Formosa Baptist Church
2026-05-10
      • Bible Trivia
        Loading...

      • 2 Timothy 1:5ESV

  • Big Idea for the Series: In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
    FCF: Oftentimes we struggle to maintain a focus on the mission that Christ has called us to—to make disciples. But in this passage, we see that God is constantly at work in our lives to give us opportunities to advance the gospel and participate in his mission to seek and to save the lost. Are you on mission for Christ?
    Intro: Last week, we were with Paul and Silas in 16:6-10 as they continued on their second missionary journey. They had left Antioch in Syria and traveled northward up through Syria and Cilicia and into Phrygia and Galatia. We saw last week that they had intended to keep going westward into Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), which would have taken them to a bunch of major cities like Pargamum, Ephesus, Colossae, Philadelphia, and others, but the Spirit redirected them instead to Macedonia (which is in modern-day Greece). Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia saying “Come help us!” so they set out in that direction.
    Now, we’re jumping a bit in the story for the sake of time. In the rest of chapter 16, Paul and Silas journey to Philippi and meet a lady named Lydia who becomes a Christian and a supporter of Paul’s ministry. But, then Paul and Silas end up encountering opposition because Paul casts a demon out of a fortune teller slave girl, and that makes her master angry. They get severely beaten by the crowd and the magistrates and thrown in prison.
    But, even while they’re in prison, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God, witnessing to the other prisoners and the guards. An earthquake rocks the prison, all the prison doors bust open, and Paul and Silas are freed. They share the gospel with the prison guard and he becomes a believer along with his entire household, and they all get baptized.
    Finally, they’re released from prison when they find out that Paul and Silas are Roman citizens, and Paul and Silas leave Philippi. Paul later writes a letter to the newly formed church in Philippi, which we call the letter to the Philippians. Then, they journey on to Thessalonica, also in Macedonia (modern-day Greece). Many people there end up becoming believers as well, and a church is planted. Paul later writes two letters to the Thessalonian church in Thessalonica.
    Then, Paul and Silas journey onward to Athens, Greece, where he preaches on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Since we covered this passage during out evangelism course on Wednesday nights not too long ago, we’re going to skip over that as well. So, that brings us to Acts 18 where Paul and Silas are going to journey to Corinth and plant a church there. Paul ends up staying at Corinth for 1.5 years, longer than he stayed in most of the other place that he travelled to.
    Two of Paul’s longest letters are addressed to the Corinthian church, because they had some major issues he had to help them work out. Corinth was a major port city that saw tremendous amounts of travelers coming and going. It was famous for its temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, which at one point is reported to have housed around 1,000 temple prostitutes. The church at Corinth would become one of Paul’s neediest and most difficult churches to manage, due to the rampant sexual immorality there, paganism, arrogance, and worldliness that constantly plagued the church.
    But, despite its Las Vegas style immorality, Paul knew there were a lot of people there that needed to hear about Jesus. So, he went and shared the gospel.
    Join me in chapter 18 as we read about Paul’s journey to Corinth.
    Acts 18:1–28 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. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. 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.
    Prayer
    Oftentimes we struggle to maintain a focus on the mission that Christ has called us to—to make disciples. But in this passage, we see that God is constantly at work in our lives to give us opportunities to advance the gospel and participate in his mission to seek and to save the lost. Are you on mission for Christ?

    God works through our circumstances to help us spread the gospel.

    Acts 18:1–3 ESV
    After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 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, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

    Aquila and Priscilla’s story

    God worked through their relationship to advance the gospel.

    Seem to already be believers by the time they meet Paul.
    Aquila is apparently a Jew but Priscilla seems to be a Gentile.
    Acts 18:2 ESV
    2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla...
    We don’t know exactly how they met. Perhaps they met at church in Rome? Or through their work? Regardless, God put them together so that they could be a powerful ministry team.
    It’s not unheard of for a Jew to marry a Gentile (e.g., Timothy’s parents), but it certainly wasn’t the norm.
    Aquila and Priscilla had a story. They weren’t apostles, they’re not main characters in the storyline of Scripture, but they play an integral part in the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles.
    They’ll end up hosting a church in their home:
    1 Corinthians 16:19 ESV
    The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
    They helped support Paul and even risked their lives for him:
    Romans 16:3–4 ESV
    Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.
    Acts 18:18 ESV
    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.
    As we will see in a bit, they also helped to disciple key church leaders like Apollos:
    Acts 18:24–26 ESV
    Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 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. 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.
    And in a day and age where women were not often prominent, God worked through both Aquila and Priscilla. They both played a significant role in ministry. In fact, one is never mentioned without the other. They’re a team.
    God worked through their relationship because their relationship was founded upon Christ.
    What about your relationships? Husband, wife, parents—how might God be able to work through your family to advance the gospel? How can you work as a team to further the gospel?

