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Let me get rid of some stuff. Sandra said she'll give you a
word to start. Yeah. Thank you. Good evening. Please stand as
we sing number 439, Stepping in the Light. Trying to walk in the steps of
the Savior, Trying to follow our Savior and King, Shaping
our lives by His blessed example, Happy, oh happy, the song that
we bring! How beautiful to walk in the
steps of the Savior, Stepping in the light, stepping in the
light. How beautiful to walk in the
steps of the Savior, led in paths of light. Pressing more closely
to him who is leading, when we are tempted to turn from the
way. Trusting the arm that is strong
to defend us, happy, how happy our praise as you change. How beautiful to walk in the
steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the
light. How beautiful to walk in the
steps of the Savior, bled in baths of blood. Walking in footsteps of gentle
forbearance, footsteps of faithfulness, mercy, and love. Looking to Him
for the freely promised, happy, how happy, our journey above. How beautiful to walk in the
steps of the Savior, stepping in the life. Good to see you
this evening. Let's go to the Lord in word
and prayer. Lord, we ask you tonight as we
do every service for your power upon the preaching, for your
blessing upon the singing and the special. And I pray, Lord,
that you just meet with us here tonight and give us something
to take home with us. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. We will be singing This World
Is Not My Home, number 485. This world is not my home, I'm
just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere
beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's
open door. And I can't feel at home in this
world anymore. Oh, Lord, you know I have no
friend like you. If heaven's not my home, then,
Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's
open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. They're all expecting me, and
that's one thing I know My Savior pardoned me, and now I onward
go I know He'll take me through, though I am weak and poor And
I can't feel at home in this world anymore Oh, Lord, you know
I have no friend like you. If heaven's not my home, then,
Lord, what will I do? The angels beckoned me from heaven's
open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. I have a loving Savior up in
glory land. I don't expect to stop until
I with him stand He's waiting now for me in heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you If heaven's not my home, then Lord,
what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's
open door, And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. By request, we're going to sing
Happy Birthdays to the folks who had birthdays this month
because apparently somebody had a birthday and thought we should
get to sing to them. So who else had birthdays this month? Had
birthdays this month? Several folks. So we'll sing
to you too since Sean requested it. Then I told him, I said,
well, if you're going to do it for you this month, make sure you remind me
next month so we can do it for everybody next month. Otherwise,
we're playing favorites. He reminded me of my young man,
my young friend Brent, who always wants to choose what we have
on Sunday for the snack. So we'll sing happy birthday
to the folks. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you. Happy birthday to you. And we might as well hit the
anniversaries while we're at it. Who had anniversaries this month?
Anna and Adam, anyone else? Only one couple married this
month. All right, let's sing to these young folks. Happy anniversary
to you. Happy anniversary to you. Happy anniversary, God bless
you. Happy anniversary to you. Happy now? All right, always
got to keep the man happy. This one, George and Sherry,
it says, Dear Liberty Baptist Church family, thank you for
your recent prayers. Also, thank you for the beautiful
flower arrangement. I ask for your continued prayers
as I continue the healing process. So it's good to see that she's
back here at the church and that she's out of the hospital. I
want to show you the big old newspaper from my little hometown
in Sarkoxy. They put out the paper called
The Record once a week. It's a six-page, I mean, it's
a big, thick paper. But when I read this, my brother
sends it to me. My wife used to like it more
than I did, I mean, because it just gave us stuff that was going
on. But when I read this one a couple
weeks ago, I thought, this is really good. It says, Quit Complaining
With Your Mouth Full. If you're looking for some lighthearted
take on a strange news story this week, then read no further.
This week, I'm dishing out my honest opinion. And by the way,
this is written by a lady. So again, if you're wondering
if it was some guy taking a shot at this woman, it was not. If
you don't have the stomach or taste for reality, you might
want to skip this course. A video recently created by an
Ohio woman being housed at a homeless shelter is making the rounds.
Is she voicing her appreciation for the nonprofit group providing
a roof over her head, describing the struggles that led to her
being homeless? No. This woman is complaining about
the quality of the free meal provided to her. Now I'm not
out to body shame anyone, but the most polite, objective description
I can provide is that this woman has not missed many meals. That's
why I said it's coming from a woman, don't think it's some guy. Still
this woman admitted to herself complaining about the quality
of her meal and even turning her phone to film her plate of
food as she reacts in disgust. Yes, it appears she has a new
model iPhone. Lucky for her, someone has given
her a safe haven in which to live, as well as a substance.
It makes me wonder where she got her phone and who is paying
for her phone plan as well. I tried to stay objective until
I saw her plate. On her plate, she added chicken
breast, rice, and what appeared to be steamed vegetables. Oh,
the humanity! I've been craving buffalo wings
for months, but can't see myself springing for wings that are
worth their weight in gold. Instead, I just gaze longily at the wing
sauce sitting in my pantry every time I reach for my generic oatmeal.
It is a good thing she isn't looking for a free meal at my
house. I'm not sure what flavor of ramen she prefers, and I would
hate to disappoint her. But seriously, she's a guest.
