Hello, this is Brother Denny.
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There's a verse of song this morning that
excited me very much.
It says, so shall I run and never
tire.
And when I heard that verse, I pictured
a man running and running and running and
running until the day of his death.
And that is a miracle, isn't it?
I mean, if it said, so shall I
walk and never tire, that would be amazing.
Or so shall I stay awake and never
tire.
Have you ever tried to stay awake for
a couple of days in a row?
It's very difficult.
Have you ever had to stay up all
night and when the morning arose, you looked
at the sun and this sinking feeling arose
within you that the night has passed and
I didn't sleep.
What about running and never tiring?
And the miracle behind that is a love
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it?
That's what that whole song is about.
I want to be so in love with
the Lord Jesus Christ that that love motivates
me to run and never tire.
And that makes me excited this morning.
Thank you all for welcoming us here.
My wife and I, it's a blessing to
be with you.
And we love each one of you.
We think of you all often in our
home of Ghana.
And we do pray especially for you all
here in the church at Ephrata that God
would use you in His kingdom here while
we're over there.
It's a blessing to be gathered together and
I ask you to open up your heart
as we try to learn something from our
King this morning, to learn something from the
Word of God together in our life.
Let's all just stand up if you don't
mind and open up our hearts to our
Father.
Lord, here we are, a group of people
standing before you.
And we came with our offering, Lord.
We came with a gift of praise and
love to you.
And now we pray that as a faithful
father you'd teach us a lesson for this
week.
Lord, that you'd teach us a lesson for
our life that we wouldn't forget.
That this would be a point that we
could look back to and remember that from
here going I was able to see changes
in my life.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to
be doers.
God, deliver us from the hearers only.
God, don't let us be named among those
people.
And I pray that you'd give us the
diligence to stay awake and alert during this
message and alert to what your Spirit has
to say to us this morning, Lord.
Thank you, God.
We are very happy to serve you, Lord.
We want to learn something today.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Thank you.
You can take your seat.
I guess when you saw me climb up
these steps, you probably thought that you were
going to get a message on missions.
I would love to give you a message
on missions.
But I'm actually going to share on a
different subject.
God's mission that He's given to us really
intertwines with every other subject, so I'm sure
it will come in here some.
I'm also not a very good holiday preacher,
so if you came to hear your Easter
Sunday message, I'm sorry if you're disappointed.
But I would like to share a message
that God laid on my heart this week,
and I'm very excited about it because I've
been having a blessed time.
My wife and I are studying it together.
I'd like to share a message called Married
to Minister.
Married to Minister.
Now, this message is on marriage, so maybe
just as a side note to the young
people, maybe your heart sank that you're not
involved.
Just two thoughts I have for you.
One thought I'm going to be sharing with
you young people next Sunday afternoon.
So maybe you can let this one be
for those who are married.
But the other thought is you also need
a vision.
And I hope that you can use this
for a vision for your future.
I still remember, in fact it was very,
very little time ago that I wasn't married.
And I even remember sometimes not even wanting
to think a whole lot about marriage because
I wanted to focus my whole life into
the Kingdom of God.
And that's good.
And if that's where you are this morning,
I'm not trying to stir you up to
get married prematurely.
If you're not in love with Jesus Christ,
don't even think about getting married.
But if you are in love with Jesus
Christ and He's leading you that way, maybe
this could help stir a vision in your
heart.
This is going to be a little bit
of a different twist this morning on marriage
maybe than some of the wonderful messages that
we have heard.
I hope it can be a blessing.
It probably springs some out of the experience
of my own life.
My wife and I have only been married
almost two and a half years and most
of that time has been spent in Ghana.
And so I'm sure some of this springs
from my own life.
Although I want to look at a couple
in the Bible and learn from them.
As I thought about the world's purpose, why
do you get married?
You know, I thought of it, if I
could go out into the world and just
take like five people and ask them, why
did you get married?
I wonder what some of the reasons are
that they would give me.
I thought of these reasons.
Because I was lonely.
Because it was the thing to do.
All my other friends were getting married.
Because she was cute.
Because he was nice.
And I fell in love.
You know, there's just different reasons that the
world would probably give us for getting married.
Because I was done with college.
I don't know.
What are some of the reasons the world
would give for getting married?
Well, what's our purpose for getting married?
Well, we could talk about different purposes.
I know that God created man.
We could go back and look at that
passage.
It's not good for man to be alone.
We could look at seeking a godly seed.
And I know we've had messages on these
subjects, and those things are good and right.
But I would like to give a little
bit different aspect this morning.
You could turn to Acts chapter 2 with
me for just a minute.
We are now living in the New Testament
era.
Is that right?
You and I are the people after the
cross, the people to whom has been given
the gospel kingdom, or the final kingdom.
When we read about those five kingdoms of
the world, this is the last kingdom that
shall break in pieces the other kingdoms.
It's the kingdom of the mustard seed, and
the kingdom of the leaven that leavens the
whole loaf.
And we have a motivating factor for our
entire life.
And Brother Eric shared some about it in
the first part of his message.
You and I are called.
There's only one reason that we've been left
here.
Isn't that right?
Only one reason after we were born again
that God did not rapture us, or in
His mercy, slay us to deliver us from
temptation.
I mean, when we pray, Lord, deliver us
from temptation, the easiest way would be just
to go to heaven.
But there's one reason why we're left here.
And I had to think of the apostles,
the twelve disciples, as they came to the
end of their three and a half years
with Christ, here in Acts chapter 1.
Did I say chapter 2?
Chapter 1.
In the end of their three and a
half years with Jesus, we come to a
point here where Jesus has risen.
If you remember, He gathered with them at
one point in a room and opened their
understanding to understand the Scriptures.
Do you remember that?
And He has revealed to them some of
what His plan is, but they're still trying
to grasp it.
And here on the mount, as I understand
where the setting of Acts chapter 1 is,
Jesus is about ready to ascend.
Though, of course, they're not aware of that.
And they have a question that, unfortunately, is
the last thing they said to Jesus before
He left.
And it's a very significant question and shows
a little bit where their heart is.
In Acts chapter 1, verse 6, they say
to Him, when they were therefore come together,
they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?
And I see in that question the essence
of the question, God, we've heard about the
Christian life.
We've understood now the gospel.
So, when do we get to the millennium?
I mean, is it time now to rest?
Could you establish everything so that we could
live this way without temptation and without enemies?
And it's interesting, isn't it, that Jesus almost
brushed aside their question and says, it's not
for you to know the times or seasons.
In other words, that time is not here
and I'm not even going to bother telling
you when that's coming.
That's not the point.
But, in verse 8, ye shall receive power
after the Holy Ghost has come upon you
and ye shall be witnesses.
In other words, He said, that's not for
you to worry about, but trust me, it's
a little ways off.
I have two things for you.
You will receive power.
You will receive the Holy Ghost which hasn't
yet been given and ye shall be witnesses.
Those are the two tasks that He, or
the two things that He gave them that
would happen.
And in the next verse 9, it says,
And when he said this, he went up
and he was gone.
So saying, he left them with the fact
that the only reason that I'm leaving you
here, that I'm not ushering in the beauty
of if you believe in a millennium or
whether you believe in whatever, they were asking
for the perfection of a Christ kingdom.
He said to them, I'm leaving you here
to be a witness, to go, to minister.
In the prayer that's called the High Priestly
Prayer, Jesus said to his Father, Father, I
am now, I am no more in the
world, but these are in the world.
And I pray, Holy Father, that you would
keep them.
Do you remember that prayer?
Jesus is saying, Father, I'm stepping out of
the world, but Father, be at rest because
I'm leaving you here And I pray, Holy
Father, these are going to be here.
Jesus is saying, I'm exiting the world, but
I'm leaving some here in my stead.
Paul says, we beseech you in Christ's stead.
I'm just trying to drill the point home
to us.
The reason we are here, isn't it?
It's because Christ is gone.
And so we're in His stead here.
He came, the brother shared this morning, to
minister, didn't he?
And what is the definition of minister according
to Jesus?
He came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister.
And what's the rest of the verse?
He came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and...
to give His life a ransom for many.
So He spelled out the essence of ministry
when He said He would give His life
a ransom for many.
And now in His stead, now being sent
out as He was, He having breathed upon
the disciples before He ascended, He has given
His life a ransom for many.
We have inherited the mantle of His ministry,
which is to give our life a ransom
for many.
Does that bless you?
I hope that blesses you.
It's a big responsibility.
I think the disciples were bewildered when He
left it with them.
They're standing on that mountain, looking at each
other, trying to realize, you mean we're not
going to retire?
You mean we're just starting?
We're supposed to go out and do this?
It was a shocking realization for them, but
we can see the blessing that fell on
their life when they obeyed it.
All of this I'm just saying to lay
a foundation.
What is the purpose of marriage?
I propose to you that the purpose of
our entire Christian life is to be in
Christ's stead, ministering to the glory of God.
So, why marriage?
Why not to minister?
Beware the file card mentality.
Have you ever read that article by A
.W. Tozer?
It's called Beware the File Card Mentality.
You all know what file cards are.
We need to beware that in our life,
we don't compartmentalize our life.
You know how it's easy to do that.
I have my spiritual life, which includes devotions,
meditation, Sunday morning, Wednesday evening, Tuesday evening in
Lancaster, and revival meetings and such things.
And then I have my work life, which
includes going to work and balancing my checkbook.
And then I have my marriage, which includes
spending time with my wife.
Do you know, have any of you ever
fallen prey to that?
I know I have.
You know, you just compartmentalize and you think
to yourself, right now I'm in my work
mode, now I'm in my marriage mode, now
I'm in my spare time mode, whatever mode
you think that you're in.
I have had that in my life.
But the Bible wants us to let the
Gospel penetrate through every one of those areas
of our life so that this ministry weaves
in your marriage, in your spare time, in
your work, and in your children, in everything.
Isn't that true?
Okay, having said that, let's get into the
message.
There's an interesting little story behind this message.
This week, we're living in a little trailer
over here in Akron that the mission provides
and having a blessed rest time and visiting
with people.
And this week, I did something that I
haven't done for a couple of years and
I went to work for my dad for
a couple of days.
And that was kind of fun to actually
work with my hands and earn a couple
of dollars myself.
And charity, staying home.
You know, we never do that in Ghana.
It was kind of, you know, we were
playing what normal married people do, I guess.
