And we are in Acts chapter 18, which is a turning point again. There are several in the book of Acts, but this is the end of the second missionary journey of Paul and the start of the third missionary journey of Paul. So our passage is Acts chapter 18, beginning at verse 18 of chapter 18 and reading through verse 28, which is the end of the chapter. Together, let's give attention to God's holy and inspired word. After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Centrae, he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. And they came to Ephesus and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined, but on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. And may that glorious statement be true here today in this sanctuary that we might see that the Messiah The promised Savior of the world is indeed the Lord Jesus. Amen. One of the assumptions many people have about the early church is that charismatic leaders like Peter and Paul led the church through periods of rapid growth, but when charismatic leaders like them were no longer around, the ongoing growth of the church took place through more structured, organized, planned ways. So you start with the charisma, of gifted leaders followed by kind of the organizational, even a bureaucratic model for development. Well, that view gained popularity a couple hundred years ago, especially through a philosopher named Max Weber who described that pattern as the common pattern for all societies and all organizations. But as we've been walking through the book of Acts and looking at the life of the early church, we see a very different picture. It's true, there are dynamic leaders, but we also see early on the importance of organization and structured relationships, even through and because of these same charismatic leaders. Peter and Paul are not lone rangers who operate independently from the influence of others. They developed and they submitted to intentional relationships with other believers. This kind of intentional connection to encourage personal growth and to help the development of the church is what the Bible calls, and what Christians have called for many years, discipleship. We're going to think about discipleship today, but I want to start with this background and framework. Discipleship has always been the plan for the growth of the church. God has blessed the church. at various periods with charismatic leaders. He's blessed the church at times with renewals and even revivals. But there is a happy marriage, a happy connection between both the inspired leading of individuals and the connection of mutual submission of intentional discipleship relationships. So we're gonna look at some of these relationships today. Some are explicit and some are implied, but they're all important. And they all come right from the passage. And we could look further back into Acts and see some of this. And we can look later on in the book of Acts and see it again. But right today, as I studied this passage, I saw the role of discipleship being lifted up. So let's start with Paul. Who does Paul disciple? In fact, if you have the sermon note handout, this will kind of help highlight who's discipling who. Because in each of these, we're going to see the individual is both a discipler, that is, he's discipling others, but also a disciple. A disciple-ee, he's being discipled by someone else. So let's start with Paul. And who does he disciple? Well, in our passage, we see him discipling Priscilla and Aquila. Notice that first verse again, this husband and wife couple. After this, Paul stayed many days longer, they're still in Corinth. And then, leaving Corinth, took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria. And with him, Priscilla and Aquila. Centrae, he had cut his hair for he was under a vow. So Paul had met Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth. They shared in ministry there together. And now, after Paul was there a year and a half, so even if he knew him the whole year, after a year and a half, this couple is gonna get on a ship and sail hundreds of miles, at least 150 miles, across the sea to the city of Ephesus. How does that strike you? You knew someone for a year and a half, would you get on a dangerous sea voyage to pack up your belongings and your resources, your livelihood? This couple, wonderful couple, they are laboring for the Lord. They're committed to the Lord. But just think about that connection to Paul. That is a discipleship relationship. They're serving the Lord, but they're going to learn from Paul. They're going to walk with Paul. They're going to sail with Paul on the ship. And that kind of personal connectedness, learning hands-on, shoulder-to-shoulder, really the best way to learn anything, but that is especially true of Christian discipleship. The relationship with Paul and Aquila remains important to Paul throughout his life. In fact, at the end of his life, very touching, he's in his letter to Romans, Paul says this, Romans 16, verses three and four, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Years later, this is. He's remembering them. Who risked their necks for my life. to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. So this is the way Paul personally, in a relationship, modeling, encouraging, discipled Priscilla and Aquila. Paul also disciples the church in Ephesus. Remember, he's gone there and now they've landed, leaving Corinth, verses 19 and 20 from our passage. They came to Ephesus and he, Paul, left them, Priscilla and Aquila, there. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, Paul declined. But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills. And he set sail from Ephesus. So as soon as Paul arrives, Paul shares about Jesus with the Jews in the synagogue. And this is very familiar, isn't it? If you've been following this study in the book of Acts. This is what he does every new place he goes. He's going to share in the synagogue talking about Jesus as a fulfillment of the promised Messiah. So discipleship doesn't end with conversion. That's what we're going to see. It definitely has to include it, right? It begins there. So Paul begins talking about Jesus. Get the terms, this would be evangelism, he's sharing the gospel, and those that receive and respond in faith are going to then be built up as followers, and that is discipleship. So here Paul is doing the first step. He is sharing, and he tells them he is under obligation to go. This has to do, no doubt, with a vow he has made. He is on his way to Jerusalem. And then he adds a statement, though. He said he will return, what? if God wills. Remember that? Sharing this small but very significant principle and truth to those who are first hearing the gospel, even at the moment of conversion and evangelism, is a foundation for discipleship. It's a way of sowing the seed that God has a plan and a purpose in all things. And Paul knows the drama and the dynamics of what is taking place in the early church. If these people are truly going to follow the Lord, there are going to be no doubt difficulties, sufferings, very likely even death before then. And they need to know there is a God who wills, who has a will. There is a God who has a plan and a purpose through it all. This is gonna be a foundational truth for them as followers of the Lord. Paul then will disciple the churches he planted. In our passage in Acts 18, verse 23, it says, after spending some time there, he departed. We're jumping a little ahead of the story chronologically, but I want you to see his role as a discipler. After spending some time, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples." And there's that word we're thinking about, disciples. Disciple is literally a learner. Knowledge of the truth in the Bible is always for living. We heard about that in the children's sermon, didn't we? We heard about that in the Old Testament reading for Psalm 25. Truth is for living. The disciple is learning truth that the person might live the truth. Christianity in the early church was referred to as the way. It was the way people lived. Paul is strengthening the disciples, literally to make straight, to confirm, to make steadfast. We hear this of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke chapter 9 verse 51. It said, when the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. That setting his face, that determination, that's the strengthening Paul is giving to those who had come to believe in Jesus. And what are they called? Disciples, right? So discipling is this strengthening through learning to follow the Lord. Paul's retracing these steps that he had made in his earlier missionary journey. He's not giving up on these folks. He's praying for them, longing for their development. And so he is even, in a sense, in a distance, maintaining a disciple focus. Well, let's define it, okay? A disciple. And again, if you've got the sermon notes handout, you can have this to take home with you. A disciple is a person who loves and follows Jesus. and is seeking to make other disciples. A person who loves and follows Jesus and is seeking to make other disciples. And if you're an English teacher right now, you would give me a big fat F, right? Why would you give me an F? Because you never define a word using the word, right? How can we say a disciple is a person who loves and follows Jesus and is making disciples? That's exactly right. That is the point. That is the point. It's focusing on the reproduction and the continuation of followers of Jesus. I want you to think of this as third-generation focus, right? Discipleship is a third-generation focus, and Paul discipling Timothy spells it out. Notice this passage in 2 Timothy, chapter 2. Verses one and two, Paul says, and he's writing, you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. All right, so we're gonna count the generations, right? If you get nothing else today, you can go to sleep after this, but get third generation discipleship, okay? We're gonna count the generations. Paul loves and follows Jesus. Generation one, that's the first generation. He disciples Timothy so that Timothy would love and follow Jesus. Second generation, right? Generation two. But the key is what comes next. The third generation. So in discipling Timothy, Paul needs to train and direct him, Timothy, to entrust God's truth and ministry to others. And that's the third generation, right? So Paul's a follower. He loves and follows Jesus. He's training, encouraging Timothy, the second generation. But remember what Paul said. He's telling Timothy, pass it on, right? Entrust to others. that they too would love and follow Jesus. Now, what would happen if Paul was a wonderful believer, but there was only a one-generation focus of discipling? We wouldn't be here today, would we? Paul dies, the story ends. What if he was a second-generation focus in discipleship? We still wouldn't be here today, would we? Paul dies, Timothy dies, Discipleship doesn't continue and we wouldn't be here today. The most charismatic leaders