I even opened a can of chicken noodle soup just for her. She
complained that the chicken was dry, although it didn't appear
a bite was missing. She also complained that it was
bland and said that she didn't care about her diet touting diabetes
as her concern. Her chicken is horrible for diabetes. Quick, someone hand her a little
Debbie's. Some of you don't know what that is, so you can't even
appreciate that. Maybe the food isn't heavily seasoned as the
volunteers are likely feeding people with different tastes
and health needs. I guess this story turned my
stomach as I also hearing reports of people, of American servicemen
and women who are struggling to feed their families with the
price of groceries inflated over 13%. Are they being treated to
free meals prepared by well-intentioned volunteers? No, the government's
telling them to apply for food stamps. If they can't make ends
meet, they're in rising inflation. I mean, we can't afford to pay
you more than 87,000 IRS agents. I mean, we can't afford to pay
you more. Those 87,000 IRS agents aren't going to pay themselves
after all. I forgot a shelter. At some bases, even those who
are able to snap up base housing are required to sign releases
stating that they understand they may be housed in structures
with asbestos, mold, or lead paint. At some point, we lost
the plot, America. I'm really not judging this woman
for having to find shelter or turn to a charity to help her
through these tough times. What I'm passing judgment on
is the fact that she is so utterly ungrateful to those trying to
help her. Maybe it's because I was raised
in appreciation of what was placed in front of me. As a child, I
wasn't presented a menu or asked what I preferred for dinner.
I helped in the garden where we grew the vegetables. I fed
the chickens and helped take care of the cows. I felt rich
and blessed that I had enough to eat, except for the liver
and onions. I guess I'd have to admit that if the shelter
fed me liver and onions, I might have to take my chances on the
mean streets. Instead of griping about what volunteers from the
local church put in front of her, maybe she should join their
congregation and take part in the next potluck. Don't like
the recipes? How about contributing one of
your own? Until then, quit complaining with your mouth full." So I just
thought that was funny. And by the way, if you wonder
if that really happens, years ago when we had the food bank,
we had someone come by one day and they asked me, We gave them
some groceries. They looked at it. They pulled
stuff out and said, I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't like
that. And then she looked at me. She said, how come there's no cigarettes
or ice cream? And I said, cigarettes or ice cream? She said, yes,
the other church gives me cigarettes and ice cream. I said, sorry,
ma'am, we're not giving you cigarettes and ice cream. But God bless
whatever church apparently does that. She loved them to death
and did not appreciate us. But again, don't forget to pray
for all of our folks, the military especially. So we're at 1045 and then back
in new places for Sunday school 945 church at 1050. One big event
coming up in the very near future and that is next month the 17th
we'll be having brother Jeff Owens here at our church on a
Thursday night we'll be flipping the Wednesday and Thursday services
so we'll have so winning on on Wednesday night we'll have church
service on Thursday night and then we'll have Friday and Saturday
over at Texas Baptist that is the youth conference where brother
Owens Friday night starts at 7 o'clock Saturday morning starts
at 10 p.m.. 10 a.m.. So again keep that in
prayer as well Please stand as we sing number
495 brethren we have meant to worship Brethren, we have met to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming, hell is
moving, can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers
and our children sinking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the
Savior. Tell them that He will be found. Sisters, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Dear Precious Heavenly Father,
we thank you Lord for what you give us. and Lord, what your
promises. Now's the time for us to do our
part, Lord, and give back what you have given us, just a little. Bless each and every one of us,
Lord, and if there's one here tonight that's lost, I pray they
get saved, Lord. Come and get it right, get their
heart right, and have a place called heaven for their home.
We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. We'll now be singing revive thy
work number 313. Revive thy work, O Lord, thy
mighty arm make bare. Speak with the voice that wakes
the dead and make the people hear. Revive, revive, and give
refreshing charge. The glory shall be all thy own. The blessing shall be ours. Revive thy work, O Lord. Disturb this sleep of death. Quicken the smoldering embers
now by thy almighty breath. Revive, revive, and give refreshing
shout. The glory shall be all thine
own, the blessing shall be ours. Revive thy work, O Lord, create
solace for thee, but hungering for the bread of life, O may
our spirits be revived, revived, and give refreshing showers. The glory shall be The blessing shall be ours. As Jacob was traveling, was weary
one day, his head on a stone for a pillow did lay. A vision appeared with a ladder
so high. It stood on the earth while the
top reached the sky. This ladder was tall and yet
so well made. It stood thousands of years and
never decayed. High winds from the heavens they
railed and they rocked, But the angels they guarded from bottom
to top. Come, let us ascend, or may climb
it who will, For the angels of Jacob are guarding it still. And remember each step that by
faith we press o'er, Some prophets or martyrs have trodden before. And when we arrive at the haven
of rest, we shall hear the great tidings, come and hither be blessed. Here are the rays of light. Here are the mansions of bliss. Oh, who would have climbed such
a ladder as this? Hallelujah to Jesus who died
on a tree to raise up this ladder of mercy for me. Press onward, climb upward, the
top is in view. There's a crown of bright glory
waiting for you. Let's go to Romans chapter 16.
Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. Tonight we'll look at the title
of the message is The Inseparable Couple. Notice Romans chapter
16 starting in verse 3. Grief Priscilla and Aquila, my
helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their
own necks, and to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the
churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, grief the church that
is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epinatus, who is
the firstborns of Achaia unto Christ, the inseparable If you
know your Bible very well, you know that every time you find
the name Aquila, you also find in the same verse Priscilla.
You'll find that any time one is mentioned, the other is mentioned.
There's never a time that Aquila is mentioned without Priscilla
or that Priscilla is mentioned without Aquila. So, the inseparable
couple. Father, I ask you tonight for
your help. I ask you, Lord, to use me. I
pray, Lord, that you would help us to get across the thought
that we have tonight, that, Lord, it would be a help and a blessing
to the married couples here and those that are even planning
on getting married in the future. And I pray, Lord, that you would
just help us to realize how much more you can bless and how much
easier it is to serve you when we're both serving together.
