June 5, 2024 • 49 mins
Join us in episode 115 of the Be Disciples podcast as we journey through Acts chapter 18. Dive into Paul’s experiences in Corinth, focusing on the divine vision that emboldened him to speak without fear. Discover the intricate balance between boldness and discernment in Paul's ministry. Paul's strategic partnership with Priscilla and Aquila is a key highlight, emphasizing his approach to empowering others in ministry. We touch on the significant role of women in ministry and how Priscilla's teaching prominence challenges traditional norms.
In our final segments, we celebrate the inspiring example of Priscilla and Aquila's marriage and ministry. Drawing parallels to other influential women in the Bible like Ruth, we underscore the significant role women have played in spiritual growth and discipleship. We also tackle the relevance of the Old Testament for today's Christians, making a compelling argument against "unhitching" from these scriptures. Don't miss our personal anecdotes and thoughtful reflections on the enduring importance of the Old Testament in understanding the New Testament and the life of early believers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your
hosts Kyle Morris, dakota Smith,david Glavin and Chance
Holleran.
This is episode number 115, andwe are studying the book of
Acts and we'll be in chapter 18today.
Good morning guys.
How's everybody doing Doingreally good, good, solid, solid
18 today.
Good morning guys.
How's everybody doing Doingreally good, good, solid, solid.
I like that response Solid FirmIn Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Right, it's a Monday morning, but I was thinking
yesterday was a great day atchurch, had a lot of fun, so
there's a lot of interactionwith God's people.
And, yeah, sometimes Mondaysare you have like that
exhausting feeling.
But it's a good exhaustion.
It's like, yeah, that was worththe, that was worth all the
(00:53):
preparation for, that was worthgiving everything to the Lord
and then waking up and saying,all right, let's, let's do it
again this week.
So Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I agree, yeah, and I think after the service, second
service, especially peoplestayed and talked for a long
time.
They did and but the sermon youknow took a break from Matthew
and was in Isaiah 40.
I think that just spurred onsome some good conversation
about God's grace and what he'sdoing and that he's in control,
(01:24):
he's sovereign, he's great, andI think that reminded and
encouraged people of who God isin the darkest times or in times
where you just don't understandwhat God's doing.
But he does, he knows what he'sdoing, so that was an
encouraging sermon.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, it was the three questions that we asked
were does God desire to deliver?
Can he deliver?
Will he deliver?
And that passage of Isaiah 40is so classic.
I just feel like the people'shearts and minds were redirected
to the Lord more specifically,for where we're at as a
congregation and it was fun topreach, it was an honor to be a
(02:05):
part of those things and evenafter the first service some
people stayed behind before theywent over to breakfast and,
like one thing that I have beenwatching in our church is a
willingness to stay after and totalk, a willingness to continue
on with conversations whenpeople leave right away.
You know you neglectrelationships and I've just been
(02:27):
noticing that people enjoyhanging around.
That's a really good sign forour church.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, and also, if you notice, if you're watching
this on YouTube, we're in adifferent location.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, we got these bookshelves behind us and we're
actually in my office, my newoffice, and we all have moved
downtown Ottawa.
We're on main and fourth, aboveCrown Realty, and we all have
our offices here, individualoffices, whereas before we were
sharing one, and so we've gottenmore space.
(02:59):
We're excited to have that toone, work together as a team, be
in the same place a little moreoften, uh, but also we're
across the street from thecoffee shop corner market, uh,
we can counsel people.
It just gives us that, uh, moreavailability and space to do
more ministry, including thepodcast, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Chance doesn't have an office but he was eyeballing
a closet.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We've got a closet and a foyer, yeah, office, but
he was eyeballing a closet.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We've got a closet and a foyer, yeah, just so you
know, dakota and I started offin a little copy room, closet
back to back, and uh, so nowwe've we've grown up a little
bit and this is not anexaggeration.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It was so small.
Our chairs would bump into eachother as we got up till they go
to the bathroom or something.
Yeah, yeah, it was tiny, humblebeginning.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, good job, yeah now, now I can sit in my office
with nobody touching my chair.
Yeah, yeah, good, all right,come touch your chair every now
and then, just to do it, just tokick it.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, yeah, remember this, yeah don't forget what you
, where you came from somemufasa stuff stuff.
Remember who you are.
Where'd that come from?
I don't know, good old.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Lion King reference.
Alright, so we're going tocontinue in the book of Acts,
but let's pray, guys, and we'regoing to continue to follow Paul
on his journey, as he's been inCorinth.
So let's pray, father, just aswe have conversation over your
word.
Lord, be with us, work throughus, encourage us, grow us.
(04:35):
Just allow us to continue toread your word and enjoy reading
your word.
Reading your word isn't a chore.
It's something that allows usto get to know you more, the
work that you've done, yourcharacter, everything about you,
lord.
So just, we pray that we wouldall fall in love with you more
(04:59):
and more and that all those whoare listening would do the same
that reading the Bible, knowingmore about who you are, would be
just a constant pursuit.
Because, lord, you first lovedus and we just want to continue
to fall more in love with you.
And so, through your word,through discipleship, through
(05:20):
fellowship with believers, lord,we continue to see you work.
