you'll join me in Acts chapter number 18. If you were here last Sunday night, you know that we had a very quick drama together of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And you're supposed to all say, that's not our names, all right? It's only been a week, but you've forgotten that's what we say there. That is not our names. And they're looking at what our true identity, how the world tries to change us. I move this passage, this story up to this Sunday as I thought about John's friend, a friend of mine. They allowed me to stay in their home, the Clantons did for a short time about 20 years ago as I worked in a missions office near their house. And I moved this story up earlier as I was thinking about them. Next Sunday night, Lord willing, we will look at the story of his glory, the story of missions throughout the Old Testament as we prepare our hearts for our missions conference. Since I've been a pastor now about three years, I saw on my computer program that this is somewhere around my 440th sermon from a different passage. And this is one of the few passages that I've repeated in the last three years, and I'm okay with that. Some of you know the story well, and you've heard me tell it a few times. But Lord willing, we've been in James 4, I'm going to say Lord willing a lot. It's in my mind. I'm thinking about it. Lord willing, it's a story that you'll hear me tell a lot when I think about missions. When I think about what missions truly is, having a good understanding of it. So when we talk about missions at our church, I hope that we'll all be on the same page and we'll think about passages like this together. I'm glad that we get to have Beth White is here with us, and that's nice. And then Amy is here with us as well. These are people that on the mission field, when we talk about how important it is for the people in the church to be disciples, they know that firsthand. Anybody who's ever had the blessing of seeing a church started know that it doesn't happen by just one family doing a lot of things. It's the stories of plural pronouns, thems and theys. Stories that of people that you may not ever get to hear about, but that's the story of, as I said, the spread of Christianity. On Wednesday night, where is, I saw Julie, she was up here a second ago. Is she still in the room here? All right, there you are, Julie, okay. Wednesday will be our last service with her before she returns to Ohio, and we're gonna have a special time of prayer with Julie and thank God for her special influence in our church and how she has served And our kids know her very well from the ways she has served. And I told Stephanie, we're going to have ice cream sandwiches after the service. And she was like, why? I said, I can't think of anything more celebratory than an ice cream sandwich, all right? But to me, Julie, that is the peak of excitement, OK? And we just want to take some time. And some of you are with me. Some of you are like, that makes complete sense, all right? The rest of you don't know the wonder of an ice cream sandwich, all right? It's ice cream you can hold in your hand. Come on. What more do you need? All right. But we want to spend some time thanking the Lord for you. And she goes back. And I'm going to tell you tonight, because we just have a few more days. But we have been thoroughly blessed from the life of a person who came down here from Ohio and trained and has served in so many different ways. Us, our lives personally, and all of those that you have ministered to will always remember. They'll have stories about how you shared God's word with us. And we're super grateful. And so here we look at the story. I've already told you their names, so I can't have you guess. But if I was to ask you the names of famous couples in the Bible, what are some of the names that you might say? Name a couple in the Bible you would say. Abraham and Sarah, that would be a good one, starting at the beginning. What? Jesus and the church. All right, Greg. What? There you go, and you went Priscilla before Aquila. The Bible does that, doesn't do it with other couples, but some reason she gets the headline on that one, Priscilla and Aquila. That's the one we're gonna look at. What's another couple? All right, going dark on us, okay. And what else we got? Adam and Eve, Joseph and Mary. That's good, coach. Can't forget them. Any more? All right, Elizabeth and Zechariah. You're very good. Who said Jezebel? Barry. All right. All right. He knows all the stories. So here we're going to look at Aquila and Priscilla, this very special couple. And I'd like to mention that their names are always together. And as I've said before, that's a special place in life when you and your spouse's names always get said together. I think about Charles and Mary. Some of you may know them as Chuck and Lisa. But Charles and Mary, their names always get said together. And that's special. And they work together. and then they serve the Lord together, and they change the world together. I've ordered about a dozen copies of a book by Scott Pauley that's called New Testament Marriage, and it follows the life of Quillen and Priscilla, and I want to give it to couples, and if you remember to ask me next week, you might get one. because I know there's more people in here, but I want to get a copy of every couple that I'll be willing to read it, because they're a great example of a couple we're going to show it. But what I plan to do is read to you all of chapter number 18. We won't act it out like last week, even though that was a lot of fun, but I'm going to read a few verses for you and comment on them. But the book of Acts is action-packed. You know that? The work of the Holy Spirit, the stories, 20 different miracles you see. Starts off with a cloven tongue of fire, and then you see laymen being killed, and buildings are being