And I pray, Lord, that you'd bless the thoughts that we have
tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I was a lucky man,
and Brother Nichols is lucky in the sense that Brother Nichols
met his wife at Bible College, that place where, again, she
had already set herself and he had set himself aside to serve
the Lord. Not all of you had that privilege
in the sense of meeting or planning from the very beginning. Some
of you were lost before you got married. So you got married,
you were lost, you got saved after that. There are some of
you that, again, for different reasons. I mean, some of you
did not, I mean, one of you was maybe a Catholic and one of you
was a Baptist, and you had to decide, do we both become Baptists
or do we both become Catholics? And that is sometimes, again,
I would not, I always, when I'm talking to young people or anyone
else about getting married, I never recommend that a Baptist dates
a Catholic. Fact is, I don't ever recommend that a Baptist
dates even some Baptists, because there's some Baptists that are
not correct doctrinally and are not faithful to the things of
God. But, the truth is, to be the couple like Priscilla and
Aquila is the goal that every married couple should try to
set as their goal. Not an easy goal to meet. I can
tell you the earlier you start, the easier it is. Because, again,
it's a little harder when we get 30 or 40 years into this
thing. We've got some habits and some some sometimes even
bad habits. But again, we want to look tonight
at this, the ideal couple, the inseparable couple, Priscilla
and Aquila. Notice first in your Bible in
Acts chapter 18, when we're talking about the ideal couple, they
were tent makers who served God faithfully. Now, if you know
anything about this, it is Paul speaking in chapter 18 of Acts,
Acts chapter 18 verse 2. and found a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla. And again, I mention they're always together because
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. So Paul and them worked together on the same public job. And then also in this case, Aquila
and Priscilla worked with Paul when it came to many of the spiritual
jobs as well. Notice in Acts chapter 18 verse
3 it mentioned that they, notice what it says, it says, and because
he was of the same craft he abode with them and wrought for by
their occupation. They were tent makers. They had
the same profession. I mean them and Paul worked together.
In this case it even looks like Aquila and Priscilla worked on
the same job. Now, it is harder today to do
this than it was back in my mom and dad's day. Typically, especially
when a couple is on the farm, husbands and wife both work on
the farm. I mean, mom works on the farm, dad works on the farm,
the family grows up on the farm. It's not as easy in jobs today
for both to work together. But in this case, Aquila and
Priscilla both worked at tent making. It wasn't that Aquila
was the tent maker and Priscilla was just his wife, they both
apparently worked on the tents. Notice in your Bibles Romans
chapter 16, they had church meetings in their home. And again, by
the way, that is a great sacrifice. Some of you remember when we
used to rent the property right next to us over here on the other
side of that fence. Some of the older folks will.
When we first moved in, Brother Nichols let my wife and I live
in that property. They were already renting that
property. We were using it for Sunday school classes. And so
they allowed the church allowed us to live there for a while
till we found a place of our own and finally we bought a house
out in Heritage Heritage Park, but we lived there for a while
and I can tell you if my wife had not been on board it would
not have been easy for her every Saturday night to stack all the
furniture from now because what we had to do was all the furniture
from all the rooms we had to stack it I mean we had to move
the couches we had to move the chairs we had to move the kitchen
table We had to move all of it from those rooms because we had
three rooms that we used for Sunday school. Because back then
we had the 7th and 8th grade Sunday school. We had the 9th
and 10th grade Sunday school. And we had the 11th and 12th grade
Sunday school. So the teenagers were all over there. And so that
means either after church on Sunday morning, if we wanted
to have any place to sit or we had to move the stuff back out
of those rooms. Many times the teenagers helped us. If they
didn't, we were on our own. But I can tell you, if Mrs. Block
had not been on board, that would have been some tough times. My
wife was on board with that. And that's always a blessing
when both of you are heading in the correct direction and the same
direction. But they had church meetings in their house. It mentions
also in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 19. Romans 16, 5 says it in 1
Corinthians 16, 19. Acts chapter 18 verse 18 and
19 makes this statement and Paul after after this Terry jet Terry
there yet a good while and then took his leave of the brethren
and sell thins into Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila
having shorn his head in Censoria for he had a vow verse 19 and
he came to Ephesus and left them there and So again, they went
with him on a missionary journey notice Romans chapter 16 you
say blue block Are you hurrying through the first part? Yes,
because I'm trying to get to the second part this evening So the first
part we will we will go through fairly quickly They are both
willing to die for Paul the verse that I read earlier I read you
Romans chapter 16 verse 3 4 & 5 notice verse 4 who have for my life
laid down their own necks and And what that means is they put
their, they were both willing to die for Paul. They put, they,
they, and again, by the way, Paul was not usually, there's
a lot of places he went that he was not welcomed. A lot of
places he went that, I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't applauded
and a big parade in his honor. There's places Paul went where
they chased him out of town. Sometimes they threw him in jail.
But Aquila and Priscilla were willing to die for Paul if necessary. Notice another thing, Proverbs
31 verse 10 says, Who can find a virtuous woman for her price
is far above rubies? By the way, he had a good helpmate.
And by the way, they are hard to find. I always tell the young
men and women in the Sunday school class, there's three things they
should pray about from the time they're little bitty. Who does
God want me to marry? What does God want me to do?