    God worked through their location to further the gospel.

    Acts 18:2 ESV
    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,
    This expulsion of the Jews from Rome is actually documented in historical writings of the time by a historian named Suetonius.
    The New Testament Background: Selected Documents 9. Suetonius, Claudius 25

    Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.

    In A.D. 49, Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because of rioting that happened amongst the Jewish population. Suetonius attributes this to “Chrestus,” which is probably the latinized spelling of “Christ.”
    When we look in the book of Acts, this matches perfectly with what we see happening. Everywhere Paul goes and preaches the gospel of Christ, Jews in the local synagogues would stir up the people and often cause riots and get the whole city into an uproar. In fact, they do this very thing in this passage while Paul and his companions are in Corinth in verses 12-17:
    Acts 18:12–17 ESV
    12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”...17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
    So, apparently Emperor Claudius had enough of this by A.D. 49 and—like we see in this passage in vv. 14-16—the emperor was not interested in settling a religious dispute between Jews, so he just expelled all Jews from Rome, Christian or not. (Remember that at this point in history, Christianity was still seen as a subset of Judaism—people who believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.)
    So, Aquila and Priscilla suddenly find themselves homeless. We don’t know how long they had been in Rome, or whether they had a well established business or home, but if they did, they had to leave it all behind and start over in Corinth.
    Sometimes God interrupts our plans in life. We get comfortable and settled where we are, then God comes knocking and says, “It’s time to move now.”
    When we went back to PNG in 2022, we thought it would be until retirement. We were making plans for the long haul. But God led us back here. I bet that most of us, if we look back upon our lives, can identify times when God closed doors and opened others unexpectedly and maybe even undesirably.
    Maybe Aquila and Priscilla wondered why God would uproot them and move them hundreds of miles away. That probably wasn’t part of their plans. But God had a purpose in it. God was preparing an amazing new ministry opportunity for them that they could not have dreamed of before.
    Last week, we talked about how God opens and closes doors. We saw that God closed the door for Paul and Silas to go to Bithynia and to Asia Minor. But, whenever God closes one door, he opens another. God opened the door for Paul and Silas to go to Macedonia and Greece, and that’s where Paul met Aquila and Priscilla.
    Likewise, Paul closed the door for Aquila and Priscilla to stay in Rome, and instead sent them to Corinth. But that’s where they met Paul and ended up having all kinds of ministry opportunities they didn’t have in Rome.
    But regardless whether God says “move” or “stay,” God has placed you where you are to reach the people around you. Do your neighbors know Jesus? Do your classmates know Jesus? Do your family members know Jesus? Do your coworkers know Jesus?
    And that brings us to one more way that God works through Aquila and Priscilla...

    God worked through their vocation to advance the gospel.