shaken, and people falling out of windows, and dying, and Dorcas, or Tabitha, she dies, and everybody is up and saying, we need her back, and she's raped from life. The book of Acts is filled with that. Herod's violent death, Philip's transported, he teleports from one place to another, Saul's blinded and then Hill becomes Paul and all these different action-packed things. The story Quill and Priscilla, I say it's the kind of movie or book that Stephanie would like. It's the story of a couple who loved each other. No one's dying in this story, okay? But it's a couple that loved each other. And Ephesus in Acts 19 is a special place. It's a hub, a place where people are growing and learning And then people are saying, I gotta get back to my hometown and share them about Jesus. I have to leave what I've learned. Paul has been teaching for two years. I've sat here and learned, and now they're just going out everywhere. So that it says that Paul, in the span of two years he preached in all of Asia, heard the gospel. Colossians tells us there's a time that the gospel was preached to every creature, and this place was just a beautiful community of people that were discipling others and helping them on their way, and I just love it. If there's any place in history that I could go back to, there's a lot of them I'd like to go to, but this story, I would like to see this being lived out. There's no doubt that God used this family in a special way. And so let's get started. In Acts chapter 18, Paul moves into a new city and he's going to make some new friends. After these things, Paul departed from Athens, this is verse 1 of Acts 18, and he came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought, for by their occupation they were tentmakers." Paul comes into a new place, Paul had worked with leather, he had put tents together, and then so he meets this couple. This city here is important, it's Corinth, it's a hard city to minister in, but it's a place of interest of those that would plant churches because there's so much moving coming through it. And then God directs His steps when the first things that He does in a new city is, you're going to need some friends, and God directs them to this couple. It's implied, not clearly stated, but assume that Aquila and Priscilla, they were Christians, but if not, it must happen right here upon Paul meeting them, that this couple, they are serving together and they know the Lord. Verse number four, On the weekends, we're going to see that Paul preaches Jesus. And he reasoned, means he's teaching in the synagogues every Sabbath, persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonium, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And I would expect that these types of conversations came back to the home of Quill and Priscilla at night when Paul would be making these tents with them, the things that would happen on the Sabbath day and on the weekend. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, he's describing his ministry there, but he said, I determined that he wasn't going to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was the message that he is preaching. And then Timothy brings a good report, and you remember Pastor Bo was teaching 1 Thessalonians Timothy comes to Paul and he gives her a report and it presses upon Paul and he wants to write a letter because he's so encouraged by it. We also find in 2 Corinthians 11 about this same time frame is that Paul is going to get financial support from a church in Philippi which allows him to direct more of his time and energy to the work that he's doing, we'll say, on the weekends as he's preaching the gospel. That he's less dependent on making the tents and able to do that, and then it says that the church communicated with them that they gave to the need because they wanted to make it so that he could go out. There John says they go out for his namesake, taking nothing of the Gentiles. He was preaching, not taking anything for the people that he was preaching to, so that they would know that he was preaching the gospel freely to them. Churches in another place were giving financially so that he could do that. And it says that he shook his raiment. And so that would say that not a single speck of dust from the synagogue is going to remain on my clothes or on my sandals. It's a dramatic way of expressing his rejection of their rejection. He was very capable of making a dramatic and vivid demonstration of this message. You have rejected the message, and I'm going to shake this off, I'm going to go forward. And now Paul is going to, we're going to see here in this next scene, that he's going to move next door to the synagogue. That's in verse number 7. And he departed thence, and he entered into a certain man's house, named Justice, alright? If we were doing this tonight, Justice would play this part, alright? One that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue, right beside it. And Crispus, why does anybody name their kids Crispus? That's a good one, okay? And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, what happens to him? He believed on the Lord with all of his house and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. So he's living next to the synagogue and the ruler of the synagogue comes to know Jesus. Paul still shares the gospel with Jewish people. Even though he didn't have that statement, I'm going to go to the Gentiles, he still seeks to share the gospel with Jewish people with every opportunity he gets. Crispus, that I said, he's one of the few people that Paul will personally baptize. You may remember 1 Corinthians, it says, I thank God that I baptized none of you except for Crispus and Gaius. So Paul's going to baptize that man that lived right beside the, or the, when he's living beside the synagogue, the man that was a chief ruler, he is going to baptize. And we know about the people being baptized at this time. It was said that in 1 Corinthians 1.26, For you say your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. During this ministry, many people are coming to know Christ. The common man are coming to know Christ here and be baptized. And then Paul is encouraged by the Lord and he'll continue teaching boldly. Join me in verse number nine. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city." And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. Teaching the Word of God, the most simple and common description of the life of the Apostle Paul and what he did. This simply taught the Bible. I like that in Brother John's testimony. He heard a man standing up there teaching the Bible. He asked his friends, are we all able to do that? And he said, we sure can. He says, I think I'm going to go and do that. I expect that Aquila and Priscilla are part of the them in this verse. God is teaching the word among them. Paul is still there in the city. Spurgeon considered this promise of Jesus where he says, for I am with them. He thought it emphasized three things. The presence of Jesus, the sympathy of Jesus, and the cooperation of Jesus. He was reminded that the Lord was with them. Jesus said, I am with thee. And the additional promise to him here was, I have much people. It was a constant assurance to Paul who must have doubts about the survival and the health of the Corinthian church. God reminded him there's plenty of ministry to be done. There's plenty of people around here that will listen to you, that are going to come know me. And that reminds us as well, there's always somebody who is willing. If we are willing, there's always somebody that we can minister to, certainly. And there's always somebody we can minister with. There's always somebody out there that if we would step forward and go, they would join us. The next chapter, 12-17, Paul's enemies are going to fail to impress the governor. When Galileo was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God, contrary to the law." What a great thing to be accused of. This fellow persuades men to worship God. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, if it was a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews, reason that I should bear with you, meaning I should help you with what you want to do. Did you catch that when I was reading? It says that Paul was about to open his mouth But then it's, he didn't have to, that God orchestrated something there. I think it's special. It's as to say, Paul, you save your voice for preaching the gospel, I'm taking care of everything else. When he goes to open up his mouth. So when Crispus trusted Jesus, somebody had to replace him. and the man that replaced him, Sosthenes, he later himself will become a Christian. So isn't that wonderful? That man that's, when he's living beside the synagogues, accepts Christ that he baptized, they replace him, and then that man accepts Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1 when Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother. And God is doing a special work there. Now Paul is going to leave and he's going to go to Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla. Verse 18, And Paul, after he had tarried there, he had a good while, then took his leave of the brethren, and set himself in Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head and sinned against him, for he had a vow. Look who is with him. Now Priscilla and Aquila are going to join him. and that Paul is going to perform a vow showing there's no Jewish opposition, that those that thought he was in opposition to all the Jewish lifestyle, he was not anti-Jewish. There's things that I don't understand about this. If you haven't been paying attention, let me slow down for a second. Priscilla and Aquila come with him, and he says, I've got to take a stop. I've made a vow. I've set myself aside as like a Nazareth vow, and I'm going to fulfill that. What he did was a vow to express his gratefulness in all that God was doing. Paul's adoption of this vow was out of bounds. It was different than Jewish tradition in how he observed it. And what I do expect here made for an interesting conversation on the boat ride with Priscilla and Aquila. And they're like, so exactly what was that about? What is it that you were doing as they traveled here with him? And so we see here a desire to practice a more purely biblical observance of this Jewish ritual. Paul in the city of Ephesus, verse 19. And he came to Ephesus, and he left them there. But he entered into the synagogue, and reasoned again with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not, but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep the feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. That's it. He's going to leave the feast to go do what he said he was going to do in regards to this vow to keep his word. And did you see that? He says, I'll return to you again, but then he says what? If God will, right? He said, this is what I desire to do, if God permits, it's according to His will, unless He changes, doesn't mean He just prevents me, doesn't make it possible, but if He lays it upon my heart, the Spirit leads me and lets me know that's not the case, I want to please And then Paul wanted to preach in Ephesus for some two years early, but the Holy Spirit, it says in Acts 16, prevented him from doing that. And now he says, Lord willing. So Priscilla Aquila stayed at Ephesus seemingly at Paul's request. Something good has started at Ephesus. And Paul wanted the work to continue with his trusted friends. He says, brother, sister, I need you to stay here and to help cultivate what God is doing. Paul's going to return home. to his home church at Antioch of Syria, concluding here his second missionary journey. Look at Acts 18.22. And