And what does God want me to go to college? And those three
things I tell them to pray about from the time they're little
all the way on up. Now, it should not be that now most people are
going to get married someday. So, the truth is, if we're going
to get married someday, we ought to talk to God about it to make
sure if we're going to marry, we marry correctly. Because again,
it's hard to have a good marriage and it's hard to have a marriage
that lasts. Now, 40 years ago, there were a lot of people that
had been married 40 or 50 or 60 years. Nowadays, some people
could add two or three wives or husbands together and still
wouldn't reach that number of years. But again, years ago,
it was... and again, partly because people just didn't believe in
divorce back then. I remember I had my mom and dad's family. Dad had nine brothers and sisters.
Mom had six with her. Between the 15 of them, there
was only one divorce between those 15 brothers and sisters. When it first happened, they
all looked down on my mom's sister because she got a divorce because
she was divorced. Again, from what I heard of her
husband, she was probably better off without him. But again, back
in that day, if you say what happened, if you got married
and it wasn't a good marriage, usually you put up with it. We
had a family up the road that my mom and I, one day I heard
them talking, and they apparently had not slept in the same room.
They had not, I mean, they were married, but they didn't sleep
in the same room. Hadn't in years. But they didn't believe in divorce,
so they both lived in the same house. Both of them did their
own thing, but they were not together. Now listen to me, that's
not what a marriage is supposed to be like. A marriage is supposed
to be, I mean, when a husband comes home from work or a wife
meets with a husband, it's supposed to be a sweet time and a good
time, not a time where you can't wait. As in some couples, my
brother was dating a young lady and his family, his wife's family,
had a relationship that stayed, that worked because he was a
truck driver. And I said, what do you mean it works? Because
he's a truck driver. He says, if they're together very long,
they want to kill each other. But he only comes home for like
two days. And so the first day, she's so glad to see him. He's
so glad to see her. I mean, it's all hugs and kisses and all that.
By the second day, they already both get on each other's nerves.
And she's ready to see him get back on the road. And he is ready
to get back on the road himself. That's not how a marriage is
supposed to be. But that's how those were. And again, there's
people like that. So again, guys, if you have a
good helpmate tonight, You ought to thank God every day for her.
And thank God that she was crazy enough to marry you. The next thing, Matthew chapter
nine in your Bibles. Listen to me, every church, every
pastor can appreciate an Aquila or Priscilla team because by
the way, we always accomplish more when we're pulling together
than if we're pulling separately. Notice Matthew chapter nine in
your Bibles. Matthew chapter nine, verse 37. Then saith he
unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers
are few. Pray you therefore the Lord of
harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Now
listen to me, because of Aquila and Priscilla's Because of who
they were, if you got one, you got the other. So the truth is,
when they prayed for the laborers, they didn't just get one, they
got two because they were a matched pair. Everywhere Aquila went,
Priscilla went. Everywhere Priscilla went, Aquila went. I mean, they
were together. And it is always a blessing.
It strengthens a church to have strong families. Now the devil
has attacked the family for years. That's why usually when you find
these young men and women that are in their 20s, 16 to 25 years
old in prison, more times than not you'll find a single parent
in the home. A very large percentage of the time a single parent in
the home. By the way, sometimes no parent in the home. They're
being raised by a grandma or a grandpa We're an aunt or uncle
again. We live in some terrible times
where it's hard to find a good family But again, Priscilla and
Aquila were a team that pulled together and notice Genesis chapter
2 in your Bibles verse 18 By the way, husbands, if you have
a good helpmate, you ought to thank God for her, because I
have in my notes here, if every wife helped her husband in the
ministry, in ministering to others, there would be no imbalance in
the family or in the ministry. Again, a wife that is in the
ministry with her husband. Notice what it said in Genesis
2, verse 18. And the Lord God said, it is
not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate for
him. Now again, I can tell you, it is always a blessing to have
someone to help you. There are jobs today that actually
have the worker and then they have the guy and his title is
the helper. You know why they do that? Because
they realize that two can get a lot more work done than one
can by themselves. Now, I can tell you there's some jobs that
two is required to even get this stuff done. For instance, I have
some windows that I have to take down from my house and put some
others up. You know there's no way that I can take all the screws
out of that window, take it down and put the next one. It's impossible
to do with one person. So the truth is, I have to have
two people. Now, there are some jobs that
the second person isn't quite as busy. For instance, when I
used to hand my dad the tools. Now, when you're underneath the
vehicle, you know the last thing you want to have to do? Get out each time
to get a tool. Because no matter how well ahead
you planned, there's going to be a tool that you missed. And
the reason I know that was it happened last night. Last night,
and all I had was Sierra, and she's not helped much help when
it comes to going and getting stuff. But, I mean, I get home. I had
a long day here. I thought, man, I get home. I'm
gonna go inside. Well, I'm gonna feed the deer
trail. I'm gonna go inside and work on my sermon. So I get to
the house. I bring Sierra out. Of course,
she's happy to see me. And it's always nice, by the
way, husbands would be nice if your wife was happy to see you.
Wives would be nice if your husband was happy to see you. Sierra's
the best I got right now. So, I mean, she's happy to see
me. I go get the can to feed. I put it on the four-wheeler.
As I start to pull away, I see the cows are in with the hay
bales, where they're not supposed to be. I just fed two bales of
hay, like, two days ago. There's still plenty of hay out
there. But guess what? They don't want that hay. They want the
hay that's in there. And so they tore the fence down again to get in
there. So I park the four-wheeler. I
jump over there. I go in there. And I chase them all out. Now,
I can tell you, cows are a reason that farmers cuss. OK? Livestock
is the reason that farmers cuss, because they can really get on
your nerves. Now, thankfully I didn't cuss last night, but
I really wanted to. And I can tell you, I told Kurt,
I called him, and he was going to come down and help, and I
said, I'm chasing them out now, if they get in there again, I'm
going to shoot some cows tonight. So, I mean, I was out of patience
with them. But I get there, I start working at 5.30, so I get out
there, I stop the four-leg over, I chase them all out, I thought
I could just stand the fence back up, but they've tore it up so
much, I can't just fix it. So I call Kurt and I said, because
he has something that actually pounds those fence posts in the
ground. It's a little automatic thing. He just hooks it up with
electricity. And you say, what do you have to do? I have to
do the little thing that drives those metal posts in the ground.
