar there with him, you see it would seem from reading your Bible if you were to continue on in the Sawyer facility before they left Corinth and never went back. They want to emphasize and made that their new home, what would possess a man to pack up his wife and a few of his belongings and move to another country? Well, you know the market enough. It's just really boom. And I see this as an opportunity to really cash in. There's no indication any move for business is not a military man. It's not like he got stationed in Ephesus and he's not a preacher. So he's not going because, you know, God's called me. I'm going to go to church services. It just seems to go to be a blessing to Paul to support Paul and what he's doing, if the quote had been married to anyone else besides Priscilla, that I would go back to this and say that the Bush probably would have said Paul sailed from thence into Syria and with him, Aquilla. But it doesn't say that. Immersion or 18, it actually has both their names and it puts Priscila first. So he leaves and his friends are with him. Although it must have been difficult, Priscilla and Aquila go together to start a new life all over again. See, in looking for a spouse or in the marriage that you have now are both partners need to be willing to follow the lead of God. We have to be willing to stick together in the tough times to be a team to to be unselfish with the things that God has given us and to follow his lead, wherever that may be. Moving on, we're also active in the work of the Lord. The church is holding the first 14, 16, 19, which we read at the beginning, was meeting in their house, this should come as no surprise to the people that had allowed Paul to live and work with them, that they would use their home as an extension of their ministry. And I appreciate really opening up his home last night to all of them in common and to eat there, to shoot things. I mean, it was a good time. All I think all the men have a great time. And and I appreciate those are those our church that are willing to use their homes to minister to others. A man's home is his. Kastle. It takes a lot to open your hole, not to be used by Lord. Let me ask you this. Who made it possible for you to have that home in the first place? God, did God give you the ability to work, God gave you the the mind to to make the money that you have the body to to work and earn that money? God is the one who is responsible for everything we have. And a Christian a Christian couple should view their home ultimately as God's house. We use however God sees fit. Praise the Lord for the facilities we have, what happens down the road if our facilities are no longer available to us? What if the police do like they did in Canada and they barricade our church buildings so that we can't get in here? You have a lot of people in our church, so we will say you can use my house. I can house 15 people, we can have a service of 10 people. Um. I don't know. I'm not saying that will happen. Just did. Would you be willing for God to use your house? I would kind of assume that it would probably depend on whether or not you're willing for God to use your house now. When was the last time you had somebody that you're not related to from church over to your house, to minister to them? The kids have all teenagers over on a yearly basis, I think that checks all the boxes for the whole year. You're good. When was the last time you allow God to use your home, your physical building of a house to minister to somebody else? That's what Priscilla did on a regular basis, and they probably didn't have a super nice house. Really wasn't in my notes, but. Just felt like it needed to be said.

Speaker 3: Well.

