Theme: ¾ Immerse
We need to immerse ourselves in a new way of living. We need to immerse ourselves into the spiritual dimension of life and see things we have never seen before. We need to do this individually and corporately as a family unit.
Series 3: Press In
To press into the spiritual realm means we strive to be mature in Christ and in how we view things in life. It means we are in tune with God and His agenda for our lives and for the Kingdom of Heaven. It means we push through the tough times of life and in our faith and we don’t quit.
Philippians 3:13-15:
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Sermon 2: Press in like Priscilla
Scripture Texts for the week:
Acts 18:
1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God…18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch… 24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately…
Romans 16
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
I Corinthians 16:
19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
2 Timothy 4:19:
19 Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.
(This is Paul’s final farewell to his beloved friends of 19 years).
Introduction:
Priscilla and Aquila were lovers and tent makers. Yes they lived together as husband and wife and worked together too. Most likely Aquila taught Priscilla the tent making trade. It is obvious they loved each other’s company because Scripture always has them together.
The following sermon message has “Quote” all quotes come from: https://bible.org/seriespage/side-side—i-story-aquila-and-priscillai so please note all quotes are from this article and not always sited.
Quote: Not every husband and wife can work together like this. It takes a mature relationship to work closely under the kind of pressure a job sometimes generates. But that is evidently the kind of relationship Aquila and Priscilla had. They were not only mates and lovers, they must have been good friends and companions. They had to be willing to give to each other more than they tried to take. They had to be able to accept suggestions as readily as they offered them. They enjoyed being together and working together. They were inseparable, and they were equals.
If you really want to know Kathy and I would have a hard time working side by side all the time. I would drive her crazy because of my idiosyncrasies. She would drive me crazy by talking all the time to me and making me talk more. My girls have a saying at home to describe me: “You have to pay him to talk!”
But we have always done ministry together. In our family we taught our girls that ministry was a way of life. We live this way because we are Christians not because I am a pastor. I even challenged the girls to not let people tell them they should act a certain way because they are Pk kids. Instead they need to act like they are Christians being a Pk kid has nothing to do with it.
T.S. - Today we are looking at the lives of a husband and wife ministry team. It's obvious from Scripture that these two created a family unit that was rooted and grounded in biblical values.
I. Priscilla and Aquila created a biblical foundation within their family and home.
a. How well are you doing with this in your home?
i. Do you have spiritual goals for your home and family?
ii. Do you pray before meals, have devotions as a family.
1. In Kathy's family growing up they had family devotions that did not go very well. Please, don't do devotions that drive your kids away from the Bible or the life of Christianity.
iii. Is God just something you do on Sunday or is He invited to be a part of your life 24/7?
1. The Lord needs to be a part of your family consistently. I find it amazing how people want to compartmentalize their Christianity. We see this happen a lot in the political realm where we are Christian at certain places but not all places. This is not a Biblical teaching but a media driven justification to allow us to get away with sin and unbiblical value systems.
iv. Are you instilling a Kingdom of Heaven mindset in your home?
v. Are you creating a Biblical worldview within your family unit?
vi. How would your neighbors describe your family value system?
b. Simple Statements I have heard that relate to the subject of creating a biblically based family unit:
i. Pray together – Stay together
ii. Read together – Lead together
iii. Love together – Gov together
iv. Trials together – Miles together
v. Hope together – Cope together
vi. Forgive together - Live together
vii. Grace together – Embrace together
c. What or who is the influencer in your home?
i. Is it God’s Word?
ii. Is it God’s Presence?
iii. Is it Prayer?
iv. Is it TV and Movies?
v. Is it the News?
vi. Is it the Republican or Democratic Party?
vii. Is it you? Is it your children?
viii. Is it in-laws?
d. We need to look and see what or who is the most influential on my family. If it’s not a Biblical based person or thing then we need to stops it’s influence on our family.
i. We are told in Scripture to guard our hearts and we need to do the same for our family too!
