A Mighty Messenger Series

Introduction

John Chrysostom was born in Syrian Antioch in about 347 AD.

His mother, Anthusa, was widowed at the age of twenty. She refused to remarry so as to devote herself to John’s education.

John studied the Greek classics and rhetoric.

For a time, John practiced law, but he became a monk after his conversion and baptism in 368 AD.

After Anthusa’s death, John practiced a severe ascetic life.

During this time, he spent two years living in a cave in a mountain near Antioch, where he dedicated himself to memorizing the entire Bible.

Finally, ill health forced him to abandon his lifestyle as a hermit.

John was ordained to the ministry in 386 AD.

He was a powerful preacher of God’s word in Antioch for the next dozen years.

During this time, he was nicknamed “Chrysostom,” which means “golden-mouthed,” because of his powerful preaching.

He became the archbishop of Constantinople in 398 AD after being forcibly kidnapped and installed as the patriarch.

Because of his preaching, John was eventually banished on treason charges in 404 AD.

John Chrysostom died in exile in 407 AD at about 60.

The apostle Paul’s home church was in the same town as John Chrysostom's birthplace, Syrian Antioch.

I don’t know where the church met in Paul’s day.

Did they meet in a home?

Did they meet in a church building?

Did John Chrysostom preach in that same facility about three and a half centuries after the church sent Paul off on three missionary journeys?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that God raises mighty messengers of his truth all the time.

Just as he raised John Chrysostom to be a mighty messenger, he also raised a man named Apollos to be a mighty messenger some three and a half centuries earlier.

Today, we will see how God raised a mighty messenger for ministry.

Scripture

Let’s read Acts 18:18-28:

18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Lesson

Acts 18:18-28 shows us how God prepares a mighty messenger.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Purposeful Prelude (18:18-23)

2. Teachable Temperament (18:24-26)

3. Effective Evangelist (18:27-28)

I. Purposeful Prelude (18:18-23)

First, God prepares a mighty messenger with a purposeful prelude.

On his second missionary journey, Paul spent eighteen months of fruitful ministry in the city of Corinth.

Then we read in verse 18a, “After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.”

Paul decided to return to his home church in Syrian Antioch and give them a missionary report about what God had done.

Priscilla and Aquila accompanied him on this journey to Antioch.

In verse 18b, we read, “At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.”

Scholars are not sure what vow Paul took.

Some speculate that it was a Nazirite vow. Perhaps it was.

Whatever the vow, Paul cut his hair at Cenchreae, about 7 miles east of Corinth.

Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila sailed from Cenchreae to Ephesus.

When they arrived in Ephesus, Paul visited the synagogue, as was his custom, to share the gospel with the Jews there.