And so I was leaving charity home there
just to do the laundry and a real
washing machine, and all this kind of stuff.
And I gave her a little assignment while
I was going to charity.
I want you to find one today in
your study time while I'm going to work,
I want you to find one godly marriage
in the Bible.
And when I come home this evening, we're
gonna study it together.
And when I came home, she had pages
filled and it was a blessing.
We've been studying it for the next couple
of days.
And God just laid it on my heart
to share with you all this morning.
This, one of the most intriguing couples in
the Bible and their marriage.
We don't have a whole lot of verses
on them, but their whole marriage was devoted
to the kingdom of God.
Does anyone know who it might be?
Brother Paul?
Good, Aquila and Priscilla.
Let's look at Acts chapter 18.
I'm sure that many of the glorious men
of God who we read did have wonderful
marriages and were not blessed to peek into
them.
It's been assumed that Peter had a wife
because he had a mother-in-law.
And it's been assumed that many of the
other, it's assumed that Paul did not have
a wife or either had a wife and
she left him because of the gospel.
We don't know.
But Aquila and Priscilla is an intriguing couple
whose whole life is a testimony of surrender
to the kingdom of God.
So I'd like to study them this morning
in their spiritual journey and even physical journey.
So Acts chapter 18, starting at verse one.
And I want us first to just take
a little biographical sketch of their life.
We're just gonna run over the verses and
follow them as they move from city to
city.
And then we're gonna go back and more
analyze their character.
You understand what I'm saying a little bit?
So stay with me as we read about
this couple and learn from this couple in
the Bible.
Acts chapter 18, we're gonna read the entire
chapter.
I am gonna be pausing different times through
the chapter to draw out points specifically regarding
Aquila and Priscilla or the setting that helps
us to understand what they were doing here.
So Acts chapter 18, let's start at the
beginning.
So Acts chapter 18, after these things, Paul
departed from Athens and came to Corinth.
Now this is Paul's second missionary journey.
He's just made a tour of Asia Minor
coming through Iconium, Derbe, Lystra.
And he was most recently in Athens where
we have the beautiful message in Acts 17.
And now he comes by himself to Corinth.
Do you realize that Corinth is a totally
unreached city?
You know, sometimes I realize as I read
through Acts that I don't know my history
well enough.
And we tend to, oh yeah, Corinth, that's
where the church at Corinth was.
But at this point, Corinth is a totally
unreached city.
The gospel has never gone there.
When Paul crossed that little isthmus, if you
look at a map, that little tiny piece
of land that went down to Corinth, it
was a totally unreached heathen city with no
born again believers there.
Okay, so you just picture that.
Paul's walking in here.
Jesus has only died a short years ago
and the gospel has never come to the
city of Corinth that we know, verse two.
And Paul found a certain Jew named Aquila
born in Pontus, and that is Asia Minor,
but lately come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla because that Claudius, that's Claudius Caesar the
emperor, had commanded all Jews to depart from
Rome and came unto them.
Okay, we're gonna pause again here.
Paul found a certain Jew.
I don't know why, but I always assume
that Aquila and Priscilla were Christians when Paul
met them.
Have you, has that been your assumption?
But it says he was a Jew, and
normally, as we go through, it says brother
when it's talking about a Christian.
I would propose to you that most likely
I read some different church history and things
and it's really not known.
But most people lean toward the fact that
probably Aquila and Priscilla were still Jews in
every sense of the word.
They were not believers in Jesus Christ, though
it's very likely they may have heard rumor
of it.
Very likely they were simply Jews who had
been expelled from Rome.
20,000 Jews were expelled from Rome according
to Josephus and some historians.
There were some riots in Rome and Caesar
perhaps rightly or mistakenly blamed the Jews and
expelled the Jews from Rome.
And so these people didn't leave in a
Christian persecution, but they left simply in an
ethnic cleansing of Rome.
20,000 Jews sent out.
And Aquila and Priscilla find themselves looking for
work and ending up in the city of
Corinth.
Okay, are you following me?
So let's assume that they are Jewish followers
of God, but not believers in the Messiah
Jesus yet.
Okay, verse three.
And because he was of the same craft,
meaning Paul and Aquila and Priscilla, he abode
with them and wrought, for by their occupation
they were tent makers.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath,
Paul, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Now let's pause for another minute.
So Paul moves in with Aquila and Priscilla
based on their common task of tent making.
They make room in their new quarters.
It says they have lately come from Italy.
So they've just moved in, but they decide
here's a roaming tent maker.
I doubt they even knew that he was
the beloved apostle Paul.
To them, he was just a roaming tent
maker and let's invite him into the home,
hospitable people.
They're not Christians yet.
And they invite him into the home and
Paul begins to work six days a week.
And on the Sabbath it says that he
goes to the synagogue.
We assume here that Paul had probably run
out of money if he had been given
any money from the other churches on his
way and was in need of stopping and
working.
And so Paul simply starts working and in
his spare time, wherever he can muster it,
he goes down on the Sabbath day and
preaches.
And you can be sure he preached during
the day to Aquila and Priscilla.
Do you think so?
We know how Paul was and we can
be sure.
We never quite read of the conversion of
Aquila and Priscilla, but trust me, it's somewhere
in these verses.
Can you imagine sitting there sowing?
Aquila, have you ever read the Old Testament?
Oh yes, I've read.
Ever read Isaiah 53?
Yes.
Can you quote some of it to me?
Sure.
You can go back and forth.
Have you ever wondered who that is?
Yeah.
Have wonder.
Yeah.
Have you ever read Isaiah 42?
Yeah.
Have you ever wondered who that is?
Yeah.
You know, and just going back and forth.
And somewhere along the course, and I'm sure
that Aquila and Priscilla, being good Jews, also
went to the synagogue on Saturday and saw
their fellow tent maker.
Can you imagine the first time they saw
it?
Get out of the pew and walk to
the front and begin to expound on a
totally new belief and thought, wow, the guy
that moved in with us is a fanatic.
You know, he doesn't even believe in the
proper Jewish law.
And he began persuading and expounding.
It says he reasoned.
So there were arguments there, people in the
crowd discussing, and he reasoned with them concerning
Christ.
And somewhere in this period of time, Aquila
and Priscilla yielded their lives to Jesus Christ
because of the testimony of the man in
their house.
Isn't that a blessing?
Okay, so that's their start into Christianity.
Verse five, and when Silas and Timotheus or
Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed
in the spirit and testified to the Jews,
we're assuming at the synagogue, that Jesus was
Christ.
And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, in
other words, saying Jesus is not the Son
of God, that is the blasphemy that they
said.
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.
Now, I want you to remember with me
that Aquila and Priscilla would have been sitting
in that audience.
Is that right?
This was their friend.
This was their host.
Trust me, it was getting dangerous for them
now.
Now, Paul says, you Jews, I'm finished with
you.
I'll go to the dogs if you won't
hear.
That's what he said to them in their
terminology.
And he stood up and walked out, and
I assume Aquila and Priscilla stood up and
walked out with him.
It may not have been that dramatic, but
they followed Paul.
Verse 7, And he departed thence, that is
from the synagogue, and entered into a certain
man's house named Justice.
Now, this has brought about some debate if
you read various commentators.
Some people say Paul left Aquila and Priscilla's
house and moved in with Justice.
I don't see any reason for that.
I don't know why he would have left
their house because they're still dear friends a
few verses later.
I believe it means Paul ceased preaching in
the synagogue and began preaching in the house
of a man named Justice.
According to the flow of Scripture here, he
was rejecting the Jewish synagogue as his place
of preaching, and he entered into the house
of Justice, who, by the way, was a
Gentile.
You can tell by that name.
That's a Roman name.
Probably a Gentile proselyte.
And Paul entered into his house in verse
7.
The Bible says Justice was one that worshiped
God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
So Paul just moved next door and started
preaching.
And Crispus, in verse 8, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, now he would have been
a Jew, believed on the Lord with all
his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing
believed and were baptized.
And we'll pause here again.
So Crispus, Justice is a Gentile.
Crispus is a Jew.
Who were the other many that believed?
If you go to 1 Corinthians 1, and
we're not necessarily going to go there right
now, you may remember that Paul says that
he baptized none in Corinth except Crispus, Gaius,
and the house of Stephanas.
Now Crispus was a Jew.
He was the head of the synagogue.
But Stephanas and Gaius were both Gentiles.
Those are Greek names.
And history would tell us that all of
those original believers baptized here were Gentiles.
Aquila and Priscilla and Crispus being the only
Jews.
So now Aquila and Priscilla find themselves the
only Jews except for one other man in
a group of Gentile dogs believing a fanatical
new belief about the way.
I think sometimes it's hard for us to
realize how tough that may have been.
Can you picture yourself, I mean, believing something
that your friends think is absolutely off the
wall and still worshiping right there in the
house beside them?
It must have been a bold move.
And we know it was a bold move
because of the next verse.
At this crucial moment, the Lord came to
Paul in the night by a vision.
I'm in verse nine.
And said to Paul, 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, Paul, continued there a year and
six months teaching the word of God unto
them.
Pause again.
So God appears to Paul and I'm sure
there were threats by this point on Paul's
life because God doesn't waste His words.
If everything would have been peaceful, God wouldn't
have said, don't be afraid.
But God comes in and says, Paul, this
is a crucial moment and I know that
you're in trouble, but don't be afraid, you
keep preaching.
Now turn as a side note to Romans
chapter 16.
I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but
I want to bring something in here about
Aquila and Priscilla.
I know that we're not reading about them,
but bear with me.
I think we can insert them into the
city and still into this picture and still
be very biblical because we know they were
around and we know they were steadfast.
And we have this testimony of them in
Romans 16.
Paul at the end of the letter to
the Romans.
Now this is later in their life when
they've moved back to Rome, which we'll get
to in a little bit.
But Paul in the letter to Romans, the
first people that he greets by name is
Priscilla and Aquila.
And in verse 3, are you there?
Romans 16.3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my
helpers in Christ Jesus, 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.
Okay, that's all that we're going to read
right there.
I assume as I look at Priscilla and
Aquila, I assume as I look at Priscilla
and Aquila's life, I assume that this must
have been the time in their life when
they, Paul says, laid down their necks for
me.
In other words, and I'm doing a little
bit of assuming here, but follow with me.