T.S. – Being intentional about creating a Biblical foundation in your home is a key if you want your family to be centered in Jesus and His ways for the future. If you fail to do this now you will lose your family to the world! The idea of doing family ministry is important to cultivate and you need to bring others along with you in this spiritual growth process.
II. Who do you do life with as a family?
a. Priscilla and Aquila did it with Paul after being forced to flee Rome.
i. Think about how they met Paul - they were forced to leave their home in Rome because of Emperor Claudius decree for all Jews to leave.
ii. So they packed up and headed to Corinth – not knowing that God had a providential relationship for the two of them. They would meet a man named Paul!
1. We see God’s timing at work in history again within this story of Priscilla, Aquila and Paul.
2. No sooner had they found a shop to rent to do tent making in Corinth that another Jewish tentmaker comes along named Paul.
3. Instead of a rivalry they join forces and Paul even moves in with Priscilla and Aquila.
a. Could you imagine living with the Apostle Paul?
b. Do you think Paul discipled these two?
c. Can you imagine their discussions?
d. Do you think he invested spiritually into their lives?
iii. Scripture tells the story like this: “After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers” (Acts 18:1-3).
iv. Quote: Their affinity for each other was instantaneous, and a deep and lasting friendship was born that day. Paul came to work with them in their shop, and even lived with them in their home during his stay in Corinth. If they had not known Christ before this, they certainly met him now, for no one could spend time in Paul’s presence and not be infected by his contagious and enthusiastic love for his Savior. These two who lived together, worked together, and suffered exile together, came to know and love Jesus Christ together, and it made their marriage complete. Now they were one in Christ, and His love made a good marriage even better. That may be just the thing your marriage needs. If either one of you has never placed your faith in the sacrifice which Christ made for your sins, your marriage cannot be complete. True oneness can only be found in Christ.
v. Through this providential relationship Priscilla and Aquila grow in their spiritual lives.
1. Who has God placed in your life to help you to grow spiritually?
2. This went on for a year and ½! Wow the greatest Bible teacher in the world lives in their home and pours his life into them.
a. Who are you allowing to pout into your spiritual life and your families spiritual life?
3. They listened to him teach and preach and then got to ask questions in private at home. I wonder how many late nights were spent discussing Jesus and talking about God’s holy Word. I wonder what it must have been like to hear Paul tell the story of seeing Jesus face to face?
a. Quote: They grew to love God’s Word. And although they worked long and hard running their shop, making and repairing tents, maintaining a home and caring for their distinguished guest, they always found time for serious Bible study. Sharing the Word together strengthened their love for each other and their spirit of togetherness. This is exactly what many Christian marriages lack. Husbands and wives need to open the Word together…Reading and discussing a Bible-centered devotional guide would be profitable. Reading through a book of the Bible together will allow God to speak to our lives. However we make use of it, God’s Word is one necessary ingredient for enriching our relationship with each other.
b. They are immersed in God’s Word and have their very own tutor!
i. It’s God ordained and they grow into spiritual leaders.
ii. When Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, they accompanied him, and he left them there when he embarked for his home church in Antioch (Acts 18:18-22).
iii. Paul has now discipled them and it’s time for them to spiritually fly on their own wings of the Spirit.
iv. And man do they fly high and pass on what they have learned from Paul!
1. The move to Ephesus was providential, for while Paul was gone “a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue” (Acts 18:24-26).
2. These two went to hear a new preacher in town and they were impressed with him.
a. They discovered he knew of John’s message of repentance and baptism but not of the Holy Spirit who Paul had introduced them too.
b. “But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26).
c. They taught him of the Holy Spirit at the day Pentecost, and the birth of the Body of Christ, and other great New Testament doctrines taught by Paul.
i. They introduced him to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment and the gifts.
ii. Apollo’s would never be the same like they were never the same after Paul introduced them to the Power of the Holy Spirit.
c. Question: Who are your fellow workers in Christ?