when he had landed at Caesarea and gone up, he saluted the church and he went down to Antioch. Anytime the Apostle Paul goes back to what we refer to as his home church or his home base, it talks about how that ought to be refreshing, and he checks in with them, and it says that they salute them. That's special, and that's a gift. And we think of the Apostle Paul, or I do, I think of the Apostle Paul as the Rambo of missionaries, right? I don't see him as a person who needs a whole lot, but we find him as a person who goes back to this and gives an update to his church. And so now in Acts 18.23, Paul's going to continue on a missionary journey. It doesn't say how long, but it appears here that it's the next thing that's going to happen. So we don't know how long his mini-furlough was. We don't know how long he had stopped and told them what was going on and shared a report. And I would guess if he was there very long, he would tell a story about, I met this couple, Quill and Priscilla, they traveled with me. This is what was going on. He was sharing what's happening in the ministry. And after he spent some time there, the church, at verse 23, he departs and he went over the country glacier in Phrygium in order, and this is what he does. He is going to strengthen all the disciples. It's called a missionary journey, and the thing that he's going to do on this is he's going to go about strengthening the disciples. And since Paul's first focus on his trip was the strength of the disciples, he went back to the churches that had already been founded on his previous missionary works. and he encourages them, he disciples them, he answers questions, and see what's going on. If we could bring the Apostle Paul in to give kind of a consultation, a ministry consultation, and say, the Apostle Paul, we want to reach our community, we want to be a faithful church, how do we reach Alpharetta? I would assume that he would say something like this, you should strengthen the disciples that are in the church, you should preach Christ boldly, and you should let God take care of everything else. That's what we've seen here in Acts 18 so far. He preached Jesus, that he's allowed God to take care of the other things, as we saw when he was in court, and he began to speak, and then everything took care of itself, and now he spends time strengthening the disciples. And the ministry of Paulus comes in, in verse number 24. And a certain Jew named Paulus, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. So we say an eloquent man, you understand that, we know what it means to be mighty in scriptures and that he had been instructed in the ways of the Lord, but that fervent in spirit, it means to boil over in spirit, a bubbling over with enthusiasm, the zeal for the house, a zeal for the things of God that are said of our own Lord. And this is who shows up here that had been changed by knowing Christ, and it's wonderful. in the ministry. And then we're going to see that this couple, Aquila and Priscilla, help Apollos. Verse number 26. So, Aquila and Priscilla, towards the end of this chapter, they take an opportunity with the Bible that they had learned, They open up their home, a young man comes in, and it makes a real difference in his life. We're going to see that it makes a real difference in all the places that he is going to go. So a few things about this couple with their time remaining. There are people that spent time in the Word. Acts 18 and 11, he continued there a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them. There's opportunities and we found that Aquila and Priscilla, they took it to study the Bible together. This is where the great stories of Christian couples always start. It's not when a boy falls in love with a girl, but when a boy and girl fall in love with the Word of God. That's when the adventure is really going to start. It's not when a boy and girl fall in love with each other, but it's when a boy and girl fall in love with the Word of God. They fall in love with Jesus is where you're going to find this most incredible stories. There's a significant time of learning and serving before we see them on this boat with Paul. We don't have a full timeline, but we see them serving faithfully. We see them making the tents, and there's Paul coming in. We see them doing weekend activities. We see them doing what's needed. And then they get to a place where they're going to take this step of faith, and they're going to serve. We see them willing to do whatever is needed to help. In Romans 16, 3, it will say, Great Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. My helpers. These were helpful people. And there's a little bit that we've seen about them. We know what that's like. And when an opportunity opened up, Paul, verse 18, we've read, he tarried there a good while, and he's about to leave, and he sailed to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila go with him. There was that step of faith. We have studied the Word, we've seen God use us, and now here's an opportunity. The Apostle Paul's going to go to a new place, and they make a decision by faith. It happens so quickly in the Bible, right? We read it as a sentence, but all the things have to happen. All the bags have to be packed. All the tent company had to be shut down. The parents had to be hugged, they had to be kissed. All those things had to happen, and Aquila and Priscilla, with confidence, that the Word of God that had been changing their life would also change the life of other people on the other side of this boat ride they were going to take with Paul. They learned the application of the truth that they'd been learning. At the synagogue they learned it. And what they had done, they had built in margins in their life and now they could take this opportunity in a new ministry. Boats aren't always required to do this. In