    Acts 18:2–3 ESV
    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.
    Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers. Corinth would have been an especially good place to practice that trade because of the high amount of tourism in Corinth. Corinth was a major city in the Empire, and it was just down the road from Isthmia, which was the host of the Isthmian Games, which were second only in importance to the Olympic Games.
    Athletes and spectators would travel from all over the Empire and the Mediterranean to come compete in the games every other year. This would have brought a tremendous amount of people, all of whom would have need temporary shelters and tents.
    So, Aquila and Priscilla probably set up shop in Corinth because it was a great place to practice their trade. But, that also put them in contact with people from all over the world, people they could share the gospel with.
    And, then the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, just so happens to be a tentmaker as well. So they bond and click immediately, and they host Paul and he’s able to help them and make a living to support his ministry there in Corinth. And he ends up staying in Corinth for much longer than he stays in most other places—18 months.
    Acts 18:11 ESV
    11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
    The point is that their trade was not irrelevant to their ministry—it was part of their ministry. It allowed them to develop relationships with people, support traveling missionaries, and even be somewhat mobile and able to take mission trips.
    Sometimes people get it in their heads that only “ministers” do ministry, or that if their job is “secular” that it has no relevance to the Kingdom of God. That’s just not true.
    Whatever your job is brings glory to God so long as you do it for that purpose. If you’re a tentmaker, make tents to the glory of God. Same if you’re a mechanic, or a doctor, or a teacher, or a lawyer, or a receptionist. Do your job well so that you when people see you and know you’re a Christian, your work ethic is a credit to the gospel. Do your job with integrity and honesty. Work hard, show up on time.
    And, take the opportunities that your “secular” job gives you to build relationships with unbelievers. You never know when you’ll get an open door to share the gospel with them.
    I’m not saying that you should hold your customers or coworkers hostage while you share the gospel with them, or that you should be unethical. I’m saying build relationships with them, be a good example of a hard and diligent and honest worker, and let it be known that you’re a believer.
    And, you might even say, “You know, you might already know this but I’m a Christian, and that’s a really important part of who I am. If you ever have any questions about Christianity or the Bible or God or Church, I’d be happy to talk with you about it. And, you’re always welcome at my church. I’d love it if you came sometime as my guest.” They might politely nod and never think of it again, or it might launch an ongoing conversation that gives you an open door to share the gospel.
    Does your job pay well? Use the resources that God has given you to invest in the Kingdom. Give generously, fund missions and ministries.
    Do you have Christian coworkers or bosses? How can you network with them to further the gospel?
    Does your job give you vacation time? Perhaps consider using some of that vacation time to go on a mission trip or do a local service project.
    Stop thinking of your vocation as “secular” and start asking yourself, “How can I use the job God has given me to further his kingdom?”
    You are not where you are by chance. God has placed you in your relationships, your location, and your vocation as part of his strategy for reaching a lost world for Christ.

    God’s people are waiting for you to find them.

    Many will reject the gospel.

    Not everyone is going to respond enthusiastically when they hear the gospel. Once again, we see that as Paul preaches the gospel, he’s rejected by many of his own people in Corinth.
    Acts 18:4–6 ESV
    4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
    Jesus was rejected, Paul was rejected, and you are no better an evangelist than they were, so you will be rejected as well.
    Sometimes we share the gospel with people and, like Paul, we plead with them to surrender their lives to Christ, and no matter how much we plead and share, they refuse.
    Our job is to testify to people that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. If they reject that message, that’s on them, not you. You don’t need to carry the guilt of their rejection. Share the gospel with them and leave the rest between them and God.

    God’s elect are just waiting to hear the gospel.

    Acts 18:7–8 ESV
    7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
    Many people rejected Paul’s message, but not everyone. Titius Justus, a Gentile God-fearer, is apparently a believer now because Paul stays with him. And even Crispus, the Jewish synagogue leader (probably equivalent to a Christian pastor, but for the synagogue), believes and he and his entire house is baptized.
    And, many other Corinthians believe, enough that a good-sized church is planted.
    Then, Paul gets an encouraging message.
    Acts 18:9–11 ESV
    9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
    The concept of election has come up several times in Acts. God had chosen to reveal himself to some of those in the city of Corinth and draw them to salvation. Notice, that Paul doesn’t say, “Well, if God’s going to save them, then he doesn’t need me, guess I’ll head back home!” NO! Paul says, “Hey, if I can’t loose, then I’m going to share the gospel with as many people as I can and bring in the harvest.”
    It isn’t our mission, it’s God’s mission. He guarantees the harvest that he has planned. But we get to participate by being the harvesters.

    Do you have a vision for the lost?

    I don’t mean a literal vision like Paul had. You may or may not get one of those.
    I mean metaphorically—Do you have a passion for reaching the lost?
    What if God was to appear to you in a vision and say, “I have many in Clinton, AR who are my people.”
    Acts 18:10 ESV
    10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
    I think he does. I think that until Jesus comes back, we’re going to continue to see people come to know the Lord. When is the last time you got to lead someone to Christ?
    VBS is coming up the third week of July. Then, in the fall we’re going to be launching a series where we go through the entire Bible over the course of a year. It’s going to be a great opportunity for those who are new to the faith or don’t know much about the Bible to get a great overview of the story of the Bible. Now is the time to begin—if you haven’t already—developing relationships with unbelievers and unchurched people that you can invite later this summer to some of these events and series. Now is the season to start tilling and start planting those seeds.
    Are you on mission for Christ?
    I want us as a church to catch a vision for disciple making.