I'm assuming that at this point in Corinth,
when things came to a head and the
Jews blasphemed and tossed Paul out and the
little Gentile group gathered there and God had
to come in a dream and speak to
Paul not to be afraid, I assume there
were threats on Paul's life.
And I assume that somehow Priscilla and Aquila
came between those enemies of the gospel and
Paul and willingly, the two of them offered
their necks.
Now, I don't know what you think of
when offering your neck, but back in those
days, they didn't kill with guns, they killed
with knives, like they still often do in
Ghana.
And can you picture literally stepping between and
that's the word picture that they're giving.
It says, these two, Paul said, I'll never
forget.
There was a time when they would have
gladly laid down their life and literally put
their necks out so that I could stay
safe.
And he says, because of that, all the
churches of the Gentiles loved them.
So we assume that early in their Christian
life here in Corinth was the time when
they willingly became almost like bodyguards.
I don't know, was there a time when
the soldiers came to Paul's house?
Just try to imagine it with me.
You know, the upset Romans hiring them and
Aquila and Priscilla went out on the veranda
to meet these angry people.
I'm not sure how it happened, but we
know that they laid their necks down for
Paul.
Okay, we're back in Acts 18 again, if
you still had your finger there.
We're going to skip the little scene here
with Galileo, although it's a very good illustration
of the tension of the moment.
Some of you may be familiar with it.
They drag Paul, the Jews catch Paul and
drag him before the governor there.
And God intervenes and the governor is not
even impressed with their accusation and throws them
all out.
But we'll pass that by in the meantime
and go to verse 18.
And Paul after this, tarried there yet a
good while and then took his leave of
the brethren and sailed thence into Syria.
Now he's leaving behind a church.
Remember he was there a year and a
half according to verse 11.
And now according to verse 18, he was
there yet a good while after the year
and a half.
So we could assume up to two years
or something like that, that he was there
leaving behind a little church and a group
of brethren along with the leader of a
synagogue who was probably their leader.
And it says in verse 18, Paul after
this, tarried there yet a good while and
then took his leave of the brethren and
sailed thence into Syria back toward Asia Minor
and with him Priscilla and Aquila having shorn
his head in Centuria for he had a
vow.
All right, so Paul leaves and we're not
told why, although we are told why in
a couple of verses, but Aquila and Priscilla
go with Paul.
And trust me, they're not fleeing persecution because
we already understand from Romans that they were
brave souls and I know they wouldn't have
left a hotspot leaving other brothers behind.
But it says in verse 19, he came
to Ephesus and left them there.
Now who's the them?
Priscilla and Aquila, right?
He came to Ephesus and left them there,
but he himself, Paul, entered into the synagogue
and reasoned with the Jews on only this
one occasion.
When they desired him to tarry longer time
with them, he consented not, but bade them
farewell, saying, I must by all means keep
this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I
will return again unto you if God will.
And he sailed from Ephesus, leaving Aquila and
Priscilla alone in another unreached Gentile city.
Once again here, we need to understand if
you do your history and flip back through
the last chapters, Paul has never been to
Ephesus before.
This is Paul's first time.
There was one other time he had wanted
to come down into Bithynia and Ephesus and
the spirit forbade him, but this is his
first time to enter Ephesus.
And Paul lands there, goes and preaches once
in the synagogue, sees a little interest and
leaves Priscilla and Aquila there.
Why do you think he left them there?
If you follow their journey, they've been sacked
from Rome by the Emperor Claudius.
Here in Corinth, they came to know the
Apostle Paul, were converted, were discipled, laid their
necks out for the Gospel.
Now they move to Ephesus with Paul.
Paul goes to Jerusalem and they stay there.
I can only assume that Paul left them
there because Paul saw that God was going
to work in that city and he needed
a couple to be there.
And I don't know how to call it,
how to say it, to thaw the city
for the Gospel.
Can you understand that terminology or to pray
the city into preparation?
I know Brother Denny has always told us
that prayer precedes revival and wherever you have
revival, you find a praying person.
Could it be that they were left there
for that?
I'm not sure, but I believe that somehow
they were left there to do a preparation
work for the revival we see in the
next chapter.
Let's keep reading.
We're going to skip the verses about Paul
going back and go to verse 24, okay?
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at
Alexandria, that's in Egypt, an eloquent man and
mighty in the Scriptures came to Ephesus where
Aquila and Priscilla were living and praying and
trying to thaw that city for revival.
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 the
Lord and the baptism of John 26.
And he began to speak boldly in the
synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they took him unto them, that is into
their home, and expounded unto him the way
of God more perfectly.
And when he was disposed to pass into
Achaia, that's back into the area of Corinth,
the brethren wrote, we'll come back to that
in a minute, exhorting the disciples to receive
him, who, when he was come to Achaia
and Corinth, helped them much which had belief
through grace, for he mightily convinced the Jews
and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that
Jesus was Christ.
Now, I want you to consider a couple
of things with me that had never stood
out to me until this week as my
wife and I studied this.
Here they are in Ephesus praying, at least
we know that much, and working that this
city might have revival.
And along comes a Jew from Alexandria, an
eloquent man, but only preaching the Gospel of
John, of John the Baptist.
And they go to the synagogue apparently and
hear them.
And can you just imagine them sitting there
and perhaps going outside and whispering to each
other, did you notice anything?
Yeah, the guy still doesn't understand the way,
but he's a good brother.
You know, yeah, well, let's just take him
into our home.
You know, and so they approach him after
the service and this man humbles himself and
goes home and they teach him the way.
I assume it took a few days.
I don't assume that they just sat down
with him in an hour and taught him
and sent him on.
I assume he stayed there for some days
or weeks.
While the two of them, it doesn't say
Aquila, it says Aquila and Priscilla, they took
him and expounded.
So we're missing one pronoun there.
They took him and they expounded him.
That's the assumed pronoun when there's no other
pronoun there.
Now, here, I picture the three of them
sitting at home and discussing the kingdom of
God.
Did you know it's not wrong for a
sister to discuss the kingdom of God?
But there's another very interesting point here when
it comes to verse 27.
It says, when he was disposed to pass
into Achaia, now I'm assuming that Aquila and
Priscilla encouraged him to go to Corinth, knowing
that those brothers still needed help.
The brethren wrote.
Now, who are the brethren?
I thought that Aquila and Priscilla were left
alone in Ephesus, didn't you?
Who are the brethren?
I think Aquila and Priscilla had won a
few people to Christ by now and had
already gathered a little group with them.
That's all we can assume.
And Aquila and Priscilla gathered these and they
wrote a letter.
Did you know this is the first occurrence
we have of writing a letter like this,
of correspondence between churches in the New Testament,
was Aquila and Priscilla who got this idea,
let's sit down and write a letter to
our fellow church that we just left and
say, this brother's a good brother.
Welcome him into your fellowship.
And they sent this letter with him.
So here again, we see Aquila and Priscilla
moving evidently to assemble a little group of
believers there, moving to disciple just as they
were discipled, Paul discipled them in their home.
Now they've learned that's how you do it.
And so they take this man into their
home and disciple him.
And then they write a letter and send
him to their congregation that they still have
a heart for in Corinth and they still
have a heart for this man to go
back and bless them.
Isn't that a blessing?
And we're not gonna read it, but if
we'd read the next chapter in Ephesus, we
see that Paul comes back and has probably
the mightiest revival we read of, or the
most exciting revival.
This is the town where it says they
gathered together their scrolls.
Do you remember that?
Where do we have that verse?
In 19, look over at Acts 19.19.
This is in Ephesus, the city where Aquila
and Priscilla prepared for the gospel.
Many of them also which used curious arts,
those are divining works and witchcraft, brought their
books together and burned them before all men
and they counted the price of them and
found it 50,000 pieces of silver.
This was an exciting point where God brought
such a revival that people gathered together and
threw away their wicked things and burned it.
This is the city where Aquila and Priscilla
thawed for the gospel.
Theirs was a behind-the-scenes work.
Paul was the one who later came and
actually brought the revival through the Spirit of
God, but they worked on that city.
Alright, so you're following them.
Sacked from Rome, moving to Corinth to find
work, getting born again, getting discipled there in
Corinth, risking their necks for Paul, moving to
Ephesus in a ministry of intercession, personal evangelism,
and then discipling Apollos.
And now we later find them in Rome
and I don't think we'll go there, but
where I just read to you.
In Romans 16, Paul sends his greetings to
them in Rome.
Do you remember that?
We just read it.
So evidently they were in Rome.
Y'all don't have to turn there again
if you want to.
I'm just gonna read it for you one
more time.
If you want to go there, it's Romans
16.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, Paul's writing to the
church in Rome, my helpers in Christ Jesus
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.
Now, do you notice something again?
They didn't, why do you think they went
back to Rome?
I was praying something about that.
Lord, why did they go back to Rome?
Well, I'm assuming that, again, I have to
assume something here, but I'm assuming they're in
Ephesus, saw the revival there, saw the church
building.
At some point, they had a heart back
for all of those people that they left
in Rome that still didn't know the gospel
of Jesus.
If you remember, Paul wanted to go to
Rome.
Paul considered that a place of need for
the gospel.
And evidently, Aquila and Priscilla sharing with Paul
and sharing this burden decided, you know what?
The church in Ephesus, it's on its feet.
Our ministry here is kind of done.
We're gonna go back as missionaries to the
place that we were born.
And we see they had a fruitful ministry
because Paul wrote and blessed them for the
church that was in their house.
Just as a side note, how did Paul
know there was a church in their house?
Again, I think Priscilla and Aquila must have
written and told Paul what was going on.
So now, Aquila and Priscilla are back in
their hometown.
They've been discipled.
They've discipled others.
They've learned how to pray.
And now they're actually pastoring.
It says Aquila has a church in his
house.
They're leading a group of believers under the
very nose of Nero, who just a couple
of years after Paul wrote this letter, beheaded
Paul.
So they were in a very dangerous situation,
but that's okay.
They knew how to do that.
They learned to lay their necks down in
Corinth.
And now they're not afraid to move to
Rome.
Do you remember that that's the city they
were expelled from?
And now they're back there, the very city
that spewed them out.
They're back there under Nero's nose, ministering the
gospel with a little house church.
And that blesses my heart.
The last mention of this outstanding couple is
in 2 Timothy.
We're almost through with their little history here.