their case, it was at one part, but now they're going to get to a place and they're going to faithfully serve there for as far as we know, the rest of their days. They took a step of faith together and they were on a mission. And believing in the young people and enjoy watching them move forward in ministry. That's what it said in verse number 26. They took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. You know, we've done that before on occasion with our teenagers at the Hub, with the Pearson's Home. We called it Expound, and it's inviting people in to talk about something and have a better understanding. See, Apollos wasn't a heretic. He just needed discipleship in an area. They knew a little bit more about him, about something that he did. That's all it was. They brought him in and they say, We love what you're saying, but let us share with you what we know about the ramifications of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. And it was instructed in the ways of the Lord. And they were able to do this in a way, apparently, that it does not say that it embarrassed Him, it did not break Him, He did not leave in shame, but He goes forth and then they write a letter of recommendation for Him. Privately bring Him in and give Him instructions, and they publicly support what He's doing. And in my notes, I have the name Janice Minard because it was for me when I was in school and I heard somebody preach what was just an incredible message. The kind of messages that you preach when you've been doing it for 50 years, not really the kind of messages that you can just go to a church and repeat, but I tried to do it. Dr. Sixon had preached this incredible message, and I wrote down all these notes, and I went back to the church I was from, and I tried my very best to replicate what he did. And I made a mess of it, all right? It was like all over the place. And so I got done. And well, that's not the story I was thinking of. The story that Ms. Minard writes for me is the story I've shared with you before, where I preached the whole message. So I could say Eutychus 2 if you fell out of the third story window. You know, the story of Eutychus, my whole message was based around that whole point that I wanted to get to. And everybody told me I did a great job and patted me on the head. But Miss Janice wrote me a note. She told me she loved me. She'd been my Sunday school teacher when I was little. And she said, I love to hear you, and I'm glad to see you're growing. But if you really want to help God's people, just simply teach the Bible. And that lady, more than any Bible professor, any book that I've read since, spoke to me on a level because that's what I wanted to do. I didn't want to just preach for my own good. I didn't just want to survive. I really wanted to help those people in that room in the same way. She didn't embarrass me. She wrote a note. But she had the ability to speak into my life because I knew that she didn't want to hurt me, that she loved me. And so, even opening their homes for a church to be in, 1 Corinthians 16, 19 says, and the churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. Whenever y'all see salute, I always picture this, right? That's not what we're supposed to be picturing, all right? But they say, salute you much in the Lord, this greeting that is here. They open up their home. One of the greatest things that you can give to the cause of making Christ known is to remove the no vacancy sign from your life, where you say there's no room for other people. You know, you see those on hotels and you go by, and I guess they don't have those much anymore because we all make our reservations online, but you see them sometimes, right? You go by a hotel and it says it's full. So many of us live with our lives with a sign that's flashing that says no vacancy. And if you say there's no room for other people, what you're saying is there's no room, Lord, for ministry in my life. And that is the great challenge. The great challenge is to live our lives where we can make room for other people. The Bible repeatedly tells us to make room for others. Older women, train the younger, Titus 2.4. Paul, train Timothy. Fathers, train your children. Lord, Ephesians 6. Mr. Rustelli told me a story, and I hope it's okay that I'll share this. I'll know in a minute if it is, all right? But he told me about how his boys would go to work with him, and he was working all the time. And when they were little, they would want to hop in the truck and they would go to work with them. And he said, I would work an hour away. And since my life was busy, I was working all the time, they gave me an hour with my sons where I could teach the Bible. That's margin. That's opportunity. That's ministry. Matthew 28, missionaries go to the nations. Hebrews 3.13, Chris exhorts you to avoid sin and stir, provoke one another to good works. It means be involved in each other's lives, use our gifts. And now here, they spur of the moment, it seems, explain the way of God more accurately of Paulus. They had room at their table. They had enough food to invite somebody over for lunch. They had a willingness to share something that they saw more clearly. And so they helped Paulus on the way, a letter of recommendation, and his story is going to continue. We're going to hear about it, Paulus. You see it competitively, it says Paul planted in Apollos waters and God gives the increase, or people are going to argue and say, I was baptized of this person, or I was baptized of this one. We find nothing about Apollos that encouraged that. Even though people were like that, that wasn't, there's no reason to believe that Apollos cultivated that spirit of contention. He was just faithfully doing what he was, God had gifted him to do. And from what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, Paul apparently had made