So I chase the cows out. I start pulling the stuff out.
And then I realize I need pliers. I need a hammer. I need some
wire. So I go to the house to get that while I go out and get
that. The cows get back in the hay. I chase them out again again
wanting to cuss very badly but trying to be spiritual because
I know I have to preach tonight and I don't have to stand up and
tell you that I cussed the cows out last night so I chase the
cows out again and then I I get in and I realize I do some work
I straighten them out and I start I pull the panels off that they've
been all up $40 panels that I bought that they've been all up and
again 1,200 pounds pushing on a little metal panel 1,200 pounds
wins every time and so I'm trying to straighten them out so I can
put them back up there then I go over and I have to run the house
to get something else And as I walked by, I realized they
pulled the bucket of corn out that I was gonna feed the deer,
dumped it down the ground, and they're standing there, I mean, very content,
eating the bucket of corn that was supposed to go to the deer.
And so I'm praising the Lord and thinking, I'm so glad I have
a farm. And so that was my, but the truth
is, it would have been nice if I had someone that could I have
sent to the house, I could have sent them to the house, and I wouldn't
have had to keep doing all this running back and forth. So sometimes it's
just a matter of handing someone the tools. Sometimes it's just
a matter of being there so someone's not by themselves. Again, sometimes
it's it's not listen to me when I was a kid I've told you I had
to run down in the field every night Every four nights to check
the pigs because one of us and one of us had it We had turns
so one of us had to take a turn Many times when we'd watch the
scary movie now by the way when I say a scary movie I'm talking
about the old scary movies I'm not talking about the Halloween
stuff and all the Jason stuff and all that other stuff most
of that is so stupid and crazy that and by the way the most
of that just grows and and and stupid but but back when we had
Frankenstein and the werewolf okay and Dracula alright so as
a kid after we sit and watch a movie like that I did not want
to go down and check the pigs in the dark because I mean I
was going to get attacked by a werewolf so I don't know how
many times I've asked a brother to go with me and the answer
was always the same No. And I said, fine, next time we
watch a scary movie and you want some help, I'm going to let the
werewolf get you too. I'm not going to go with you. But many
times I'd ask my mom, and my mom would walk with me. Now,
listen to me. My mom was a little short lady. It's not like she
knew karate and kung fu or taekwondo. She was not going to be able
to help me if someone attacked me anyway. But it was nice to
have someone else with me. By the way, it's nice to have
a company. It's nice to have companionship. And that's what
Aquila and Priscilla had. Again, a unique relationship
in that respect. Notice another thing that they
had. They also had, let me get my, I changed my notes a little
bit. In Acts chapter 18, I mentioned
this earlier, but I want to show you a couple of verses so you
can see it. There was not a time in scripture that they were mentioned
without each other. Acts chapter 18 verse 2, notice what it says.
And I found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately
come from Italy, and with his wife Priscilla. Notice Acts chapter
18 verse 18. And Paul, after this, tarried
there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren,
and sailed thence to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.
Notice Acts 18, verse 26. And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard. Notice
Romans 16, verse 3. Notice 1 Corinthians 16, verse
19. 1 Corinthians 16, 19 says the churches
of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you. Much in the Lord with the church
that is in their house. Then 2 Timothy 4, 19, salute Priscilla
and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. So every time
that they were mentioned, that one was mentioned. Now, I used
to pray for my aunts and uncles that way. I don't know how you
pray for your family, but I used to pray for my aunts and uncles. It was
Teddy and Norma Ray. It was Ervin and Josephine. And
it was Rex and Dixie. I prayed for the husband and
wife. Now listen to me. Aquila and Priscilla were always
together. An ideal situation. And again, they were together
because they were both serving the Lord together. And the last
thing, as far as the first part is, they were together in marriage
and ministry. Aquila was a helper to Paul,
Romans 16, 3 and 4. We looked at that. Aquila was
a teacher to Apollos, Acts 18, 26. And then he received thanks... again, they both received thanks
from all the churches of the Gentiles, Romans 16, 4. Now if
you look at each one of those verses, you'll see that it'll
say, them. It wouldn't say him, it said
them. Now, I can tell you that for
you two to be together, if you're wondering whether you're important,
the answer to that is yes. A silent partner, even though
the silent partner doesn't say anything, a silent partner is
very important in soul winning. When you're the bus captain,
it's nice to have a bus worker. Now, the bus captain doesn't
have to have a bus worker, but it sure is nice to have a bus
worker. And again, in this case, every time we saw Priscilla,
we saw Aquila. And when we saw Aquila, we saw
Priscilla. I want to skip to the next thing. And that is this,
how to be helpers in the ministry together. How to be helpers in
the ministry. Go to Acts chapter 18. We read
it earlier, but I want you to see it again. Acts chapter 18.
Notice verse 3. Acts chapter 18, verse 3. And
because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought,
for by their occupation they were tentmakers." Work together.
