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Acts chapter 18 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Acts chapter 18. Let us pray.
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  Oh Lord, our God who reigns on high, we love you, Lord Jesus.
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  We thank you, Father, for another day to come and worship
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  you in spirit and truth. We thank you God for these
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  eternal words on the page. We thank you, God, that you have
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  given us your full authority to walk in.
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  God, I pray right now in the name of Jesus for healing from
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  on high. I pray for a sound mind.
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  God, I pray that we can silence all the accusations of the
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  enemy. Father, let us be fixated upon
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  your face. Jesus, we just want you and only
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  you. We want to touch the hem of your
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  garment. We want to come into the holiest
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  of holy places. We want to dine and Sup with
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  you. We want more.
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  God, You have showed us your glory, and Lord we have tasted
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  and we have seen. And God we are lovesick longing
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  for a home. Lord that we've never been to.
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  We are homesick for that. And Lord, we just want more of
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  You. We want to be enveloped.
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  We want the Shekinah glory, God, and we consecrate the temple.
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  Lord, we get rid of all of the idols.
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  Lord, we toss them out, we tos them to the side.
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  Everything that has captivated us, everything that has
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  distracted us, all the idols that we have misplaced, our
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  worship towards, our adoration towards God, we get rid of those
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  things right now, right here in this moment.
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  Lord, I pray Holy Spirit, highlight the things in our
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  lives that are not of God. Highlight the things that are
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  ensnaring us and tangling us in the cares of this world.
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  God, I pray that we could come up to new heights.
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  Lord, I pray that we can come out of this world God, and we
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  can live separated and called out.
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  Lord, that we can live holy, because you are holy, You are
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  worthy, and there was only one found worthy.
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  And Lord, we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by
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  the words of our testimony. And so, God, we testify to your
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  goodness. Today, Lord, we sing praises
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  unto your holy name. Today, come inhabit the praises
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  of your people who are called by your name.
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  Holy Spirit, guide us. I decrease as you increase.
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  Holy Spirit, give us sound doctrine and theology.
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  Today, let these words jump off the page.
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  Let these words jump into our heart.
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  Let these words saturate our DNA.
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  Let them become on a molecular level, God, us and we and you
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  and you and us. Let us abide in you.
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  And it's in Jesus Christ, holy and precious name that I pray.
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  Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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  After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to
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  Corinth. Here you're going to get a
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  snapshot of what it looks like for Paul to write to the
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  Corinthians. These were very carnal minded
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  Christians and those things are usually separated from each
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  other, but these Corinthians had to be brought up.
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  The city of Corinth was known for its immorality and
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  debauchery. And here Paul is going into the
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  hardest places. He didn't pick the easiest
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  places to go. And that is our call, friends.
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  We should not shy away from the places that are dangerous.
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  We should not shy away from the places that have the worst
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  reputation. We need to go straight in and
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  proclaim the name of Jesus because he has people in those
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  cities, people of peace who desperately need to hear the
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  good news of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us to and
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  found. A certain Jew named Aquila born
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  in Pontus, lately come from Italy and his wife Priscilla
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  because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart
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  from Rome. So there is the subtle
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  persecution, there is the anti-Semitism there in Rome
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  forcing all the Jews out. And did you know that it is
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  never amounted to anything but the preservation of that people
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  group? The Jews are still here and
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  we're still talking about it. Mainstream politics, they're
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  still in the headlines, friends, and they're not going anywhere.
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  And you can see here that Paul has found a brother in Christ,
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  someone who is a fellow worker with him.
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  And let's see how this interaction with Aquila and
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  Priscilla go. Three.
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  And because he was one of the same craft, he abode with them
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  and wrought for by their occupation, they were tent
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  makers. So there's a little back story
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  of Paul as a tent maker supporting his own ministry.
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  Imagine that. Imagine how pleased God is when
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  we put our hand to the plow and are found working.
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  If you do not work, you do not eat.
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  This is very simple and we should not just sit around on
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  our blessed assurance. We need to get in the game.
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  We need to make sure that we are found doing the Lord's work.
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  And Paul here had a great understanding that he did not
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  need to go and beg people for money.
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  He did not need to manipulate people into giving him money if
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  they were led to do so by the generosity of their own heart
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  and by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
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  That was one thing. But because Paul understood the
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  heart of God, that God would take care of him.
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  And as you look and study the life of Paul, that is exactly
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  what God did. He took care of them just like
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  the birds in the air and the lilies of the field.
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  He took no thought for tomorrow. And that is our mandate,
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  friends. And so many people have started
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  to worship Mammon because they do not trust God.
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  Their faith is so diminished that all they can hyper fixate
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  upon is gain. All they can hyper fixate upon
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  is even the lack that they have in their house.
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  And they do not trust God for today.
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  And that is a call for us to be like Paul, to be like the
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  apostle Paul, and to support our ministry and to believe that God
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  is going to take care of us for today, just for today, and
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  tomorrow if He gives us another day.