in the world could not change that outcome. So that's what Paul is doing. That's what we're seeing in the book of Acts. It's how he disciples Priscilla and Aquila, others that he helps lead to faith. The goal was that they could make disciples who make disciples make disciples who make disciples and praise God that happened and that's why we're here. But Paul's not autonomous. He's not a free agent because this is the other part of the story. He too is discipled. Who disciples Paul? Well, let's notice verse 22. When Paul landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. The church in Jerusalem is part of the discipling of Paul. So this going up and down, it doesn't make any sense if you look at a map. Caesarea, Jerusalem is not south of Caesarea, but it's always referred to as up. You go up to Jerusalem. You sing songs of ascent. So there is just that mount of going up to Jerusalem, but it's also just a way to show the importance and the significance. And when you leave Jerusalem, whatever direction you're going down. So he goes to Jerusalem, no doubt because of this vow that he has made, and he greets the church. But remember, we've talked about this in Acts. The church is tens of thousands of people at this point. And so he, I don't know that they got everyone together. Paul, no doubt, meets with the leaders of the church, the heads of the church. We saw in Acts 15 how Paul is submitting to the leadership of the church in Jerusalem. And so he continues to connect with them. They have a degree of authority over him. He reports to them. We see in Acts Paul raises money for the church in Jerusalem. He unites and ties other people to the church in Jerusalem. And then he goes to Antioch and Paul is discipled in somewhat a similar way by the church in Antioch. We learned earlier in Acts that this is the church that commissioned Paul. They sponsored Paul. They laid hands on Paul and others as a type of ordination. And to be ordained is to be under orders. So this just blows out of the water, the whole idea of charismatic leaders who are autonomous. If you have a calling, if you are ordained, it is because you are under authority, you are under orders. And Paul is going to reflect that and honor that as he comes to Antioch. He's gonna report on the mission work. And this is going to end as he gets to Antioch. This ends, marks the end of the second missionary journey. And then he's going to leave Antioch. And that's going to mark the start of the third missionary journey. Every tradition, every type of Bible scholar, conservative, liberal, talks about the three missionary journeys of Paul. And each of them understand that Antioch is the launching point. It is home base, however you want to look at it. But you see what that is implying, that this church of Antioch had an authority over Paul and Paul recognized it. He is charismatic, but he is not independent. He's not a free agent. Well, let's turn and look at another character in the passage. Later in the passage, we heard about Apollos. He is a discipler and he is discipled. Both of those again are in place. So we see him making disciples introduced to him in Ephesus. So from our passage verses 24 and 25. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. though he knew only the baptism of John. Here's an assignment or something to think of this week. Is anyone in all the Bible described more positively than Apollos? Again, just think of these things. It's mentioned of him, he is competent in the scriptures. Literally, some of your translations will say, mighty in the scriptures. He's instructed in the way of the Lord, and the word for instruct is the word catechize, which is a thorough form of learning, typically a question and answer format. Anyone of any age can benefit from catechism learning. We do it every Sunday in our worship service. But perhaps Apollos was catechized as a young person. He was catechized in Old Testament scriptures, but apparently also in details, certain details about Jesus. He is fervent in spirit, the Bible says of him, and that's literally to boil or burn in his spirit. That's not a reference to the Holy Spirit, that's just a way to talk about his personal zeal and enthusiasm. Romans 12, 11 says, do not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. So that's, again, a similar kind of intensity and capacity. So Apollos was gifted, shared powerfully about Jesus. He shared the truth as he preached, and it was true, but apparently it was not complete. It says that he knew only the baptism of John. If you want to know what that means, you'll have to come next Sunday because we're going to find a whole group of people that are described in a similar way at the start of Acts chapter 19. So he speaks the truth, but somehow it is less than complete. Apollos later will also make disciples, discipling others in Corinth. And I love this. Apollos is going to end up in Corinth where Paul just was, and he's going to disciple people. And guess who he's going to disciple? the converts Paul made. This is a beautiful connection. So in verse 27 from our passage, it says, when he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. Those are people that were believing before he got there. And again, who might those be? These are the people Paul led to faith. And Paul himself describes it. In 1 Corinthians 3, verse six, he says, I planted Apollos, that's our Apollos, watered. But God gave the growth. And this is going to be, as we read in the passage, this is all through grace. He helps those who through grace believed. Grace is at the beginning. Grace is in the middle. Grace is at the end. We're thinking about discipleship, right? It's a relationship. It's an intentional relationship. But don't miss grace. I've seen a lot of discipleship models, methods, they can be helpful, but it's got to be about grace. A personal, that's why I said a disciple is a person who loves Jesus and follows Jesus and is passing that on, making disciples of others. So this is grace from first to last. Apollos, the discipler, and now Apollos, the discipled, right? He is going to be discipled, and who is going to disciple him? Who could disciple such a charismatic leader? Well, guess what? Priscilla and Aquila, this couple, this husband-wife team, are gonna disciple Apollos. Notice from our passage, verse 26. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, this is Apollos, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. So they explain more accurately to Apollos the way of God, and that's literally to set forth, to open up, and accurately is to be diligent and thorough. And notice this, how did they do it? They took him aside and many think this actually means they took him in, they brought Apollos into their home and through hospitality and conversation they explained more accurately the way of the Lord to him. What a kind expression. of discipling and helping Apollos. I mean, could you imagine, and it's not hard today, if this would take place and maybe this young, you know, dedicated Christian person heard someone saying something that wasn't quite right, wasn't quite complete, you know? Priscilla and Aquila could have responded in a lot of different ways. They could have marched right out of the synagogue at that point. They could have, you know, confronted him, talked about him, tried to undermine him. They didn't do that, did they? And look at Apollos. We get a picture. It's not hard to imagine him resisting the discipleship by Priscilla and Aquila. Would we be surprised if he said something like, look how the Lord's blessing my work. Who are you to tell me that maybe something is lacking? or that I don't have the whole story. So we think of being a disciple today, we could maybe apply that to ourselves. How well do we, how well do you take input from others? How well do you receive direction, correction? Again, dear friends, this is a mark. This is a mark of discipleship, to lead and encourage others, but at the same time to be in relationship and connected to others. Well, finally, we see Apollos is discipled by the church, both in Ephesus and Corinth. Verse 27 from our passage, when he wished to cross to Achaia, which is Greece, we know it's Greece today, the brothers encouraged him, that's the brothers in Ephesus, and wrote to the disciples in Corinth, part of Greece, to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. So the gifted and charismatic Apollos is again showing he's under the direction, support of other believers. The leaders in Ephesus coordinate this new mission to Corinth, right? Kind of like Paul leaving Antioch. They arrange it. They authorize it. And then the disciples in Corinth, they welcome him. And notice the word disciples, that is the word used to describe the church in Corinth. Who are they? Well, we know. What's a disciple? These are the people who love and follow Jesus there in Corinth. and they are committed to making other disciples. They're committed to making followers of the Lord who will help nurture and build up other followers of the Lord. So they receive Apollos for that ministry. They encourage him, they support him, and he will have a profound impact on them. Remember, Paul says what happened when Paul got to Corinth, I mean, when Apollos got there. Paul's words. I planted, Apollos watered, and the pattern would continue. The waters, just think of those waters, the waters of a third generation focused discipleship, those waters flowed. They've been flowing through the ages. They've washed over continents. These waters have reached the shores of your soul and my soul. If you are a believer today, we are here because of faithful disciples who by God's grace sought to make other disciples. And now it's our turn. Think about this in the week ahead. Are you a disciple? Are you? Do you love and follow Jesus because of his grace? Are you seeking to help others grow as disciples? Is there a third generation focus in your prayers and in your efforts? What would that look like? What would it look like for you now just to start praying with the mentality of a third generation discipleship focus? How would you go about it? What would it look like for us as a community of God's people to live and to minister with that kind of third generation focus? Well, if history tells us anything, I've got some bad news. At least hard news, right? It's not going to be easy. It's not. It's not going to be convenient. It's not going to be comfortable. It's not going to be the first thing you're going to necessarily, in your flesh, in your human nature, going to want to do. But we have this promise. It's from the scriptures. It's been testified to in history. This, this is a journey filled with God's grace. This is a journey of the Lord blessing with his presence, sustaining with his spirit, satisfying us with his purpose and his plan as only he can. For we remember the words of Jesus, his almost very last words. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Be with us, Lord. Be with us. We need you and we love you. Amen.