i. Quote: Aquila and Priscilla may not have been accomplished public speakers, but they were diligent students of the Word, and they loved to share it with others. They were even willing to invest the time necessary to take one young man under their spiritual care and pour into his life the things of Christ. Apollos had a keen mind and a quick understanding. He absorbed the truth they taught him and made it a part of his life and ministry. And as a result of this encounter with Aquila and Priscilla, he became an effective servant of God whom some of the Corinthians later placed on a level with Peter and Paul (1 Cor. 1:12).
ii. You do not have to be a preacher or teacher to do family ministry. Your gift may just be the gift of hospitality! It’s obvious Priscilla and Aquila had this gift – they seemed to always be willing to open their house up for the church to meet in it. This was also dangerous for them but they did it anyway.
1. They did it for the Lord and for the purpose to help invest in others lives – to disciple them for the Kingdom of Heaven.
iii. Who has God placed in your life to disciple – can you identify them – are you meeting with them?
1. Quote: Some of us will never be powerful preachers, but we can be faithful students of the Word, and our homes can be open to people whose hearts are hungry to hear the Word. We may have the joyous privilege of nurturing a young Apollos who someday will have a wide and powerful ministry for Jesus Christ.
2. Can you take a moment and see who God has placed around you?
a. Are you willing to be a host home and family for the Kingdom of Heaven?
b. Share about the commitment Green Lake Conference center made to host 12 foreign exchange students so as to impact them all for the Kingdom of Heaven.
c. Share about why we did Foster care for a while.
d. Share of this is a reason some people adopt children from foreign fields.
e. All this is related to doing family ministry together and for others.
d. These two loved to serve the Lord together and invest in others together. It was really a family commitment to the Lord.
i. When Paul left Antioch on his third missionary journey, he traveled through Asia Minor by land and returned to Ephesus, where he remained teaching the Word of God for approximately three years (Acts 26:31). During that period of time, he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians and said, “The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house” (1 Cor. 16:19).
ii. The church of Ephesus meets in their home!
1. Seems as if they now have a large enough home to host the church – is God blessing their business for their spiritual faithfulness?
a. It’s a question to think about?
2. This would not be the only time they would use their home to host one of God’s churches in it.
a. They at one point went back to Rome and did it for a while according to Paul when he wrote his epistle to the Romans from Greece on that third missionary journey, and he said, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; Also greet the church that is in their house” (Rom. 16:3-5).
i. Can you believe it they had hardly gotten to Rome and already there was a church meeting in their house.
b. Do you use your home to spread God's truth and love?
i. Is your home a ministry hub for Jesus?
c. For these two Christians of the faith their home was always open for ministry and for those who wanted to learn more about Jesus, more about the Holy Spirit’s empowerment and gifts. Their home was a base to promote the Kingdom of Heaven.
d. This idea has a lot to do with what is happening this month – With the My Hope America evangelistic campaign by the Billy Graham foundation. I am really encouraging you to consider being a be a Matthew host homes for this month. If interested see Pastor Moy at info booth for a host home packet.
i. The premise behind this nationalistic evangelistic campaign is: Matthew and Friends is the heart of this national evangelistic outreach. After accepting Jesus’ call to follow Him (Matthew 9:9–13 and Luke 5:27–31), Matthew invited friends into his house to meet the Person who changed his life.
ii. Are you willing to do the same?
e. Let me ask the Question: How do you use your home for the Kingdom?
i. Church buildings are great but there is no substitute for a home in ministering to people about Jesus.
1. Do you use your home for Jesus? Is the resource of your home, apartment used for the Kingdom of Heaven?
ii. I really believe - 1st contact with Jesus should be done in homes not in churches because of the atmosphere!
1. Homes are great places to do evangelism!
a. To be a witness with someone first starts with a friendship.
i. Do you have any unsaved friends you are connected with?