2 Timothy, which is one of my favorite
books of the Bible.
I think Brother John D.
Martin has called it Paul's swan song.
The most beautiful song that a swan sings
is the song before he dies.
That's what they say.
I don't know if any of you have
heard that.
But this is the last letter Paul ever
wrote, just shortly before he was beheaded.
And it was kind of his last heart
cry to the church, right before they beheaded
him.
And in 2 Timothy, in the very end
of the book, we have some of Paul's
most touching personal words that he left.
Words of apparent despair and yet victory.
When he says in verse 16, at my
first answer, are you with me?
2 Timothy, I'm sorry, chapter four.
Last chapter, verse 16.
Paul is recounting to Timothy, who lives in
Ephesus, which is the city where Aquila and
Priscilla used to live.
Paul's recounting to Timothy his first trial before
Nero.
And Paul says, at my first answer, And
I remember, no man stood with me.
Now that's kind of despairing, isn't it?
Paul, you mean no one was there as
your witness?
None of any of those churches in Asia
came out to say this man is okay?
No, Paul said everyone was afraid.
No one stood with me.
But all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge.
Paul is very serious here.
And I was delivered out of the mouth
of the lion, praise God.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every
evil work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for ever
and ever.
Amen."
All right, so there's Paul's heart.
He's saying, I just went through the toughest
time of my life.
I just stood before Nero and nobody stood
with me.
What's the next step?
Next thing on his heart, salute Priscilla and
Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.
In that last thought, Paul remembers one couple
that would have stood with him.
I think that's what Paul's heart, he was
remembering that and then he remembered one couple
that in the fondness of his memory had
always stood with him and stuck their neck
out for him.
And now evidently he's writing to Timothy who's
in Ephesus.
So evidently Aquila and Priscilla have moved back
to Ephesus.
I trust if they were still in Rome,
they would have stood with Paul at the
trial, but they've moved to Ephesus and Paul
says, right before I die, there's one person
that I want greeted and that's Aquila and
Priscilla.
There's one couple that I'll never forget.
And he sends a special salutation to them
just shortly before dying.
So now we're at the end of our
little sketch.
What do you think of their life?
Isn't that a blessing?
I mean, isn't that a couple who was
on fire for the kingdom of God?
Now look at that little line of ministry
that they left us.
Only eight modest verses about them in the
whole Bible, but quite a story.
I think they accomplished almost as much as
David and some of these other men, but
they don't have books and books devoted to
them, but they chose the humble route.
And I'm blessed with that.
All right, I'm just going to write a
few key words for us to try to
remember.
And maybe you want to mark this down
somewhere.
So, I'm going to write a few key
words for us to try to remember.
Under Corinth, I'm going to write, at that
time in their life was conversion.
I hope some of y'all can read
this, it's not too far away.
Discipleship.
All right.
In Corinth, they were converted, they were then
discipled by the apostle Paul in their own
home, and they learned how to support a
minister.
Isn't that interesting?
As soon as they were converted, Paul lived
in their home and they were both tent
makers and they supported him by giving him
a lodging.
And they took risks in that support of
a minister of the kingdom of God.
In Ephesus, they had a ministry of intercession.
We assume personal evangelism because there were brethren
gathered there.
And discipling.
Okay, over here, they were discipled and now
they're discipling, just like they were taught in
their home by Paul.
They take Apollos into their home and teach
him.
And then, in Rome, they go back as
missionaries, is that how to spell that, shepherding,
leading a house church there in Rome.
We're not told what they did in Ephesus.
For some reason, they chose to retire in
Ephesus.
I'm guessing probably they went back there as
teachers, perhaps as an older couple, now more
experienced in the kingdom of God.
They went back to Ephesus to spend the
last days of their life teaching that church
and ministry center in Ephesus.
That's just a quick little overview of Aquila
and Priscilla's life as we have it presented
to us in the gospel and history.
Okay, before we close, I want to
look at Aquila and Priscilla individually and see
if we can get some blessings from them.
In other words, I want us brothers to
look at Aquila's life and we're going to
look at a few points in his life.
I'm not going to elaborate on them a
lot, just mention some.
Then I want you ladies to look at
Sister Priscilla and we're going to learn a
few things from her life.
Okay, first, Aquila.
I have six points.
If you men want to jot them down,
that would be great.
Six points from Aquila that I think we
can learn from according to the scriptures we've
just read and the testimony of his life.
The first thing that I thought of, these
are not necessarily in a certain order, I
just wrote down six points.
He was not married to his business.
Okay, we're talking about married to minister.
Aquila was not married to his business.
And I thought of two things.
He was married to Jesus, first of all,
and married to his wife, but he wasn't
married to his business.
And the reason that I know that is
how many of you men think that five
moves is good for a business?
How many of you have heard of a
successful businessman that moves every few years?
Probably, you know, you just can't pick up
your business and put it in a trailer
and take it with you everywhere that you
go.
I know he was able to make tents,
I'm sure, and make a living everywhere he
went, but he was not able to become
the Ephesus International Tent Association, you know, or
anything like that.
It was just modest trade that he was
able to do on the side because his
goal was ministry, right?
They were married to minister.
Once they got converted, their priorities just got
changed.
So I see under this point, he was
not married to his business.
A couple of things.
He didn't have a competitive spirit either, did
he?
Do you notice that he's a tent maker
and Paul's a tent maker and he invited
him into his house?
Now, I'm touched by that.
How many of you, I mean, what job
are you into?
You know, would you really like another?
I hate to pick on any certain one
of y'all, but let's say one of
you is a pew maker and you supply
the pews for the church in Lancashire County.
Do you really want another pew maker to
come and live in with you while you
disciple and make pews also?
You know, that might, I mean, get a
little on the business side, you know, and
here again, we tend to compartmentalize our life.
You know, I mean, that's my business.
I can disciple people, but I've got my
business too.
Do you really want a fellow carpet installer
to come in with you and, you know,
help you?
I mean, you're just making ends meet.
Do you really want another lawn furniture brother
to move in with you and open another
lot down the street?
You know, would you be open to that?
So I see here, he didn't have a
competitive spirit.
He welcomed Paul into his home and I'm
sure shared his food with Paul and I'm
sure blessed him in that hospitality kind of
way.
So that's the first point I had.
He was not married to his business.
He was married to Jesus and married to
his wife and not married to his business.
Amen.
I tell you, that's a big temptation, brethren.
As I come back from Ghana and come
to here, it's a mighty thing.
I don't know how I could drill it
home to you hard enough, but it is
a mighty entangler here that I see in
our midst.
Number two, he was unselfish with his wife.
Now, I want to clarify that a little
bit, but he was unselfish with his wife.
It's okay to have a holy prejudice over
our wife and the love to be with
our wife, but we can be selfish to
a wrong extent.
Are we too clingy?
You know, I see here that he welcomed
Paul into his home and I know from
living in Ghana how it was in those
days.
Women hauled water.
You know, back then they didn't just have
washing machines.
You know, they had all these easy punch
buttons on and all these fridges and stuff.
You know, women had to haul water and
wash clothes by hand.
It took a lot of time to do
that stuff.
And he realized that accepting another man into
your home, that obliges your wife to do
those things also for the other man and
it takes time away.
And I mean, you know how those things
are.
Do you all want another grown man living
in the house with you?
You know, he was not selfish with his
wife.
He was willing to take that step and
we see that all throughout his home.
He took a policy and his wife agreed
to take a policy into their home.
They had a church in their house in
Rome.
So this was his pattern.
He was unselfish with his wife.
He realized that he and his wife were
both called and that he couldn't just live
happily ever after with his wife in his
arms 24-7.
Number three, he took risks.
He took risks.
Okay, we've already looked at a couple of
those.
Number four, he took risks to be associated
with Paul's band was extremely dangerous.
Isn't that right?
You know, Paul was beheaded.
And if you look at if you look
at Paul's track record, I thought when Paul
came to Corinth, I don't know if he
shared this with the Quorum for Syllabus.
Do you realize what he just went through?
Let me just run down through it with
you a little bit.
On his way to Corinth, Paul stopped in
Iconium and was threatened for his life and
he escaped by night.
He stopped in Livestream, was stoned and left
for dead.
And then he stopped in Philippi and was
beaten within an inch of his life and
left in jail overnight.
And then he came to Corinth.
Now, that is the wanted man that moved
in with you.
So just to be associated with a man
who three times had been almost killed was
dangerous.
I mean, it was almost like accepting a
criminal into their home.
And so I would say they took risks
just letting him in.
Never mind the other risks that we spoke
of in Romans, where they laid out their
neck and the risk they took of living
alone in the city of Ephesus, lifting up
the gospel and the risk they took moving
back to Rome under the very nose of
the empire, which was threatening to destroy Christianity.
And he just took risks.
He assumed that that was part of Christianity.
He took a risk accepting Apollos into his
home, didn't he?
I mean, he took a risk.
You know, what if Apollos would have come
in there and gotten upset?
But he took risks.
That was part of his life.
He was willing to take risks for the
kingdom of God.
Number four, he made his home a ministry
outpost.
He made his home a ministry outpost.
You know, coming back to the States, I
realized that sometimes when we read verses in
the Scripture, we have Americanized things and put
things in that aren't there.
And we assume that the biblical picture of
a godly home is a quiet mountain retreat
where you can be with your family in
peace and no one knocks on the door.
You know, we tend to read those kind
of things in there, but we don't really
see that spelled out in the Bible that
clearly.
There are times to retreat.
And Paul told his disciples, or not Paul,
I'm sorry, Jesus told his disciples to come
apart and rest a while.
And, you know, we have those kind of
illustrations.
The prophet Elisha had a little room where
he would go and stay to study on
his journey.
And, you know, I'm not against retreats.
We're kind of doing one here for a
couple of months.
And we, my wife and I usually go
like monthly somewhere where we can fast and
pray and talk and do things together.
But he made his home a ministry outpost.
Is your home active or passive?
You know, is your home the place where
you just get away from it all?
And again, I know it can be that
some, but I'm just challenging you.
Is that how you view your home?
Is it a place where you and your
wife and your little ones realize that God
is able to use you?
And it's a ministry outpost.
And maybe this would be a good time
to just interject this, but I thought of
this.
I was studying for this message.
I don't want you all to be looking
to me.
I'm still a very young man and a
very young married man learning, but God has
blessed me with putting some people in front
of me that challenge my life on a
daily basis.