a remarkable ministry there. He went to Corinth and he watered where Paul had planted. And some scholars, and me, separate category of people, they consider him to be the type of person who could have written the letter to the Hebrews. And so missionaries are not the only ones that are asked to lay down their neck for the cause of Christ. And I'll share this before we end the night. People need to become Christians, and people need to be taught how to think and feel and act as a Christian, and that is discipleship. John Pearsons need to know the Bible, and they need somebody to be willing to open up some time in their life, and their lunch pail, and their salting crackers, and their miracle whip, and say, I don't know everything, but I see something a little bit more clearly than you do, and I will share that with you. And the forward movement of discipleship is what we call missions. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, who was the they that they're talking about? It's Aquila's and Priscilla's and all the people in the story. Everybody that had heard the gospel then become the them's and the they's in the book of Acts. And it's wonderful to be part of that group. The Bible is so filled with names. Romans 16 has 27 different names of people that were involved in the work. And as we see the Holy Spirit working here throughout the Bible. And it's not a boat that we've all come together in. It's the Word of God, and let us see where it may take us. And then this is the commendation. This is the closing epithet upon the life of Aquila and Priscilla. Or as I said in the Bible, it often says Priscilla and Aquila. It goes back and forth. Look at the last verse with me before I make a closing statement. Romans 16, 3-5. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers, in Christ Jesus. Then what's said about them? Let's see, we know that they're their helpers. We know that they had a Paulist over that one day. We know that they've allowed a church in their house. And so, this is the kind of life that they're living. Common people making room inside of their lives for other people, for basic discipleship. And this is verse 4, what it says. Who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved." And so here we have, it is said, that in this lifestyle they laid their lives down for the cause of Christ. Every one of us are without excuse in here if we want to be involved in the work of missions. Every one of us are without excuse in here if we want to be involved in discipleship. God took in the middle of a crazy book of Acts, He took a common couple who was willing to study the Bible, open up their lives, and to teach some other people. And so what a joy to not only be connected when people say our names, but be connected in the joy of Bible study and service together. And young people in here, do you realize that you desperately need the end of chapter 18 before you consider moving on to chapter 19? Accept the offer to lunch and listen. Accept the advice that people in this church are willing to give you. Because chapter 19 is going to come here soon enough, but you're at the end of chapter number 18 right now. And you know some things, but there's some people around you that could help you. And they're opening up their lives to share. And we've blessed as a church from our very beginning to have people that are like this Apollos. that have grown in the word and they want God to use them. And what they need is just some people to invite them over for lunch and to share some things with them. This long story is short. And so what story is this the short version of? It's the story of common people who have lived incredible lives by inviting others into the joy of knowing God's word. It's made its way from that table and to a loading dock and now into our home. And that's the spread of Christianity for the last 2000 years. And we get to be part of it. So this is what I encourage you to do as we pray. We've seen a testimony, Quill and Priscilla. Every one of us can be like that in our lives. We can be the type of people. But you don't have the words to say to Apollos on an afternoon if you're not people that are in the Word together. So you can't skip any step of it. You have to be people that'll say, I want to study the Word and I want to be a helper however I can. Because you just never know what simple act of obedience is going to be part of changing this world. I have no doubt they invited other people to lunch. And some of those people took it, and some other people don't. You just never know. But if you consider your testimony, not just the testimony that John gave tonight, but the most meaningful things in your life, when people were doing it, they didn't know that they were doing anything grand. They just knew that they were being obedient to the Lord. So I want to encourage you tonight, remove everything that you think about discipleship and leave two things on the table. Do you know something about God that you could share with somebody else? And if so, let's be busy about that. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this wonderful testimony, Lord. Father, you know so many times how I feel inadequate and I complicate a matter, but tonight, Lord, from your Word, I'm confronted with the fact that this is something that is accessible to us all. Father, I pray that you would help me and Stephanie be students of your Word and then also be the type of people that would open up our table to other people and share what we have learned. Lord, we're asking that you would use us in this way. Father, I pray for our brothers and sisters in this room as well, that they would make this decision and that through our simple steps of obedience, Lord, you would allow us to see the gospel go further and to the ends of the earth. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.