    True disciples make disciples.

    Look at the example of Paul and of Aquila and Priscilla:
    Acts 18:23–26 ESV
    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.
    Paul discipled Aquila and Priscilla.
    They followed him on his missionary journey and observed and learned from him.
    Then, when they met Apollos, a passionate but immature believer, they took him under their wing and “explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

    The aim of true discipleship is both passion and knowledge.

    You can’t be a good disciple without both.

    Passion without knowledge leads to false doctrine.

    This was the issue with Apollos. He was a dynamic preacher and what he knew, he proclaimed well and accurately.
    Acts 18:24–25 ESV
    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.
    But, there were gaps in his knowledge. Left unfilled, those gaps could have grown to some destructive teachings and heresies that could have had really negative impacts on the church.
    Apollos was preaching that Jesus was the Messiah, but he was only baptizing people in the name of John the Baptist. But that was an incomplete baptism.
    John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Now, that’s part of what Christian baptism is about, so Apollos wasn’t wrong, his baptisms were just incomplete.
    But Christian Baptism is also a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Baptism is not merely a picture of washing away of sin, it is also a picture of the Christian’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
    John’s baptism pointed backwards towards your sin and said, “I’m sorry for my sin, I’m turning from that.” Christian baptism says, “I’m sorry for my sin, I’m turning from that and turning to Christ. Now, all that was true of Christ is now true of me. I’m going to suffer like him. I’m going to one day die like him. But, I’m also one day going to rise like him.”
    False doctrine and ignorance in our Bibles is a big deal. Paul spends about half of his letters confronting and correcting false doctrines. It was a big deal to him because eternal lives are at stake.
    This is one of the main issues that we face in foreign missions where passion takes off before teaching. All over PNG and Africa and many other places in the world the gospel takes hold and takes off, and people are on fire for Jesus, but they don’t know what they don’t know. So they fill in the gaps in their biblical knowledge with their culture and assumptions.
    And we all do this. Even here in America with all the resources that we have at our disposal, theological and biblical illiteracy are huge issues.
    We don’t have the option as disciples of Jesus to just turn off our brains or coast. The day you stop learning more from your Bible and stop desiring to learn more about God and know him better is the day your relationship with God starts to wither.
    There’s very little that is sadder to me than meeting a Christian who’s been a believer for decades and no longer has any hunger to learn and grow in their faith. So many believers are passionate for Jesus for the first couple of years and then they just get complacent. They turn off their brain when they come to church and, like spiritual babies, they’re satisfied with the milk of the Word.
    Then, over time, these people become Sunday School teachers and leaders in the church because people assume that since they’ve been a believer a long time, they must be knowledgeable and mature in their faith.
    But they’re not. And their lack of spiritual depth shows up in their teaching. And then they perpetuate all kinds of false doctrines and spiritual shallowness. They are content with the milk and they teach others to be so as well.
    I don’t get that. If your life has truly been changed by the gospel, if you have come to know Christ and experience salvation, how can you not be hungry for more? The milk is there to sustain you until you’re ready for solid food. It was never meant to be your sole diet.
    Hebrews 5:12–14 ESV
    12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
    How do you know if you’re that kind of person? Here’s a couple of questions to ask yourself.
    When I hear or read about something in Scripture that I don’t understand, do I just skip over it and ignore it, or do I ask questions and dig deeper until I understand it? When the preacher or teacher tries to feed me meat, do I push it away like a baby pushes away peas and carrots? Or does it make me hungry for more? Do I come to church expecting to learn more and grow? Or do I just want to be kept comfortable where I am? When is the last time I felt like I was growing in my knowledge of God and my relationship with Christ? Do I feel a burden to know more and grow in my knowledge so that I can explain the way of God more accurately to others? Or am I content that I know enough?
    If God is infinite, and he is, then we can—and will—study him and grow in our knowledge of him for all eternity and still we will not exhaust what can be learned about God. This is why it is so crucial that we keep pressing deeper in our knowledge of God.
    You replicate what you are. Hungry disciples make more hungry disciples—just like Paul and Aquila and Priscilla. Lazy, sleepy, baby-like Christians reproduce more lazy, sleepy, baby Christians.
    Our attitude towards our spiritual growth is contagious. What are you infecting others with?
    We absolutely have to be growing in our knowledge. But...