I grew up in a home that was
very much like this that I was saying,
and I want to give honor to where
honors do.
I watched my parents' marriage blossom, even though
there was, our house was a center of
ministry from the time I can remember almost,
or from the time of my parents' conversion.
And I also want to give honor to
brother Ross and sister Cynthia Ulrich, because I've
seen the same thing in their life, always
outpouring.
Their home is a center of ministry, but
they have a marriage that is worth coveting.
And so I want to encourage you that
it's not true that your home has to
be a Thomas Kincaid hideaway to have a
good marriage.
Number five for Aquila.
He knew how to use a pen.
Maybe you think this is strange.
Can I just say that we brothers have
a weakness in that?
You know, I've met some brothers that say,
oh, I don't write letters.
I can't write.
I mean, that's not...
You need to learn.
I mean, I really think that you do.
You need to learn to write.
Aquila was the first one in the early
church age to pick up a pen and
write commending brother Apollos back to the church.
And later he wrote back and forth with
Paul of the status of the church in
his house, because Paul knew about that.
And I would encourage you brothers, do that.
There's a ministry in that.
Writing to someone.
There's a ministry in phone calls, but there's
also a ministry in writing.
Number six, he loved people.
This is my last one for Aquila.
He loved people.
That just marks his life to me.
I mean, he started loving people when he
took Paul in his home.
And then he really loved people when he
was willing to move to Ephesus and try
to see a church born.
And he loved people when he risked his
home life by inviting Apollos to live with
them while he discipled him.
And he loved people enough to go back
to Rome to live under Nero and try
to run a church.
And he loved people enough to go back
to Ephesus and teach.
He just, his life was motivated by a
love for people.
He even loved people enough that when Paul
left the synagogue and turned to the Gentiles,
he was willing to associate with the outcasts
of society, the Gentiles.
So his life was full of love for
people.
So just again, if you wrote them down
just to review them, number one, he was
not married to his business.
Number two, he was unselfish with his wife.
Number three, he took risks.
Number four, he made his home a ministry
outpost.
Number five, he knew how to use a
pen.
And number six, he loved people.
Isn't that a challenge?
I want to go home and work on
those things in my life, in my marriage.
Okay, turn it over to this side of
the house for you sisters.
Let's look at Priscilla.
I have four points on her.
I could have found more, but I just
chose four.
So I guess you get to work a
little harder on each point since you have
less points.
Four points for Priscilla.
Number one, in every way, a partner to
her husband, in every way, a partner to
her husband.
Let me just read a little, I'm just
going to read some of the verses we've
been reading, just snatches of them.
And you listen for the word, they and
them.
Aquila came from Italy with his wife, Priscilla,
for by their occupation, they were tent makers.
Paul abode with them.
Paul sailed and with him, Aquila and Priscilla.
Paul left them in Ephesus.
And when Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos, they
took him unto them.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ
Jesus.
They laid down their necks, the church in
their house.
And they are loved by all the churches
of the Gentiles.
She's always included.
I think it's the only time we ever
see that in the Bible where neither of
them is ever mentioned by themselves.
Isn't that interesting?
There's nothing that Aquila did in the kingdom
of God that his wife wasn't with him
enough that different various writers in the Bible
all chose to put them together in every
occasion, both Luke in writing Acts and Paul
in writing Romans and Timothy.
Always thought of that couples together.
Whatever they do, it's the two of them.
Isn't that a blessing?
So, wives, I challenge you with that.
In every way, a partner to your husband.
I know you're called to be a servant
and a help me, but I would just
challenge you that he was, Priscilla was not
just his housekeeper and not just his cook
and his wife, but she was his partner.
She was the one that prayed with him.
She was the one that counseled with him
at the back door.
Should we take Apollos into the house?
She was the one that counseled with him
when Paul suggested that they moved to a
new city.
They were partners.
Occasionally her name is even mentioned first.
I'm not sure what to do about that.
Many commentators suggest that she may have been
the more outgoing of the couple.
I don't know what to say about that,
but there are several times when her name
is mentioned first, but at least the point
is that in the kingdom of God, there
is neither male nor female.
Now I know there's roles, but in ability
to work for God in whatever your capacity
is, there's neither male nor female.
And God looking at them always says this
couple rather than the one or the other.
So I challenge you ladies in every way.
She was a partner to her husband.
Just as a side note, do you know,
dear wife of a Christian man, what are
some of the most powerful words you can
say to your husband?
Let's go to first Samuel 14, seven.
Every time my wife says these words to
me, it just does something to my heart.
Maybe you didn't know that besides being a
helpmate and a servant, you're also an armor
bearer.
I like to think of my wife as
my armor bearer.
First Samuel 14, seven.
This is the story of Jonathan who, while
the whole host of Israel was afraid, he
went out there.
Do you remember that?
He and his armor bearer alone faced a
garrison of Philistines and they had this little
consultation right before they went out to fight.
Paul turns to his armor bearer and says,
hey, this is what I want to do.
What do you think?
And they're crouching behind a rock, right?
Having this little conversation.
You see those Philistines?
I think we're going to go fight him.
I mean, a bunch of Philistines, the two
of them.
What do you think?
He doesn't want to get out there and
his armor bearer runs away.
And this is what his armor bearer says
back to him in verse seven.
And his armor bearer said unto him, unto
Jonathan, do all that is in thine heart.
Turn thee.
Behold, I am with thee according to thy
heart.
Isn't that a blessing?
You memorize that verse and say that to
your husband and that will be a blessing
to him.
Don't ever be the one that tugs at
his sleeve and says, let's wait.
You, when he's ready to move, you be
the one that's there.
Like this armor bearer says, absolutely.
It's not even a consideration.
I mean, your heart's there.
So is mine.
I won't leave you.
I mean, let's go.
Do all that is in thine heart.
Turn thee.
Behold, I am with thee according to thy
heart.
Isn't that a blessing?
Okay, number two.
So that was still in point number one
for you, ladies, in every way a partner
to her husband.
Number two, she was courageous.
She was courageous.
Now, I know we think men are supposed
to be courageous, but women are supposed to
be courageous too.
Do you know what courage means?
Courage.
A lot of people think courage is the
opposite of fear, but it's actually not.
Courage is when you're afraid and you go
ahead anyway.
Because if courage is the opposite of fear,
then courage is not anything at all.
It means some people are born with fear
and some people are born with courage.
And you have to check which one you
have.
But courage means when you look at the
situation, you go, whoa, that's dangerous.
I don't think I should do this.
But you think, but hey, I'm called.
So you just go anyways and do it.
That's courageous people.
That's what happens in their life.
When they look at something, when David looks
and says, there's absolutely no way in a
game of odds that I could win this
Philistine with a few stones, but God is
with me.
So I'm just going to go.
That's courage.
So you ladies can be courageous.
I don't mean that that means there's never
fear in your heart, but you can go
forward anyways.
You know, women desire security and that's good.
That's beautiful.
That's partly, that all plays into the beauty
of how God made the role of a
man and a wife.
But don't let that desire for security pull
your husband back when he's ready to take
a move that looks scary.
You know, when they were ready to stick
their necks out, she was willing to risk
her own security also to go with her
husband and say, yep, I'm ready too.
Let's walk out of the synagogue with Paul.
You know, can you picture them glancing at
each other there?
Can you picture them glancing at each other?
Just during all these times, they were in
Ephesus, the Bible says, during that riot, or
I assume they were, the riot in Acts
19.
Do you remember that?
Where everybody rushed into the stadium and the
whole city yelled for two hours, great is
Diana of the Ephesians.
And Priscilla and Aquila, we assume were still
there.
So she was willing to go into dangerous
situations with her husband.
She was courageous.
Number three, maybe this is the hardest one.
She sacrificed time with her husband.
And this plays back a little bit to
the one I talked about with the men.
Again, you know that our picture of a
godly marriage is a couple every evening sitting
alone in the living room when the children
go to bed, eating ice cream, you know.
I'm serious.
I'm really not trying to be funny.
I've had people actually share things, you know,
like this.
And I know those times can be a
blessing, but she had to sacrifice some of
that.
When Paul moved in with them, you know,
they had conversations that led them to the
Lord.
When Apollos moved in with them, same thing.
And I know that's how it goes.
I know my wife and I have found
that true living in Ghana.
You can't have, you know, all the time
together that you'd love to have, which is
all the time you have to sacrifice.
And here I see that Priscilla loved her
husband and they had a wonderful relationship.
But when things came into their life, she
was willing to sacrifice his time because she
had a vision for the kingdom of God.
Isn't that right?
It wasn't because she didn't love her husband
as much as the next girl, was it?
And don't mind when people accuse you of
saying, oh, I love my husband too much.
We couldn't do anything like that.
No.
I mean, Priscilla loved her husband probably more
than those ladies who sat in the evenings
with nothing else to do but be with
their husband.
But she decided, look, the kingdom of God
is at hand and there's not many workers
out there.
And my husband and I aren't really made
of the right stuff, but God has called
him and God has called me.
And so we're going to do what we
have to do so that the kingdom of
God will go forward.
Praise God.
She sacrificed time with her husband.
She threw her heart into everything, every time
that they did have.
This is just a side note I put
in.
Charity and I have learned something about this
living on the mission field.
That way, when you do have a free
evening, boy, you go for it.
You know, I mean, you talk and you
pray because you know that tomorrow evening, there's
probably going to be a knock on the
door.
So when you have that time or when
you take your wife down to sit by
the river for lunch, I mean, you don't
just chit chat.
You go ahead and say, so what's on
your heart?
I mean, what have we been struggling with?
Let's discuss it.
You know, and you really get into the
meat.
I see some of you wives of ministers
smiling.
You know what that's like.
Okay, so that's number two.
Now, I'm sorry, that was number three.
Number four, the last one for you ladies.
She was willing to help support the family.
Now, I'm going to take a risk at
getting shot at on this one.
I'm not suggesting that you ladies go out
and get a job.
Please understand.
But I just want to share in love
again.
Our culture has shaped us that we believe
that the Bible has actually forbidden a woman
to help with the income of the family.
And I don't think that the Bible is
there.
If you can just have a little patience
with me.
First of all, you need to realize that
there's almost no culture in the world but
ours that could support a theology like that.
The concomitants, if the man worked and the
woman stayed at home waiting for him to
come home, they would starve to death.
