Work, Evangelism, And Discipleship Series

Good morning church! it is a wonderful thing to be in the House of the Lord again this morning. It is a wonderful thing to be here with you, God’s people.

This morning we are going to take a look at Acts Chapter 18. We jump into this chapter in the middle of Paul’s second missionary journey and we see beginning of his third missionary trip. I want to point out some things in this chapter that we can directly apply to our lives here today in the 21st century. Several things that directly apply to our lives in how we work, how we live, and how we practice our faith on a daily basis.

I love that phrase. ‘On a daily basis.’ When you hear Christians say that phrase, ‘On a daily basis,’ often times they mean on Sundays only! Or Especially on Sundays, when I am with my christian friends, where they can see me! What I am talking about is Monday through Sunday living. What we are going to talk about is Monday through Sunday living, living and acting like the Local New Testament Church that Paul was preaching to the masses on his missionary journeys across Asia Minor.

I was struggling to come up with the perfect introduction and illustration for this sermon. Chuck and Ricka and Bob and Allison helped me out yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon went sort of like this… We All went over to Chuck and Ricka’s House to make some Apple Cider. I have never done this before, new experience for me.

The way we did it was extremely unique, I never would have imagined doing it this way. We went over, to Chuck and Ricka’s House. We met and went inside their house, sat around their dining room table. Talked about the Lord, sang some hymns, prayed a little, and after a few hours, the apples rolled right into the kitchen, jumped into a press, squished themselves, and poured themselves right into some containers.

Then we grabbed the containers, took some photos, put them up on Social Media and Said, “Praise Jesus,” Then we went home thankful. It was such a great day!

Now some of you are doubting me retelling of these events, as so you should be.... Why would I tell a story like this.

Because I think Being obedient to Christ and making disciples is a lot like Making Apple Cider! I will explain more as we go along.

Let’s look at our passage.

**Scripture:** Acts 18:1-28

Again, I am not going to read the entire chapter. You have your Bibles, I encourage you to read the entire chapter on your own.

Last week we left Paul in Athens. This week we see him traveling from Athens and arriving Corinth. He had a pretty tough time in Athens. I think just by normal human nature, he was probably hoping for a break in Corinth! Let’s look at the first three verses of chapter 18.

Acts 18:1–3

 ESV

1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,

3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

As Andre read a little earlier, we are called to be the salt and the light of this world. Jesus told us to Go and make Disciples. We have a Heavenly mandate, a glorious purpose.

More often than not, that means we must Meld our Mission with the Mundane.

Let me put it another way. We must

Combine our Career with our Calling

Paul was a tentmaker by trade. This probably meant he was really good at working with leather and leather strips which was required to make tents in the style that was used in that age.

He met up with Aquilla and Priscilla, who were also tent makers and they went into business together. They were also converts, a married couple who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah after hearing the teachings of Paul.

The thing I want you to see here is that our lives inside the church and our lives outside the church are not supposed to be two separate lives. Our work and our faith are not separate aspects of our lives. They should be one and the same. What do you do with your faith while you are at work? Do you toss it aside? Do you hide it? Do you use it as a shield? Or do you treat it as the gift it is and share it?

Paul, Aquilla, and Pricilla used their Work to accomplish their God given, Christ filled, Holy Spirit powered missions. They infused their daily 9-5 with the mission of evangelism and making disciples.