And I told you today, if you work at a store or at some place,
your husband or wife probably doesn't work with you. But there
are many times that a husband or wife can work together. Aquila
and Priscilla did. Now, I know that some of you
could not work together because if you did, you would end up
killing each other. And I know that there's couples like that.
By the way, there was times that my wife probably would have killed
me if she had to spend all day with me. Now, the good news is
if you stay together long enough and you get working together
long enough, you become a really well-organized team and you have
a real big help and a real big blessing. But you're going to
go through some tough times at first. Kind of like any marriage, left
the toothpaste off, left the lid up, I mean, throws his clothes
all over the house. I mean, there's a little bit
of training on both sides that has to go on. And then when you,
but by the way, when you both get working together, it makes
both of your lives so much easier. They work together. Number two,
they serve together. In Acts chapter 18, verse 18
and 19, It said this, Now I can tell you my mom and dad were
a good example of that to me. My dad was the bus driver. Now,
I was a teenage bus captain, so I was a bus captain. We had
teenagers at our church bus captains. I was a bus captain at 12 years
of age. But needless to say, I can't drive at 12 to go visit
my bus route. So guess who was my driver that
took me visiting on Saturday? My mother. Guess who my bus driver
was on Sunday? My father. And so the truth is,
because of them, I was able to work in the bus ministry. Without
them, it would have been very, very difficult to do that. My
dad was not a preacher. He wasn't called to preach, but
he preached at a nursing home. And when he preached at that
nursing home, guess who went along? Mom and the rest of us kids.
We would sing. Mom would always make you the
cupcakes or cookies. Now, she could have stayed home, but she
went with Dad. Now, again, my mom hated nursing homes. My mom
made us kids swear. do not ever put me in a nursing
home. That's why years ago when my mom got pretty sick and my
brother called and said, what do you think? I said, no, no, no. You've
been making the decisions for mom all these last years and
didn't want any of my help. This one, you're on your own, buddy.
Because I said, if you put mom in a nursing home when you get
into heaven, Mom's going to be kicking your butt all around
heaven. I mean, it's going to be a butt-kicking contest. Because I said, Mom
made us swear, do not put me in a nursing home. Because back
then, now there are some nice nursing homes today. I've been
to some that are actually decent. But back then, all of them smelled.
I mean, they smelled bad. And then the bad smell of human
pee and feces, and then the stuff that they put on that to try
to. And by the way, the mixture of those two made a very terrible
smell. I don't know if they would actually
have been better either one by themselves, but they went out
a good mix. Today, there's much better smelling cleaning stuff
than there was back then. But nursing homes back then,
I mean, it was a place, I mean, you put people and usually, I
mean, they went there to die. It wasn't a nice place and they
didn't have activities and all that. I mean, they might sit
in the room and watch TV or just sit in the wheelchair all day,
maybe chase each other, I mean, have wheelchair races up and
down the hall or something, but there wasn't a lot of activities back
then. But my mom went with my dad, because dad wanted to go
to the nursing home, and my mom went with him. My dad was a children's
church leader and the director. My mom made puppets. She hand-sewed
a bunch of puppets. I still have some of them in
a chest at my house today. Mom made a bunch of puppets.
And we had a puppet ministry. But mom and dad worked together.
Now, it was a blessing to know that my mom and dad were both
serving the Lord. It wasn't dad. Now, again, that
first year that my dad got saved and mom wasn't saved, that was
probably the only time in my life I ever saw my mom and dad
bump heads a few times. But because mom was scared to
get saved because she didn't want to become a fanatic. She
saw dad becoming a fanatic and didn't want to become a fanatic.
And you know the two terrible things that she didn't want to
give up? her short pants and listen to Elvis. That was the
two things that were so terrible that she didn't want to get saved
because she knew she'd have to change. And by the way, today
there are a lot of folks, trust me, the stuff that Elvis sings
today is pretty good compared to the other stuff out there.
So today Elvis looks like a Baptist preacher's son, and maybe he
even was, I don't know. But the truth is, my mom didn't
want to become, she didn't want to be a religious fanatic like
my daddy. But again, my parents set a good example to us as far
as serving together. By the way, Aquil and Priscilla
taught together. Acts chapter 18 verse 26, and he began to
speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquil and Priscilla
had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the
way of God more perfectly. By the way, sometimes you older
couples, you can teach the younger couple some stuff. I can tell
you, I have some wise, I have some people that I go to and
I call them my wise counselors. Now when you get older, it's
hard to find counselors older than you when you get old, because
I mean, that means, I mean, you know, but the truth is I have
some folks that are my wise counselors. I talked to one of them today.
Now listen to me. There is so much you young folks
could learn if you would just ask and if you'd also just listen.
There's so many young women that have babies. And by the way,
there's so many older women that could give you so many ideas.
Listen to me. It's not the best thing is not
to pick the baby up every time it cries. You will want to pick
the baby up every time it cries, but that's not the best thing
to do. If you keep that up, you're going to be carrying that kid
around when he's about 12 years old. Every time he crosses, you're
going to have to pick up the big old... But the truth is, those wiser older
women can give you some advice about that. There's a lot of
things they can... Again, that's why the Bible says
for the older women to teach the younger women. That's why
the Bible says for the older men to teach the younger men. Now, in order
for that to happen, we have to be teachers, elderlies. By the
way, in order for that to happen, you young folks have to be listeners.
learners. But again, they taught together.