2. Homes are great places to help people grow spiritually!
3. Quote: Some Christians conduct evangelistic dinners, where they invite unsaved friends to hear an outstanding personal testimony. Many dedicated women use coffee cup evangelism, establishing close friendships with their neighbors and sharing Christ with them over the kitchen table. Home Bible classes can be an effective tool for reaching the lost or getting believers growing in the Word. Young people have profited greatly by adults who have opened their homes to youth groups. The possibilities for using our homes to serve the Lord are unlimited. This might be a good thing for husbands and wives to discuss and pray about together.
4. Really it’s time to be honest about how you use the resource of your home for the Kingdom of Heaven.
a. Do you consider your home a ministry place for Jesus?
T.S. – We have to make sure that the family influencers are centered in the things and the values of the Lord. We have to realize how important it is to have a home that is promoting the value system of the Bible and not the world. If we don’t guard our family then who will?
III. Question: Do you do the work of the ministry as a family?
a. I really want you to think about this question also. Do you invite people into your family so as to share the life changing truth of Jesus to them? Or do you hide it? Do your neighbors know you are Christian?
i. Are you the salt and light as Jesus spoke about?
ii. Or instead are you hiding that light under a bushel basket so others don’t see it.
iii. Are you ashamed of Jesus?
iv. Is your home just for your personal use only?
b. Maybe there are other reasons you do not do family ministry? Here are some reasons why some families fail to do family ministry together: Does this describe your family?
i. Quote: Some husbands feel threatened because their wives are more knowledgeable or capable than they are, and in order to avoid embarrassment and save face they sometimes become spiritual dropouts. It is easier for them not to show up at all than to have their wives outshine them. Others become overbearing and belligerent in an attempt to establish their position of authority. In some cases the wives are to blame. They seem to have something to prove, competing with their husbands for the spotlight, grasping after authority and preeminence. It is no wonder their husbands feel threatened. God’s order of authority in marriage never changes. Although the wife may be more intelligent and resourceful than her husband, God still wants her to look to him as her leader. That is not always easy for an extremely talented woman to do, but Priscilla did it. She was not competing with Aquila. She was just using her God-given abilities, as a helpmeet to her husband for the glory of God. I am sure Aquila thanked God for her many times and accepted her wise counsel on many occasions. She was one of the world’s truly liberated women, for there is no freedom that brings more joy and satisfaction than the freedom of obeying God’s Word.
1. We need to be honest with ourselves about the spiritual condition of our families! Are you being honest? Do you want to grow together spiritually?
c. Brian shares about doing ministry together as a family.
Conclusion:
Quote on some questions to ask ourselves:
1. Are you looking for opportunities to share Christ through your family? Do those who spend time with you become infected with your love for Christ? How can you improve this area of your life - family ministry?
2. What spiritual contribution are you making to the lives of others in your family? What else could you be doing to share God’s Word with others as a family?
3. How could you use your home more effectively to serve the Lord?
4. Are you sharing the Word of God with each other as a family? Discuss what kind of mutual Bible study you think will work best for you, then covenant to do it regularly together as a family. Invite others to family ministry time.
5. For husbands: Does it bother you when your wife outshines you? How does God want you to behave toward her on those spiritual occasions?
6. For wives: Are you threatening your husband by striving to prove your spiritual superiority in certain areas? Do you seek praise from others at his expense? How can you avoid these pitfalls in spiritual growth?
7. Are there occasions when you feel that your mate undermines you in public spiritually? Share this with each other and discuss how it can be avoided. So you can do family ministry together.
8. If you and your mate were considering working together in a business and or doing family ministry together what problems would you foresee arising? What could you do now to avoid those problems?
9. How can you demonstrate more fully the equality you share in Christ as husband and wife so you can do family ministry?
Altar Call: Prayer for families to come together. When I say family, “It could be spiritual family, natural family, blended family but connect with those in you group and pray for each other.”
We are coming together for prayer and to gather as families to pray in Sanctuary. Why? We need to immerse ourselves in a new way of living and our families in a new way of living. This all has to do with growing spiritually and pressing through the spiritual realm of life.
Things to pray about: Pray about doing family ministry, family missions, and how to use your homes for Jesus?