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  We take no thought for tomorrow, but we rest in the fact that God
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  is feeding us and taking care of us.
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  We have sought the Kingdom of God first and we are receiving
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  all of the blessings from God Almighty for today for and he
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  reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews
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  and the Greeks. So here Paul is, he goes
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  straight to the synagogue and he starts to proclaim the good news
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  of Jesus Christ. He's reasoning with them, which
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  meant there was dialogue. He did not just go in there and
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  hammered down on the Bible and not give anybody opportunity to
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  speak. He was able to sit and to listen
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  and to reason. 5 And when Silas and Timothy come from Macedonia,
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  Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that
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  Jesus was Christ. Jesus is Christ, friends, He is
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  the Messiah, and he is seated at the right hand of God and he has
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  gone to prepare a place for us. And you need to know that Paul,
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  through all of his learnedness, all of the studying in
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  Jerusalem, and all of the studying that he did with
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  Gamaliel, resulted in all of the reality that Jesus is the
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  Christ. And that is what you're going to
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  find. The deeper you go into
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  Scripture, the more layers you pull back, the more you're going
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  to see that the Bible interprets the Bible and it all supports
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  itself. It is congruent, and it all
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  points to Jesus Christ the Messiah. 6 And when they oppose
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  themselves and blasphemed, he shook his clothing, and said
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  unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads.
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  I am clean, and from now on I will go to the Gentiles.
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  So here Paul is trying to persuade and reason with the
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  Jews. The Jews will not accept it.
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  Paul shakes the dust off and he tells them that he is free from
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  their guilt, free from their blood.
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  And we need to know that as long as we have preached the gospel,
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  God will give the increase. We cannot control the
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  temperature. All we do is we show up and say,
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  God, here I am, use me. And then we go go out and we
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  scatter the seed, knowing that most of the seed is going to
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  fall on unprofitable soil. But we need to know that it is
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  still God's eternal plan for us to be seed sowers that go out
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  and to scatter it abroad, not knowing if it's going to produce
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  fruit or not. God's the one that makes it land
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  on the fertile soil. God's the one who makes it grow.
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  God's the one who gives the increase.
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  Friends, we are just unprofitable servants in the
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  Lord's house. We're doorkeepers. 7 And he
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  departed from there and entered into a certain man's house named
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  Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to
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  the synagogue. So this Justice's house was
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  right beside the synagogue, attached to it perhaps.
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  And he was a righteous man and a God.
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  Fear 8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed
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  on the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians
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  hearing, believed and were baptized.
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  So here we go. You can see God's at work, Holy
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  Spirit's moving mightily in their midst, and you can see
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  that this ruler of the synagogue had the wherewithal and the
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  mental fortitude, and God had opened his heart up to
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  understand, and then he received salvation, him and his house. 9
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  Then spoke the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision.
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  Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not your peace, for I am
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  with you, and no man shall set on you to hurt you, for I have
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  much people in this city. So verse 9 and 10, you can see
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  that God needed to speak to to Paul, the Lord Jesus himself
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  speaking to Paul telling him do not be afraid, do not be
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  disappointed, do not be discouraged.
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  I have many in this city. And isn't that what he told
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  Elijah when Elijah told the Lord, just Take Me Out and the
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  Lord said no, I have prophets that have not bowed the knee to
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  bow. And you can see here that Jesus
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  needed to encourage Paul and tell him not to be afraid. 11
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  And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the
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  word of God among them. So it was a great encouragement
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  to Paul to have a visitation from Jesus Christ.
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  And he stayed there another year and a half, teaching and
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  preaching and encouraging and exhorting.
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  And you can see here that he established the Corinthian
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  church. And then we're going to find out
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  later on in the New Testament some of the things that were
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  happening in that city as Paul is writing to them. 12 And when
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  Gallio was the deputy of IKEA, and the Jews made insurrection
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  with 1 accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment
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  seat, 13 saying, This fellow persuades men to worship God
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  contrary to the law. 14 And when Paul was now about to open his
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  mouth, Galio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or
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  wicked lewdness, Oh, you Jews, reason that I should bear with
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  you. 15 But if it be a question of words and names of your law,
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  look you to it, for I will be no judge of such matters.
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  So here you can see that Galio did not want to have anything to
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  do with all of their backstories, all of their laws
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  and words and names, and he skirted around responsibility
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  here. 16 And he drove them from the judgment seat. 17 Then all
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  the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
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  and beat him before the judgement seat.
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  And Galio cared for none of these things.
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  So old Galio was careless and indifferent, and he just thought
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  that he didn't have to give any judgement to the Jews.
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  And then he also turned a blind's eye to the beating of
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  the new synagogue ruler, since the previous had given his life
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  to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here you can see this mob
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  rule. They're bloodthirsty and they're
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  delusional by definition. They're unreasonable people.