In this case, they helped a young man that was trying to do right,
and they helped him to become, I mean, he was already preaching,
but they gave him, I mean, in this case they gave him some
help and helped kind of straighten him out a little bit. My mom
and dad helped a family by the name of Kenny. I don't remember
the first names now. But I remember later they weren't
as missionaries, but when they first got saved, they hung out
with my mom and dad. They were younger than my mom and dad, and they
looked at my mom and dad as parents. And the reason they did that
was he was a Jew. As soon as he got saved, his
mom and dad disowned him. He knocked on the door one day,
and he told us about this, and I didn't realize it happened. I'd heard
people talk about it, never had known it to happen. He knocked
on the door, and they said, hi, mom and dad. And they said, who
are you? And he named his name, and he said, I'm your son. And they said, we don't have
a son. He's dead. He had zero, he could have zero relationship
with his parents because he became a Christian. So they would come
to my mom and dad's house and get counseling and spend time
and they learned a lot from my mom and dad. And I watched my
mom and dad teach him. I remember one time he got to
the house and he said, see, so you think this is funny? And
his wife said, don't do that. And he said, yeah, guess what
she did? He said, she started out of the house wearing a pair
of pants. But when we found, but he said, but when we got
close to your house, he says, We've got to stop at a gas station
so I can change. He said, because I don't want Cecil to see me
in a pair of pants. And my dad said, well, I'm glad
you think about me like that, but Jesus has already seen you
that whole time. What about him? And that rung
in my head, and I thought, my dad's pretty smart sometimes.
But he said, you shouldn't worry so much about what I think. You
should worry more about what Jesus thinks. But the truth is
that my parents, who were the older couple, were helping that
younger couple. So they taught together. By the way, they helped
together. Notice Romans chapter 16 in your Bibles Romans chapter
16 Read a Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus Helpers
I had someone tell me here a while back that one time when the preacher
and Cindy was sick She went to make them a meal and take them
a meal and her husband said what are you doing? I don't make the
money around here so you can feed other people and You know
what that's called? Stupid. That's what that's called.
It's called they were an idiot. But listen to me, there are times
that husbands and wives are not together. That's why you need
to work together, help together. By the way, you ought to risk
your necks together. Romans chapter 16, verse 4, we read that earlier,
how they were willing to lay down their own necks. You should
sacrifice together. Romans 16, notice verse 5. Romans
16, verse 5 says, Likewise, greet the church that is in their house.
Salute my well-beloved Epaphanus, who is the first fruits of Achaiai.
and to Christ. So again, you should sacrifice
together. I am so appreciative of my wife.
Very seldom did she ever fuss at me. I like to give to help
people. I give people money alongside the road. I always give them
a track too. Now I've found it's hard for them to turn down a
track if you give them money as well. But again, she's never
fussed at me about that. There was only a time or two
because there was a family in the church years ago that, by the way, didn't
appreciate the help that they got. They asked me for help and
I helped them. Later they asked me for help and I helped them.
They always promised to To pay back never did and my wife finally
said you're working two jobs, and they're not even working
Why do you get so there was only that's that's the only time my
wife ever fussed at me about that stuff 90% of time She was
always gonna listen to me. You ought to be willing to help
people together I mean to do stuff with each other to be givers
together I know that there's times that that husband's a wife
want to do something and the other one does not want to and
One might want to give the missions and the other does not. One might
want to give to a special occasion or a special need and the other
one does not. You ought to sacrifice together. And then the last thing
as far as this is concerned, we should love others together.
Notice 1 Corinthians 16, verse 19. 1 Corinthians 16, 19, that
the churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla, salute
you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house.
Now, they loved others together. Now, it was such a blessing for
my wife to be with me when I was a teenager. She was on the same
bus route with me. She loved the bus kids as much as I love
the bus kids. When we worked here till she got six, when I
came to youth activities, she came to youth activities. Mrs.
Block was right there alongside of me. When I went to youth conference,
she went to youth conference. Youth conference for all those
years we went to Winter Hills, youth conference always fell
on her birthday. It was always on that. Her birthday
was July 14th, and Youth Conference always was like the 10th through
the 14th, or the 11th through the 15th. It always fell on that
week. So every year, my wife celebrated Youth Conference,
celebrated her birthday at Youth Conference. Now, I can tell you,
putting up with teenagers all the time, if you want to do something
that will make you want to pull your hair out and pray to God
for help, work with teenagers. Now, kids are a lot of fun, and
they're very loving, and very giving, and very caring. are
not, okay? I mean, now they love, but they
love in a different way, okay? But the truth is, my wife was
right there alongside of me with the teenagers. I mean, when it
came to doing stuff with the teenagers, she was right there
along with me. Again, love others together. And let me give you
one other little area, and then I'll be through. You say, will
it work? How does it work? Here's how
it works. The Bible says for husbands, in Ephesians chapter
5, verse 25, to love your wives. even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it." Now notice the part where it
says, love your wife. There are a lot of men that look
around at other women and think about how great a wife they are,
how pretty they are, how nice they look. By the way, that's
not what the Bible tells you to do. The Bible says for you to love your wife.
And then he says, you ought to love your wife as much as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. Wives, the Bible says
in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22, for you to submit yourselves
to your husbands. Submit yourself to your own husband
as unto the Lord. Two parts for the lady to get
there. One, own husband. Some women treat other men or
other people, other guests, better than they treat their husband.