Speaker 1: Oh, that's OK, so they're letting us use their house, they've already done that once, but serving God is not a one time thing. You know, Gary, I hope and one time only that one week, congratulations. How about on a recurring basis? Well, I gave the gospel out that one time. OK, that's great, but there are more than one people that are lost in this world. So let's make it a recurring practice in our lives. You see one act of sacrifice or one act of love isn't enough. Is it enough in your marriage? I know the old joke about well, let me tell you, I told you I loved her when we got married and a lot of changes. I'll let her know. Yeah, your wife probably doesn't appreciate that sentimentality. She probably wants to hear I love you on a somewhat regular basis. Liz. OK. She was serving God and so on, Equilar continued to show dedication to God to do whatever was required of them to accomplish God's work. Not only that, but it is obvious that they were quite knowledgeable about the teachings of the scripture. And Aquilla challenged one another to to deepen their knowledge of God. There was a man towards the end of the passage verse or twenty for the Bible tells us that a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures, shows up in offices and he comes at us and he starts preaching. Bible tells us that he's he's very good at what he does. He's Burbidge. He is able to speak very well. But there's a small problem with his message. It's not a complete version. Four five tells us he knew only the baptism of John. So John's message was a message of repentance. Right. But it was a message that the Messiah was coming. Messiah has come. Jesus has been and returned to heaven. And so apologies. His message was incomplete. So guess who comes along next to palace to help him fill in some of the gaps? It's not Paul. Not Peter, not John. Not one of the apostles. It's Priscilla inequal. You see, they knew enough about the Bible to help other people go off and do this again for a second here. There is still a dearth, you had Dorothea's Caleb. Lack a little bit of a feeling of people that are willing to take a class and teach you how to teach like adults, I just think people will be willing to teach kids. We're we're doing some moving around with some of our workers to make room for us, to have workers, for a lot of us, because you know what is going to take a lot to help? What is this great program anybody here ever done? Was lovelessness one, it can't wait for our kids to get started with lights, but it's going to take teachers, millions of people around. Wouldn't be great if every person in our church had spent enough time in God's word that they felt comfortable to share a Bible story with a group of first and second graders. It'd be great if we had some men in our church that had spent enough time reading God's word and studying it, that they'd be willing to stand up and teach a Sunday school class. Melinda does a great job teaching our ladies class, but she is teaching a lot of ladies and you've got a broad range of ages. There's like, what? Twenty 30 ladies in there or something like that. We have some other ladies I'd be willing to say, you know what, I'd I'd like to teach a class and help maybe a class just for four young moms, or I'd be willing to teach class and it would be, you know, for four empty nesters. We need people that are familiar enough with the Bible that they feel comfortable with teaching other people what's in the Bible. It's biblical. For us to be able to do that. Well, I'm a pastor, so what? So what if you a pastor is a pastor, these trained people in the word of God? OK, that went over great. The policy was one was unaware of what he was missing and Priscilla and Aquila were able to fill in the gaps for him. This also shows a philosophy or mentality of ministry, Priscilla Aquilla could have heard a policy speech, recognized that he was missing some things, gone home and just chewed him up and spat him out. Jared Polis at the synagogue today. Yeah, man, he is is really sure of himself, but he is missing some things. He's got some gaps in his theology. And if I didn't know what he doesn't know, I don't know if I'd speak so boldly. And Lula were not of the mentality that when they saw something that they knew was off or Raul or somebody was missing something, that they were going to go home, excoriate that person for the next three hours. Instead, they're like, you know what? He may just not know. Maybe we should be nice to him. Maybe we should do this, talk about him behind his back. No, maybe we should just go talk to him. You know, I bet this conversation kind of went something like this, hey, Apollos, my name's Aquil. It's great to meet you. You know that. Hey, we're kind of new in emphasis, too. We haven't lived here that long. You did a really good job preaching that. I really appreciated that. It was obvious that you've really studied the scripture. You know, we love to have you over to our house. We've actually got a group meeting at our house that that worships a very similar to the way you do. Perhaps you'd like to join us sometime, remember, because the church met in their house. And also, I think that sounds great. I'm new to make some connections. So Apollos comes and of course, he shows up. Oh, no sprechen maybe Aquos fill it in and he's preaching about Jesus. Policies Moses Jesus guy, never heard about Jesus. Oh, well, let me tell you about him. Tell him about Jesus and and Appaloosas. You know, this is exactly what I've been this. I mean, don't you appreciate it when somebody treats you that way, as was saying, let me just tell you where you're wrong. Let me just say what I don't like about what you said. It's totally different mentality. We talked about charity in our school class and just even feel like somebody just kind. They could have really ripped Apollos apart, but they didn't. It came alongside as his advocate and his ally and helped him. So there's a Christian couple. Giving us an example of what we as Christians, whether you're married or not, ought to do. You see, Priscilla and Aquila were so faithful to the work of the Lord that when Paul writes in Roland's Chapter 16 about Priscilla Aquilla, he refers to them as his helpers in Christ Jesus. Priscilla Equilar, though you may not have heard of them very much in the past, they really are an amazing example of what every married couple in this church ought to strive to emulate. Was Paul married, we don't know, was Jesus married? No, not like physically, you know, like we think of marriage. But here's a married Christian couple that are following the Lord. They're they're going through tough times and they're made to make them stronger. And they're a team working together, not against each other, but together. They're opening up their home, they're being unselfish, they're they're willing to follow God wherever he leads them to, whatever ministry opportunity opens up. They're active in the work of the Lord. There's something here for all of us this morning. You're married seeking marriage. Been married. There's something here for you, something that you can apply, maybe you need to be a better team with your spouse, you need to be more unselfish with the things that God has granted to you. Maybe you need to be more active in the Ministry of the Lord. Could someone say of you and your spouse that they were helpers in the work of Christ, Jesus the Heavenly Father? We thank you for this day. Thank you for the good intention of your people, for the example that we have here. Priscilla Aquilla. Or, you know, that the marital status of people in this auditorium is varied. We've got. Single adults. Young people, we got newly married, married for a long time, widowed, divorced, all kinds of different situations are represented here. Or about whatever the marital status of the people in the audience would be. I pray that all of us learn some lessons from the story of Priscilla and Aquila, the way that they worked together to serve you their unselfishness, their involvement in ministry. I pray that we would all apply these lessons to our life and we would have more examples of this kind of Christian this Christian couple here in our church. Lord, we love you and we thank you for all you do for us. In Jesus name. I pray he met. Let's all stand, we have a time of invitation, perhaps you and your spouse would like to pray together. Yeah, there are some things that you were looking at and thinking about as we went through this, and so, you know what? We could grow in this area that we're, you know, degenerates that don't do any of this stuff. But we could grow in this area. We could we can serve the Lord together better. If there's a decision you make about Salvacion. What's your relationship to this church? Whatever God has spoken to you about, this is an opportunity not to stand there and stare at the screens, but to speak to God, the Holy Spirit has spoken to you through his word that you've seen you respond as God leads.