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  And there are many like that in our culture and our day and our
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  age. They will not put up with sound
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  doctrine, they will not put up with reasoning.
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  They are bent upon destruction. Friends 18 And Paul after this
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  tarried their yet a good while, and then took his leave of the
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  brothers, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him
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  Priscilla and Aquila, having shaved his head in Quintreya.
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  For he had a vow. So we can see here that Paul had
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  taken this Nazarite vow, perhaps, and he did not just
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  turn his back completely upon the Jews.
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  He still upheld these vows. And perhaps Paul had grown his
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  hair out, and then after the end of the vow, he shaved it, and he
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  was on his way to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice.
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  He was on his way to Jerusalem to finish the vow out, as it was
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  customary. 19 And he came to Ephesus and left from there, and
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  he himself, and he left them there, and he himself entered
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  into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
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  So here you can see that Paul is going to Ephesus and this is
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  where we get the book of Ephesians from.
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  And you can see that as it was his custom, he went straight to
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  the synagogue to reason with them about Jesus Christ.
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  Paul held no punches. Paul was not afraid of man.
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  Paul was on mission. And we should model and mirror
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  that. Anybody who's been blood bought,
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  born again, who is a Christian, you need to be found spreading
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  the good news of Jesus Christ. No matter the ridicule, no
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  matter if you get made fun of, no matter if you get subtly or
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  outright persecuted. We need to be found spreading
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  the name of the Lord Jesus Christ every single place that
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  we go. 20 And when they desired him to tarry longer time with
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  them, he consented. Not so.
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  He was on mission. He knew that he had to get to
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  Jerusalem to perform the rituals for the Nazarite vow 21 but bade
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  them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that
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  comes in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you if God
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  wills. And he sailed from Ephesus.
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  So he got there. He encouraged them, but he knew
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  it was time to go. And we need to look for these
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  divine appointments, friends, and we need to know when God is
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  telling us to stay, and we need to know when God is telling us
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  to go, when He has released us. And we cannot let a ministry
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  that is thriving keep us from obeying the word of God.
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  We need to be very in tune with the Lord God Almighty, knowing
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  that his ways are not our ways. And he very well could be
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  calling you from a very profitable setting. 22 And when
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  he had landed at Caesarea and gone up and saluted the church,
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  he went down to Antioch. 23 And after he had spent some time
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  there, he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and
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  Fersia in order strengthening all the disciples.
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  So here Paul is, and he is strengthening them.
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  He's encouraging them, he's exhorting and teaching them and
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  making sure that the roots run deep in these 1st century
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  churches, strengthening all the disciples. 24 And a certain Jew
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  named Apollo's, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, and
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  mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man was
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  instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the
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  Spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the
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  Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
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  Imagine that friends, this man was steeped in the scriptures.
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  He was studying them and he knew them back in front, but he had
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  not yet received the baptism of fire, the Holy Ghost.
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  He had received John's baptism of repentance, which was
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  preparing the way. And we know that John said that
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  he only baptized with water, but there was 1 coming who would
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  baptize them with the Holy Ghost. 26 And he began to speak
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  boldly in the synagogue, whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had
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  heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way
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  of God more perfectly. So isn't this amazing, Aquila
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  and Priscilla? They've been listening to Paul
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  for so long that they are in a position to teach now.
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  And here this eloquent man. Did not think of himself so
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  highly and prideful that he was not teachable.
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  And we need to learn when it is our turn to teach and when it is
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  our turn to be taught. That is the lesson.
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  We cannot be so puffed up with knowledge and pride that we
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  refuse to learn anything. You're going to swim in the deep
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  end of the Holy Bible and never touch the bottom.
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  You can live 10 lifetimes and never exhaust this book that is
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  alive and active. 27 And when he was disposed to pass into
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  Achaea, the brothers wrote, exhorting the disciples to
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  receive him, who when he was come, helped them much which had
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  believed through grace will end on. 28 For he mightily convinced
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  the Jews. And that publicly showing by the
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  scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
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  Christ is the Greek form of Messiah Hamasea.
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  You can see that Yeshua is the long-awaited Christ.
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  He is our everything. He's our All in all.
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  He's the very next breath in your lungs.
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  He's the great I am, and we just need to sit in his presence and
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  be still and know that God is and that is what we are called
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  to do, friends. And here you can see that this
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  early church is spreading like wildfire.
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  You can see that Paul and all of his constituents here Luke is
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  writing to us and we saw all of Aquila and Priscilla and we have
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  Apollo's and Justice. We have all of these wonderful,
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  wonderful people's names, real people in real places, their
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  names recorded for all time sake, inspired by the Holy
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  Ghost, pinned down for your and for my edification.
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  And I hope that you've been blessed by this amazing chapter
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  here in the Word of God. I know I sure have many times
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  over. I'm praying for you and I love
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  you. We'll see you back here
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  tomorrow. God bless you.