    Knowledge without passion leads to selfishness.

    Sometimes people approach church as if they are only there to feed themselves. So, if what’s on the menu today isn’t something they’re interested in, they tune out. Or, they hoard up their knowledge and what they learn but never share it with anyone.
    This leads to a self-centered unconcern for the lost. It produces a church that only cares about what happens inside their own walls. A church that insulates itself from the world.
    It produces arrogance and pride and judgmentalism.
    There is a kind of knowledge that only serves to inflate your ego. That’s not the kind of knowledge we’re after.
    1 Corinthians 8:1–3 ESV
    1 ...This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
    Christianity is not about learning more so that we can be smart and impress people. If our knowledge of Jesus does not fill us with passion for the lost and passion for expanding the Kingdom of God, then our problem is that we don’t know what we think we know.
    Usually, the most arrogant people are those that actually know very little about what they are so confident about. But, when you learn about God accurately and more completely, it’s humbling. You begin to realize how little you really do know.
    To truly know God is to be filled with a passion for his glory and his people, to know Christ is to want to be like him. And Christ came to seek and to save the lost.
    Acts 18:26 ESV
    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.
    But, everything you learn in church should have double impact—in your own soul first, but then it is also meant to be carried out to the world.
    Notice that Aquila and Priscilla don’t publicly rebuke Apollos. Their knowledge may be greater, but they are humble and they gently correct him after service. There’s a difference between someone who is intentionally teaching false doctrine and someone who just doesn’t know yet. Aquila and Priscilla know that, so they are gentle in their correction.
    They’re setting an example for Apollos on how to deal with people and how to disciple.
    They’re disciples who are making a disciple who will go on to make many more disciples.
    Acts 18:27–28 ESV
    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.

    Conversion is only the first step in discipleship.

    Matthew 28:18–20 ESV
    18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    True discipleship means not only becoming a Christian, but growing in your knowledge of and obedience to God.
    Part of that obedience is obedience to the Great Commission.
    So, we are to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples...etc.
    Who can you disciple and mentor?
    Aquila and Priscilla Program
    Who’s your Paul?
    Who’s your Apollos?

    Reflection Questions:

    How do we see the Holy Spirit advancing the Kingdom of God through his Church in this passage?
    How can we become more intentional in disciple-making within our own relationships, similar to Aquila and Priscilla?
    How can we relate the example of Aquila and Priscilla in their work as tentmakers to our own jobs as opportunities for ministry?
    Which do you tend to emphasize more in your spiritual life: passion (action, emotion, etc.) or knowledge (learning, personal growth)? Which area might you be weak in and need to devote more effort and prayer?
    Every Christian needs to be mentored and discipled by someone further along in their spiritual journey than themselves. Who is my Paul (mentor/discipler)? (If you don’t have one yet, write the names of some potential Paul’s in your life.) ________________________________
    Every Christian needs to be mentoring and discipling someone who is not as far along in their spiritual journey as themselves. Who is my Apollos (mentee/disciple)? (If you don’t have one yet, write the names of some potential Apollos’ in your life.) ________________________________

      • Acts 18:1–28NIV2011

      • Acts 18:1–3NIV2011

      • Acts 18:2NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 16:19NIV2011

      • Romans 16:3–4NIV2011

      • Acts 18:18NIV2011

      • Acts 18:24–26NIV2011

      • Acts 18:2NIV2011

      • Acts 18:12–17NIV2011

      • Acts 18:2–3NIV2011

      • Acts 18:11NIV2011

      • Acts 18:4–6NIV2011

      • Acts 18:7–8NIV2011

      • Acts 18:9–11NIV2011

      • Acts 18:10NIV2011

      • Acts 18:23–26NIV2011

      • Acts 18:24–25NIV2011

      • Hebrews 5:12–14NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 8:1–3NIV2011

      • Acts 18:26NIV2011

      • Acts 18:27–28NIV2011

      • Matthew 28:18–20NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 5:16ESV

Formosa Baptist Church
jason_hill@formosabaptist.com
https://www.formosabaptist.com/
9 members