I don't know if you realize that.
And in many other cultures, it's the same.
The man goes out and hoes corn all
day.
And if the woman said, I'm called to
be in the hut all day, they would
just starve.
So the woman also has to raise a
little pepper patch and sell that to supplement
the income.
Or the woman has to walk around the
town with the baby on her back and
her little one beside her selling soap.
You know, they have different things that they
have to do.
It's part of life there.
I know we live in a rich society
where, generally speaking, one income is sufficient for
a family.
But I just want to encourage you, if
there comes a point in your life where
because of your husband's ministry, you have to
help him, not become the main breadwinner, not
go get a job and run a corporation.
But when you have to go sit at
the sales lot for him on a Saturday,
you know, when you have to go and
he says, I'm sorry, I've got two counseling
appointments tomorrow.
Is there any chance you can make these
phone calls for me or whatever that you're
not thinking that's unbiblical, you know, for a
woman to do anything like that.
Because what about Proverbs 31?
Have you ever winced at some of those
verses?
What about she buyeth a field and considereth
that and bringeth her merchandise and strengtheneth her
arms and spineth?
You know, those women were in that kind
of a culture where they had to do
some of that.
Please don't think I'm advocating women's lives and,
you know, any of that kind of stuff.
I think you all know my heart there.
But I just thought it worth mentioning that
it says they were tent makers.
And I assume that sometimes when her husband
was busy, she wasn't ashamed to sew a
tent up for the customer that had placed
an order.
That wasn't she didn't consider that wrong.
She considered that she and her husband were
called together.
And obviously, he was the breadwinner and the
leader.
But she wasn't ashamed to help him because
their life wasn't just about working like the
heathen.
I mean, they had a bigger agenda.
OK, so for you ladies, just in review,
number one, in every way, a partner to
her husband.
Number two, she was courageous.
Number three, she sacrificed time with her husband.
And number four, she was willing to help
support the family.
OK, I'd like to read one verse yet
from First Corinthians, chapter seven.
Maybe this has been a bit radical for
you.
I know it is for me.
And I want to go home and apply
some of these things.
Maybe you think to yourself, but what I
know and think I know about a godly
marriage can't work in that kind of home.
You know, it's too much.
I want you to consider a scripture with
me and I want you to consider.
Maybe you haven't considered the urgency of the
kingdom that we're a part of.
Let's look at First Corinthians, chapter seven, verses
29 to 31.
These were some of the verses that helped
me when I was considering, Lord, should I
get married?
I was concerned if I get married, am
I going to leave behind the kingdom of
God?
I mean, am I going to just want
to live happily ever after and not minister
anymore?
Am I going to lose the burden for
souls?
You know, I remember thinking these kind of
things.
And the Lord led me to these verses.
Let's read the first Corinthians seven, 29 to
31.
But this I say, brethren, the time is
short.
I think what he means there is we're
in the last stage.
It remaineth that both they that have wives
be as though they had none and they
that weep as though they wept not and
they that rejoice as though they rejoice not
and they that buy as though they possess
not and they that use this world as
not abusing it for the fashion of this
world passeth away.
Now, we could look very closely at the
verses, but I think we all gather that
what Paul is saying here, Paul had his
own opinions about marriage and we know those
things.
But Paul wraps up kind of the discussion
here by saying, this is the gist of
what I'm saying.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
And I'm concerned that your marriage or your
house or your business become an end to
you and that you forget that time is
so short that honestly, whether you have a
wife or not, you are under an obligation
to minister.
Whether you rejoice or whether you weep, you're
under an obligation to minister.
There's no way you can say, I have
sorrow in my life.
I'm out.
I'm married.
I'm out.
I bought a property.
I'm out.
He's saying here, the time is short.
You have a wife.
You don't have a wife.
You are involved.
Is that what you see here in the
verse?
I think that's what Paul's saying.
And that's a challenge to my own life
that now that I have a wife.
And that's a challenge to my own life
that now that I have a wife, my
wife and I can together throw our lives
into the ministry of the kingdom of God.
Again, I know maybe some of you are
saying, you're young.
You don't have children yet.
I do realize that and I want to
give deference to that.
But I'm also blessed because I've seen couples
who do have children and families and business
and all kinds of things still walk out
this same kind of life of ministry.
So don't allow that to become an excuse
for us.
1 Peter 3.7 says that we're heirs
together of the grace of God.
And part of the grace of God is
the grace that's appeared to all men teaching
us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust.
So you and your wife together are an
inheritor of that grace that will transform your
life to be able to reach out to
others.
Get your children involved.
I know that was a blessing growing up.
You can think of family ministry activities.
I'm not going to get real practical this
morning, but there are family ministry activities.
You see someone in the community, take them
into your home.
Learn to work with them.
All kind of things growing up that we
children even got involved in.
Learning how to meet new people.
Do you see a foreigner in your community
who's struggling with English and stuff?
Take that guy in, you know, and teach
him and it'll be a blessing for your
children.
Maybe you can win him to Christ.
I remember several situations like that growing up.
You'll have to take risks with your family.
I realize that, but be a ministering family.
Well, let's go home and commit this to
God that we as a married couple.
I want you to go home and talk
to your wife.
We as a married couple, we will minister,
we will serve, and we will turn our
eyes outward.
Together, we will be married to minister.
Thank you all, and I want to learn
how to apply this into my life.
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Here's the conclusion of the whole matter.
If your focus in life is on your
marriage, you'll be very disappointed.
If your focus in life is on ministry
and the kingdom of God, you'll be blessed.
And marriage may be a part of that,
to make the kingdom of God to prosper.
Very good, many very good thoughts there for
us to consider as married couples.
Beautiful challenges for our youth who are thinking
of marriage, maybe in the future, nearer future.
Again, I just beg you to hear the
conclusion.
If you are getting married because you're a
selfish person and you want to please yourself,
or you want to experience the blessing of
married life, and if that's your whole goal,
you'll be very, very disappointed.
But if your goal is to serve the
Lord and to minister unto Him, marriage can
be a beautiful partnership blessing to accomplish that.
I would like to open up for some
comments and maybe further instructions.
Especially I would like if you, some of
you brothers would, if we could make this
time to be a time of further admonition,
or maybe even testimonies of examples of your
home or what you have experienced in this
area as fathers.
And maybe some of you sisters could also
give some testimony of what your home is
like, or what you envision, or maybe it's
not the way you want it to be,
but you have a vision.
Can we just do that this morning?
Just give a little bit of room for
that specific.
Not just so much how this message blessed
you, but I'd like to just open up
for some further instructions if I may.
Is that too much?
I don't think so.
I'm sure there are some sisters here who
could say a lot more.
Some of our brothers here too.
Is there anyone?
Here's one.
I certainly appreciated the message this morning and
just would like to take this opportunity to
bless my wife.
I'm not sure exactly when it was, but
probably about six months or a year ago.
It seemed like in a special way she
decided to make sure that I knew that
she was supporting me.
And you know, that made such a difference.
It just, you know, if you kind of
wonder, well, you know, is my wife going
to support me or is she going to
kind of lag behind or say I told
you so if it didn't work out quite
right, that is a drag.
But if on the other hand, and I'm
not saying that was serious in our relationship,
but there was a sense in which there
was just a renewed determination.
I'm with my husband.
I'm going to go where he goes.
I'm going to let him know that he's
supported.
And you know, there's just a confidence in
that.
And there's a freedom then to hear from
the Lord and to hear from the counsel
of others.
And God has really blessed that and I
praise him for that.
Thank you, John.
I didn't kind of purposed before coming that
maybe I would really want to be careful
and not probably not say anything.
I was just concerned.
But I have to witness about some things
that the Lord has done and and they
have to do with this.
And this week I was kind of meditating
and really considering.
Oh, how wonderful it would be that somehow
we could study about Aquila and Priscilla.
Well, we were working and and I just
have to bless the Lord and just thank
the Lord.
To me, it was it was too much,
too overwhelming.
And so I just in seeing like they
were talking about this Paul and and the
man that he was.
It says in Peter, second Peter three, probably
all know that it says an account that
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation.
Even as our beloved brother Paul, also according
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you as also in all his epistles
speaking in them of these things in which
are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable rest as
they do also the other scriptures unto their
own destruction.
Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things
before bewareless, ye also being led away with
the error of the wicked fall from your
own steadfastness.
And then he shares a little more, but
growing grace.
So I see this couple suffering for maintaining
this doctrine.
Like the Apostle Paul shared to Timothy that
he would not be afraid of that.
He would be very careful of the doctrine
of the doctrine.
And he said, be not afraid of give
to give with.
I look for this first, but I couldn't
find it to tell others about me, to
give witness of me and of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And I find that very important that we
can share things, good things about brothers that
are doing a good work for the Lord
and also about the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it was something very precious to me
to see that this can be done in
our day, that we can be defending some
of the doctrines that we only find in
the epistles of the Apostle Paul.
And some of us are here because of
that.
So many turn into jewelry wearing and to
leaving the modesty and leaving the head covering.
And we see all these things are so
important.
And we saw it, we suffered through it
ourselves.
And we seen many, we heard of people
in Argentina going all this liberal route.
And ministers just almost one just standing for
the conservative side.
And so we believe we more are going
to see it as a day's approach.
And so some of these things were just
the burden of my heart defending the things
that the Apostle Paul wrote and sticking our
necks, probably like like we see this couple
as an example.
And and that we we can say that
we've seen some of this in our own
lives.
We're thankful.
I'm very thankful for my wife.
And and just lately I was given a
book by a brother, dear brother here.
And so much is blessing me on the
things of how we husband sometimes don't understand
some of some of the things on our
wife's feelings.
And I've been so blessed and thankful for
all the time we've been here.
And I just am overwhelming and I'm not
I'm not wanting to puff anything up.
But but sometimes the way I communicate maybe
shows something different or my emotions are not
what I would like to say.
But I am I'm very thankful for every
everyone here in the Lord and his resurrection.
Thank you, Henry.
In the back.
I thank the Lord for the service today.
And I thank you, Weston, for getting up
and speaking about Aquila and Priscilla.
I appreciate what you said about them and
how that they always are talked about together.
And I think of you, Weston and Charity,
that whenever we think of you, we think
of you together as a couple and what
you're doing for Christ.
And I think that's a beautiful thing.