Speaker 3: You come every so I said, oh, Christ, there's mercy with the Lord, and he will surely give you by trusting in his word. Only trust him, only trust can only trust him. Oh, he will save you, he will save you, he will save you. Oh, Jesus shed his precious blood, rich blessings to bestow plunge no to the Karamzin flood that washes white as snow. Oh, oh, me, trust me, trust him. Only trust him now he will save you. He will save you. He will save you now.

Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for your good attention. Let me give you a couple of announcements real quick before we dismiss some things for you to be aware of. First, tonight, after the evening service, we will have a baby shower for Miss Crystal. And that is right after the evening service she's registered. And Amazon, if you have not been able to pick up a gift for her just yet, she's welcoming a new baby girl here soon. And there will be cupcakes and punch served in the fellowship, all for the ladies of the church after the service tonight. Now through August 24th, we are collecting school supplies. And if you wouldn't mind helping us with donations, school supplies for the upcoming year. We discussed a couple of different things about who the target was for this. We've settled on trying once again to help our teachers. And so some of the things that they request most often, no one, no one, if I can make this push a lot, is paper reams of white copy paper is it comes like gold to them as the year goes on. So if you want to donate a boxer ream of paper, that'll be a great blessing. Lysol wipes are great, pencils are great, Crayola products are great, all that kind of stuff. We'll be collecting that and making it available for the teachers here in our church now through August 24th. Then also we have July 31st, a back to school bash for our first through sixth graders. That will be from five to seven thirty here at the church, food will be provided. And so they're very excited about that. There was no one registration card that was handed out in your bulletin and a lot of us will be starting September 1st. And so if you'd like to get your kids registered for Juana's, please fill that out. And there's a drop box down at the children's check in where you can leave that to get your kids registered. There's a children's workers meeting August 1st for current workers and those that are interested in working. And so maybe you and your wife are you and your husband would be interested in working with our children's ministry. They'll be a good meeting to get started and just let you know that she would like a more like more information about working in our children's ministry and in our teens, have an opportunity to go to a youth conference in Oklahoma City on August 3rd through August 5th. The Clarion said he's already got about ten teenagers signed up, which is a great blessing, if you'd like more information about that. It's one of the best conferences in the area. Please go see him and you'll get more information about that. Missions Committee will meet tonight at four thirty. Looking forward to being with those guys. And then, Miss Alicia, are you doing your. You said you might want to do an announcement for your activity or you want me to do it other OK. August 3rd, our ladies are going to have a back to school ladies meeting that'll be at seven o'clock and we'll have more information available for you, for you, for that. But ladies, put that on your calendar and make plans to attend August 3rd at seven o'clock. And I believe it'll be here at the church in the fellowship hall. All right. If you are guest will say, let me thank you again for being here with us. Don't forget your connection card and drop it at the welcome desk. We'll give you a gift to show our appreciation for you being here and hope that you'll all be back together with us tonight at five thirty. We're starting a new series that I'm super excited for. You've heard of Darth Vader. Have you heard of Therese? Than us, than us. OK, some of the big baddies out there, OK, tonight we're look at the original big baddie, Ahab. A guy is despicable, you're going to love him. OK, so brother, will you come closer to order prayer? Once he's done, then you'll be dismissed. Thank you again for being here.

Speaker 2: It's very. Guy, thank you for today. Thank you for the good crowd, cheered to hear you were in the worship you. Thank you. Good message, Pastor, where I pray that you just. Help us as a church to be willing to serve union capacity that you lay upon our hearts to open our hearts to what you have is to do any way we can help in the church or teaching. Uh, just pray that you yourself be open to that calling, uh, those ostracizes Lord Jesus. Thank you, uh, for them. Thank you for the help that they are to us. And, uh, just, uh, help strengthen the bonds, uh, such as that and just pray that, uh, continue to bless our church and just thank you for the ministry that it is here in Collinsville or surrounding communities around the world. Uh, just thank you. Pray for it. Helps to have a good week in Jesus name. Amen.