Not a good thing. He mentions, you say, well, my
husband's not a very nice person. Then do what the last part says,
as unto the Lord. Do it because the Lord asks you
to. There have been times that someone didn't want to do something
that I asked him to do, but here's what they said, I'll do it because
you asked me to. So they were doing it as a favor
to me. They were doing it to be a blessing to me. And here's
what the Lord said, wife, submit yourself to your husband. And
again, do it as unto the Lord. By the way, man, if you love
your wife, it will be much easier for her to submit herself. Love
is an action. Notice 1 Corinthians chapter
13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Now, men typically don't like
to be emotional, but notice what 1 Corinthians chapter 13 says
in verse 4, because this is talking about love. So again, the love
that, I mean, he tells us to love our wives, so we ought to
figure out what love is. He mentions in chapter 13 verse 4, charity
suffereth long and is kind. Now listen to me, one thing when
you suffer long, you know what you typically are not? Kind because you just
suffered you just put up with it put up with it. Then it's
hard to be nice He said I want you to suffer long and I want
you to be kind he goes on Charity envieth not charity vaunted not
itself is not puffed up does not behave itself unseemly Seeketh
not her own is not easily provoked thinketh. No evil rejoices not
in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth Look at verse 7, beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. So again, husbands, we're supposed to love. It's an action.
It's not just a word. Now, it is easy to say, I love
you. It is hard to love. It is easy. Again, it's much
easier to say the word than it is to practice the word. Ladies,
the Bible word for you was submit. By the way, it's a choice and
an action. It's a surrender. Submit means,
when you look it up, it means to place underneath, to put under,
to be under obedience. Now, again, wives, if you submit,
it is so much easier for him to love you as he should. So
husbands, if you love, if we love like we're supposed to,
it's easier for her to submit. By the way, wives, if you submit,
it's so much easier to love. Many couples can't and don't
do this because they don't start it. It's much easier when you
start at an early age. Again, because at that time,
we don't have as many bad habits, and we're not as set in our ways.
I can tell you now, I put the lid back on the toothpaste, and
Mrs. Block hasn't been around for almost 18 months now. Say
why? Because she trained me well.
I still put the lid down, and I'm the only one in the house.
Sierra doesn't use the bathroom, so I'm the only one in the house.
I wouldn't even have to put the lid down, but I still put the
lid down every time, because that's what Mama asked me to
do. Now, again, understand, can't or don't, but again, we want
to start at an early age. Now, listen to me. There are a lot of kids
that leave the house with no intentions to get married. You
know why they don't want to get married? Because they've seen what marriage is,
and if it's not a good marriage, they don't want anything to do
with it. That's why today there's a lot of 30 or 40-year-olds,
or even some 20-year-olds that aren't getting married. They'll
live together. By the way, some of them will live together for 20 or 30 years.
But they don't get married. Because of the fact that they,
I mean, they always want to know that I can just step out anytime
I want to step out. I can leave. I don't have that commitment.
Don't just hold it together till the kids grow up. A lot of folks
do that. A lot of marriages last till the kids leave and then
the divorce happens. Some happens till retirement
comes and then divorce happens. Don't just hold it together till
the kids grow up or so that you don't have to split. I know folks
who stay together because they don't have to split their income.
If I get divorced, they'll get half my money. If I get divorced,
they'll get half my money. built such a relationship early
on, that when there's just the two of you left, that life's
great. Marriage is great. He loves,
she submits. By the way, you do that often
enough, and it'll be just as easy as breathing. You won't even
have to think about it. It's not a battle, it's not a struggle.
It's called a relationship, and it's a good relationship. When
you have the good relationship, not only will your life be easier
and happier, The kids growing up will have an example of what
not. I don't know how many times I've seen a young couple, they'll
point over some older couple, the older couple, they've been
married for 50 years and they're still holding hands and they're
still looking each other in the eye and they're still smiling and people go, oh. Now
listen to me, that's not easy to have. That took a lot of work.
And yes, they could have got a divorce down through those
30 or 40 years if they wanted to. If you think it was all,
I mean, roses and great times, it wasn't. There was some tough
times. There were some hardships, but again, be the struggle and
strive and work and pray to be the inseparable couple, the couple
that mom and dad are both on the same, I mean, on the same
page, working together. I mean, both, I mean, are happy
to be at church. I mean, if dad doesn't go, mom
still comes because this is her church too. I know times that
one mate, I mean, one mate stays, I mean, if one mate's sick, the
other mate doesn't even come because they didn't really want to come in
the first place. And again, it's important that mom and dad are
both on the same page, that again, you're working together. Quill
and Priscilla are a good example of that. They were the inseparable
couple. When you saw one, guess what?
Next to him was the other one, and they were together. By the
way, it makes life much more fun and much easier. Lord, we
love you. Thank you for your blessing.
I pray, Lord, you'd help us to work hard in our marriages that we
might be the inseparable couple. Days come, the weeks come, the
months come, the years come, they turn into centuries, and
Lord, we're still there, and we're growing old together. We still
love each other, and Lord, we just love each other even more
after 30 years than we did at 20. We love each other more at
40 than we did at 30, and Lord, it just gets sweeter and sweeter.
Instead, Lord, the other hand, where all the world has, where
they put up with each other for so many years till they finally
just get to the point that they just can't stand it any longer and
they go their separate ways. I pray, Lord, you'd help us as
Liberty Baptist Church members to set the example when it comes
to this marriages that last forever. I pray, Lord, you'd help us realize
that we're supposed to have one husband, one wife for one lifetime, that
we'd work really hard to have that happen in our lives. And,
Lord, if there's a young people here tonight I pray Lord you'd
help them to to look to the right couples the men and women in
the Bible and the men women in our church who are serving the
Lord together
"The Inseparable Couple"
Series Character
| Sermon ID | 101322058566250 |
| Duration | 1:00:07 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Romans 16:3-5 |
| Language | English |
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