And and to have you speak about that
is a reflection of your own lives.
And I think that's wonderful.
And I want to take the opportunity to
say that about my wife as well.
I think she's definitely a Priscilla and I'm
so blessed by her.
I remember the day when we were going
through financial troubles and she said, you know,
Phil, I believe in you.
And I don't care if we have to
live in a tent somewhere.
She says, I believe in you.
And, you know, that says so much for
a husband when a wife believes in her
like that, no matter what.
And so I thank the Lord for my
wife.
You might think people might think at times
that we husbands have it all together.
We're the strong, macho ones.
But, you know, when our wives support us
like that, boy, it just makes a world
of a difference.
Over here.
I was very blessed by the message.
You know, I I was particularly and was
encouraged by I was thinking of our own
life.
My wife and I were mourning after we
were moving a couple of times.
We were here and thinking when Stephen's life
when when he was nine years old, we
had realized we'd moved nine times, you know,
from Germany, Texas and different places.
And I do want to bless my wife
for sticking with me through all that.
Lester, I it's been quite a journey and
many times we just had to walk in
what God had showed us.
And like you were saying, it's it's not
exactly a financial benefit when you keep doing
those things.
But one of the things that really struck
me in the message.
And as you say, I don't want to
just be blessed by the message, but continue
to the thing is, is the fact that
I guess one of the burden I have
is that here amongst this fellowship, I feel
there is so much more possibility for this
thing to be happening that I feel that
we're we're the biggest excuses we when we
hear this thing is this.
But you don't understand my home.
I'm not there.
I don't have these things.
I don't have that kind of blessing on
my life.
So I can't do this.
I can't do these types of things.
Yes, I would stick with my husband if
or I would do these things if.
But what I believe is that God has
given us these promises.
He wants us and we are we are
well able to be able to walk more
in this type of thing.
I was blessed there with this verse in
Acts 18 verse 9.
Paul was fearful and listen to that scripture.
Then spake the Lord to Paul the night
by a vision.
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.
I believe there are much people in this
city and there's much opportunity for us to
be able to walk in those things.
But those things are provided to us by
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Wesleyan started off the whole thing with explaining
and going there with Acts.
But ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you.
And ye shall be witnesses unto me both
in Jerusalem and to all Judea and in
Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the
earth.
This is the source of power.
Coming unto God and having the Holy Spirit
empower our homes to be able to walk
in these things.
And so I don't think we should have
that attitude.
I'm not there.
Get there.
Be here with these people and have the
source of power.
Be the Holy Spirit and then we can
walk in that as a fellowship.
Amen.
I was very blessed by the message.
Amen.
God bless you Wesleyan Charity.
I know it was Wesleyan that preached the
message but it came out of our life.
We could hear that this morning.
And I know we get challenged from time
to time.
But to me this message had a very
distinct ring to it.
We often get challenged quite this way.
It rang very much the same as another
message I heard recently about reckless abandon.
And you know that's what it is.
And many times we want to have it
all together before we learn.
But you know a little child only learns
to walk as they get up, try it
and fall down.
And that's my testimony in our life.
I look at this message and I say
wow so much to go for.
I know we're not there yet as a
family, as a couple.
And I want to set my sights on
those things and go for those things.
But the only way to get there is
to walk.
The only way to get there is to
take the next step.
It's been a blessing following God in our
life in those areas where He's called us.
And just learning to walk.
We've done it all wrong so many times.
But that's how God teaches you and that's
how He gives you grace.
And you know in the area of maybe
just challenging us, it's so easy for us
to look at everybody else.
Well that's their calling and we all do.
We all have a separate area where God
has us in His vineyard.
But each of us has something we can
do.
I was just challenged when you pulled that
pen out of your pocket.
Every one of us has a pen.
We can learn how to use that in
our own way.
I know there were times in the young
men we've had in our home, sisters would
come to my wife and kind of just
give her pity.
And she didn't want pity.
She wanted encouragement.
It wasn't something that I was just doing.
It wasn't Aquila just dragged Apollos into their
home.
It's that they did it.
And so if there's a sister that seems
to be struggling, have her hands full, maybe
it's just raising a family.
Don't give her pity.
Give her encouragement.
Give the brother encouragement to step up.
The time is late and there's many souls
that need to be pulled from the fire
and very few who want to do it.
And we don't need to back down.
We don't need pity.
We just need encouragement to go for all
that God has for us.
And I was also blessed with, I'm sure
it wasn't easy to step out of your
comfort zone and speak of things that maybe
some could misunderstand wrong.
But the picture of a Thomas Kinkade home,
we can have that perfect vision, but Thomas
Kinkade homes don't save people from the fire.
And I'm not saying it's wrong to have
a quiet evening at home.
And I would only repeat things that Wes
said if I tried to word it out
right.
But it takes real sacrifice and real loss
of sleep and real loss of fellowship and
real time on the floor crying out in
prayer for these things to be a reality
in our lives.
It doesn't come easy.
Or if it would be easy, it would
be done already.
One in the back.
Oh, Wes, God bless you as well as
Wes already shared for reminding the Lord as
you preach His message.
I feel that it's what I want to
go for.
And some of us may be able to
do this in a bigger way or a
smaller way.
But I believe this was a direct call
for us to step out, even right among
us here, starting right in our church here
and just ministering to each other as we
see fit.
I can say that it's been a blessing
for us.
And we've never done much of this kind
of thing, but just in small ways and
so forth, it's definitely been a real blessing
to our family.
So I wouldn't encourage anybody to look into
it.
There is a side of it.
However, that does make me tremble.
And I think it's there's a side of
it that I think we don't want to
miss, and that is the fact that the
Bible does say that if a man doesn't
provide for his family, he's worse than an
infidel.
And I think we often think of that
as only financially, but I believe that it's
probably as true or maybe even more true
from a spiritual or emotional standpoint.
That's one thing that we found in our
family, is that if I got an idea
that there's one thing we should be doing
and so forth, and if I wasn't properly
conveying that vision to my family and didn't
have my family's heart in it or was
maybe spending more time in that kind of
thing than ministering to my own family, that
it was very hard for my family to
buy into my vision, what we were going
to do, and that kind of thing.
And I think it's very important that we
move ahead on things like this collectively as
families and make sure that our families are
spiritually, emotionally, and financially ministered to, that we're
not spending all our time ministering to those
around us and not setting up proper boundaries
in our homes.
Because I've seen this kind of thing.
The devil would desire to have us fall
on that side of the ditch.
There's a ditch on that side as well,
I believe.
We should be very careful that we are
bound together as a family and continually to
bind together as a family.
We're not moving ahead in the fact that
we are only leaving the crumbs left over
for our family.
And I know that's one thing that I'm
speaking to myself as much as anything, because
there's a challenge where it is sometimes interesting
and challenging to see how many people you
can reach and that kind of thing.
But the Lord's really spoken to me that
He wants me to be careful that I'm
bringing my family with me.
So God bless you all for the blessings
that you've been to me, and there are
several brothers that have spoken to me about
this kind of thing, that I should be
more careful of that.
And I thank you for the ones that
have stood forward and spoke to me about
it.
And I want to take that counsel and
just share that testimony with everybody.
God bless you all.
I think the message was just very good.
Yes, I want to praise the Lord this
morning.
Also for Christian marriages, I just thank God
for a Christian marriage that He's given me
and that we can serve Him together, Nalene
and I.
Bless the Lord for that.
Thank you for that.
As I think of many people in this
world, you know, that are struggling just to
stay on top, struggling just to keep a
right relationship together.
But God's will for our marriages is working
together to further the kingdom of God.
Thank you for that encouragement, brother.
Brother Emmanuel asked for some testimonies of our
lives, and I was sitting here thinking back
over the 12 years that we were married.
And it seems, and I know I've been
learning this, and have been spanked by the
Lord a number of years ago on hurrying
my wife.
I feel like ever since I've been married,
I have been hurrying my wife.
I have just been pulling her.
You know, gotta go, gotta go here, gotta
go there.
And I'll just give you an example of
that.
And just to show you that we all,
as we give ourselves to marriage, we also
give ourselves to be taught one of another,
I believe.
Be aware of that, young people, as you
are considering entering into marriage.
You are giving yourself to be taught of
your future wife, of your husband.
Some things that you may need to learn.
I'll give you a picture of a viewing,
just to give you an example here.
Maybe someone passed away in the family or
so, and we go to the viewing to
pay our respects there.
And there's a long line of people that
are going through, shaking the hands of the
family and all.
And so we enter the house, and you
know, there's a line in front of us,
and so we're okay for the first couple
of people, but I soon realized that the
line in front of us is moving on,
and we're not going anywhere.
And I encourage my wife to keep up
with the line, and there's people in the
back, there's people waiting.
And she's not too happy with me, but
I know we have to keep going, so
I continue to encourage her.
But the Lord has taught me to allow
my wife to weep with those that weep
in times like that, and so be it
if the line has to wait.
I've just had to learn those things.
She's a relationship-minded person, an outgoing kind
of person, and I have much to learn
in this area.
And I just believe that as we learn
from each other, we'll be more equipped, I
believe, to serve the Lord and serve the
Lord together to further His kingdom.
I don't know, Nalaine, if you're listening, that
I'm quite finished hurrying you, because sometimes we
do have to go.
You know, it just is that way.
I thank you, Brother Wes, also for the
encouragement this morning.
We have many people through our homes here,
some of us do, and we enjoy it
immensely.
We have enjoyed it over the years past,
Nalaine and I have.
And thank you for the encouragement not to
get weary in that, in well-doing.
God bless you.
A pre-scripture here as Wes was preaching
in Matthew 4, verses 18, 19, and 20.
And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee
saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew
his brother, casting a net into the sea,
and they were fishers.
And he said unto them, Follow me, and
I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets and followed
him.
To me it seems like these nets here
were the very thing that they used for
family living.
And I often wondered what Peter's wife thought
here, what these disciples' wives did.
Maybe you have an answer for me.
When these disciples left their nets, they probably
left there full of fish and they just
followed after Jesus.
And I want to praise the Lord for
my wife.
Even right now she's in a little bit
of turmoil because we have to move.
I told her we might have to get
a trailer and pull it behind the pick
-up and go wherever the Lord leads us,
but she's not willing to do that yet.
So maybe she's not a very good Aquila.
But she's been a blessing in as far
as helping support the family.
And we were not tent makers, we were
gym makers, and she did a lot of
work there helping to provide.
So you all think about us and pray
for us that we're trying to move somewhere,
but we don't know where yet.
I don't know what's going to happen.
So I just wondered about these scriptures many
times here, how they straightway left their nets
and followed Him.
Did their wives went with them?
I don't know what happened.
God bless you for the messages.
Have the blessing also to me in a
challenge.
Amen.
I want to just encourage us that it's
a two-way street.
Marriage is giving one to the other.
We as husbands need to understand our wives,
and we as husbands need to love our
wives, and at times wait on them.
Not to push them.
When you push, you'll bring a wall of
separation.
That's not God's will.
But when there's a witness of two agreeing
together, and then you go, then you know
that God's blessing will be there, I believe.
Brother Aaron.
I thank the Lord for this very practical
message.
It applies to all of us.
Thank you, Brother Weston.
You could have lifted up foreign missions in
such a way that we'd all sat here
and felt like, what am I doing?
But I so appreciate the message.
It applies to all of us.
I just thank God for that.
I thought Aquila and Priscilla are a beautiful
example of a couple that served God in
their generation.
You know, as the Lord led them from
one place to the next, and how they
were willing to follow the Lord.
I just want to bless my wife and
thank God for her.
She really stands by me and supports me.
As you were giving these different points, Brother
Weston, for the sisters, I can just thank
the Lord for my wife's support, and how
she is very faithful in serving and blessing
and being right there behind me if I
want to invite company over or whatever.
In all her ways that she serves me,
I just thank God for that.
As I looked at the points for the
men, it's a challenge to my own heart.
But I love people.
I love to minister, I believe.
But yet I have room to grow.
I know that.
But I had to think about the one
of not being married to his business.
But yet I believe if the Lord would
show me to move somewhere else, I'm willing
to go.
But I have to admit it, I've sort
of settled in here.
But I certainly want to follow the Lord
wherever he leads us.
So I just thank God for this message
today, and how the two messages go together
and just fit together so well.
Also, it really just confirms something in my
own heart.
Before Missions Conference, I had shared with some
of the ministering brethren, there's a message been
on my heart for quite a while to
share sometime.
And I feel like it's all leading up
to the Lord giving me a clearing to
share that message, and that is to encourage
us in missions at home.
So maybe next time I get to share,
I'll share that message.
Thank you very much.
I just wanted to share, you know, there's
practical ways that we can do this with
our wives and even with our families.
Sometimes I would think of a big ministry,
but we can do it in very simple
ways.
And I thought of an example recently of
how the Lord used me with my family.
There was a family, Jim Roberts, some of
you may have known him.
He and his family from New York, near
from where we lived before we moved here.
And they visited here a few years ago.
That's how we actually first met them.
At that time, he had cancer, and he
passed away a couple of weeks ago.
And for a couple of months before that,
we visited him.
I would go in, and he was in
a hospital bed in the home.
He was dying.
And I got to visit with him.
My wife got to visit with his wife,
sharing together.
We had a meal together a couple of
times.
Our children came along with us.
Sometimes they played with their children.
It was an opportunity in a small way.
All we did was visit somebody who was
dying, a family that needed encouragement.
One night shortly before he died, the Lord
prompted me to ask him if I can
come here with my family, if we could
just sing some hymns.
We sang a few hymns.
You would think, you know, that we had
done such a great thing.
It was just a simple thing.
Visiting, singing some songs with him shortly after
he passed away.
And I think, for me, we have to
look for the simple ways sometimes.
There's many simple ways.
Dean was sharing there's a lot of potential
here among us for ministry to other people.
Let's not all automatically think of a big
ministry.
Little things, small things, opportunities to serve.
That was an opportunity to serve.
And I know he appreciated my visits.
He thanked me for coming.
But watching him die with faith, I said
to him, Jim, I'm getting more out of
this than you are, just seeing his faith.
And often isn't that the case?
We go to minister to other people and
we get back so much more than we
give.
And I think the last thing he said
to me before I left him that last
visit, he looked at me and his eyes
were kind of half closed and he said,
I love you.
And I think that was the last I
saw him alive.
But often we are blessed more than we
can bless others in those situations.
I just want to encourage our hearts to
look for the little ways to serve him.
Any sisters that want to share?
I'd like to give them opportunity.
Also, I see a hand back there.
I have a burst of Thanksgiving.
I'd like to share this morning to honor
my wife.
Who can find a virtuous woman for her
price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband to safely trust
in her so that he shall have no
need to spoil.
She will do him good and not evil
all the days of her life.
And I just want to testify this morning
and say amen.
To not only the two sermons I've heard
that go so well together, but to the
testimonies I've heard from my godly brothers.
Thank you especially Paul for your testimony of
patience with your wife.
I just want to say amen.
I have been a visionary for a number
of years and I tend to run out
ahead of my family.
And the Lord has seen fit to slow
down and give vision to my family in
order to bring them with me.
And I want to say in the last
year and a half, as God has given
me the grace to do that, I can
testify with all my heart that this has
been the greatest year of my marriage in
13 years.
I feel closer to my wife and I
feel more supported by her than I have
ever felt in my entire life.
I had no idea how much value would
come in simply learning how, by God's grace,
to live with her in an understanding way.
And I just thank God that she is
with me.
And I want to testify to the answer
to prayer.
I've been seeking the Lord and wisdom and
what to do for vocation that we could
work together.
And this month a company had contacted me,
a company that I had not heard about
or taken initiative to.
We were hooked up together and this week
I accepted a job with them, not on
the basis of my business skills.
They made it very clear that they hired
me because they feel I'm a man with
a family that has a vision for missions.
And to hear this answer to prayer and
to see their willingness to, Lord willing, send
us someday overseas to do a foreign work,
a foreign office even, I'm just rejoicing because
God prepared us for this answer to prayer
by preparing our home.
And I just want to thank the Lord
and give honor to my precious wife for
supporting me and being a part of this
calling.
I want to bless my husband even though
he's not here.
I think that many people think that when
a man is given over to the love
of ministering to other people and the love
of God's word that the wife has a
little bit of a hard role or a
little bit of a hard task because she's
often left alone to handle responsibilities or something.
But it's often the other way around too
that if a husband is given over and
loves the work of the Lord and encourages
his wife, could you take this difficult phone
call or could you go and speak to
this hurting person, he's giving up time when
the wife could be ministering to him and
to his needs too.
And many are the times that my husband
has released me or charged me to go
and do something and he's the one that
receives a loss of my time.
And so that is often the case, I
believe, with the men in our circles who
are fully given over to the service of
the Lord.
And so I do want to bless them
for that.
Also, many of the women here have been
a great example to me in being a
Priscilla.
But I also want to encourage the younger
women that we need to really take hold
of this thing of being courageous.
And even looking in the scriptures where it
charges Sarah's daughters not to be afraid with
any amazement, that often if we're afraid to
follow our husbands or to be his armor
bearer, then they have to take time out
to keep trying to pull us along or
quell our fears.
And that's OK sometimes, but we want to
take courage to just believe in them and
walk behind them and support them.
So I surely want to continue to climb
in these areas.
Thank you, Helen.
Any more sisters that need to share?
I think there's no more secure place that
we can be than in the Lord's will.
And as we my husband and I have
talked, making the plans to move here, making
the plans, having a united heart, having that
communication so that it's we that are doing
the moves, we that are deciding to home
school.
And I want to thank the Lord and
honor Paul for his vision for home schooling,
his vision for having a large family, for
loving our children, for hospitality, the visions that
he has put forward that we can be.
They love their children, they home school, they
do this because of communicating together and having
a common vision that it's not just me
doing this.
I can have the confidence and the courage
to do things because I know it's our
vision and not just me trying to do
something on my own.
Any other sisters here need to share?
I'd like to take this time to just
bring honor and praise and glory to God
for his working in our lives.
I greatly appreciate this message that this is
a vision that Lori and I have had
for years to be in an occupation together,
such as Priscilla and Aquila were both tent
makers here, but that we can work together.
I'd like to bless God for the way
he has worked in my wife's life to
come alongside and support me and encourage me
and let me know that whatever decision, wherever
the Lord would lead, that she would be
willing to go.
I want to take this time to glorify
God for his answer to prayers.
As you heard last week, we have a
house in Virginia we are desiring to sell,
that the tenants that were renting and desiring
to buy allowed a pile of firewood to
catch on fire outside of the wood stove.
So we were to go down this week
and put that floor back in and clean
the house up and re-prepare it for
sale.
The fleece we had out before the Lord
was June 1st.
If the house is sold by June 1st,
hallelujah, our move to Pennsylvania is completed.
If it's not by June 1st, we would
prepare to be moving back.
I can't afford to live in both places.
My wife blessed me to know that whichever
it was, she was with me 100%.
Last night the Lord answered that prayer and
sold the house without fixing the floor.
So to those who were desiring and looking
forward to going, I thank you and I
bless God for you.
But I'm sure we can find something else
to do this coming weekend.
Plenty around.
If anybody would like to take the gospel
to that part of Virginia, I'd welcome that
also.
But to God be the glory.
We just praise him for his faithfulness and
his love and his mercy.
Amen.
If there's anyone here whose life is not
fulfilled, I would encourage you to invest yourself
into the lives of others.
If your Christian life is not being fulfilled,
you invest yourself, not just your time, but
yourself in the lives of others.
I remember growing up as a teenager, our
home was a place of activity, especially on
weekends.
We were a family of 10 and had
lots of friends.
We just continued to have friends over at
our house on weekends.
They were always welcome.
Our house was open.
Now I find that the same way, only
I'm not a teenager anymore.
I'm the father in the house.
I find our home is just a home
of hospitality.
I think it's due to my wife's graciousness
and other things.
Our lives are full of just ministering to
others.
Sometimes we wish we'd have some spare time,
but again, it's a blessing to be able
to minister to others.
I think we'll have one more and then
we'll close here.
I just didn't want to miss this opportunity
to bless my wife.
She's not here today, but she might be
listening over the phone.
Just for her willingness to help support the
family in the sewing business, I know it's
been a struggle often, but I know it's
also been rewarding for her.
It's given her many opportunities to minister to
other women.
I just want to thank her and my
daughters, too, for helping in that way.
God bless you.
Amen.
Thank you for sharing, each one of you.