So we thank you, lord, inJesus' name, Amen.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Amen.
Well, chapter 18, verses 1through 11, is what we walked
through in our last episode.
Paul has left Athens, he's goneto Corinth.
He's seen some conversionsthere.
He waited for Silas and Timothyto show up so that he could
move on from tent making todevoting himself completely to
the Word of God.
And then I think if there'sanything that we should really
(05:50):
remember, it's verses 9 and 10.
The Lord said to Paul in thenight by a vision do not be
afraid any longer, but go onspeaking and do not be silent,
for I am with you and no manwill attack you in order to harm
you, for I have many people inthis city.
Then verse 11 says he was therefor 18 months teaching the word
(06:11):
of God.
And so that's like the settingby which we come into today's
passage, which is likely verses12, all the way to 22,.
Maybe more, maybe less.
So I'm going to read verses 12through 22, and then we'll kind
of break it up in differentsections.
Here it says but while Galileowas proconsul of Achaia, which
(06:32):
is the region of Corinth, theJews, with one accord, rose up
against Paul and brought himbefore the judgment seat.
Now, keep in mind, paul hasGod's promise that he just gave
to him in the previous verses.
So the Jews rose up with oneaccord against Paul and brought
him before the judgment seat,saying this man persuades men to
(07:17):
worship God contrary to the law.
But when Paul was about to openhis mouth, galio said to the
Jews if it were a matter ofwrong or a vicious crime to the
synagogue and began beating himin front of the judgment seat.
But Galileo was not concernedabout any of these things.
Actually, I think that's a goodplace to land before we keep
(07:38):
going.
So here Paul is put on trialand we have a bit of conflict
before us between Galio reallythe judge Paul and then the Jews
who rise up against him.
So let's break this down.
What are the principles that wecan derive or take out of this
(07:59):
short passage?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well, first, why is he being brought before the
pro-council?
What's?
What's the whole purpose?
Uh well, the, the statementmade here is this man is
persuading people to worship god, contrary to the law.
Well, we're talking about notthe law as in, like roman law,
we're talking about Jewish law,and so we see here that Galileo
(08:27):
clearly does not care aboutJewish law.
I don't care about the namesand the law and the prophets and
whatever.
That's your problem, that'syour deal.
He did nothing of a viciouscrime.
But what I find interesting inthis whole section is the one
who is usually talking is Paul.
(08:47):
He doesn't talk.
One time in this section wedon't hear him say anything.
No defense, no defense, and soI find that very interesting, as
if, like he's, like nothing'sgoing to happen to me, god told
me.
So I'm just going to sit hereand see how this works out.
It seems like he didn't, hedidn't need to say anything and,
(09:08):
um, I mean we even see Jesus inhis trial being pretty quiet at
times, not saying anything, um,and so there's this.
There's this kind of justsimilarities, though some
contrast, but similarities toJesus being put on trial, paul
here being put on trial by theJews going to Roman leadership
(09:31):
or government to try to get theRomans to take care of their
dirty business.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I do find it interesting and then Chance and
David chime in on this but I dofind it interesting that Jesus
was willing to trust the Fatheron his worst day, no matter what
happened to him, because he wasconfident the Father would
raise him from the dead right.
And so, whether or not Pauldoes go through something in
(09:57):
this specific moment, he'spromised nobody's going to harm
you.
But we see a previous promisefrom the Lord, especially right
after Paul got saved, where yousee a different sentiment, where
you know God, or Jesusspecifically said you know, go,
he's a chosen instrument of mine, I will show him how much he
must suffer for me.
(10:18):
And so it's like, while Paulhas the temporary peace of not
going through anything, he'salso got the ultimate
understanding of what hisministry is going to look like.
He too is going to go throughgreat judgment.
So you just see this as himtrusting God with exactly with
his current, presentcircumstance.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
God showing protection, both from the Jews
and from the Romans.
I mean not just.
I mean he didn't, he used whatdid you say?
Galio, galio?
Yeah, used Galio and hisindifference.
But then also, they stillwanted to beat somebody, but
(11:01):
they still didn't beat Paul.
They beat the other guy.
Yeah, so God's protection wasthere, a beating was coming, but
it wasn't coming to Paul,because God promised.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, and we see Galio really wanted nothing to
do with this, like to the pointwhere you guys can do what you
want and they do, and he saysGalio paid no attention to any
of this like whatever you guyswant to do, I don't care, as
long as it doesn't get in my wayof my business and make me look
bad.
Do what you want.
So there was still aselfishness with galeo, but he
(11:36):
definitely did not care what thejews did.
Just don't.
Don't involve me.
This isn't something I'm tojudge.
I'm not part of your thing.
Do it on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well, it shows that he's been perhaps learning by
experience, because any timeGod's people have been
persecuted here, what happens?
It continues to grow and tospread.
And so perhaps maybe he'slooked back and he's seen these
things coming upon the world forthe last couple of years, last
couple of decades, and he'sthinking it's just better if I
(12:09):
don't get involved.
Maybe he's thinking to protecthimself in the matter, you know,
to stop from there being abigger uprising.
You never know what hisintention was.
Either way, he didn't want toget involved.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, and I mean mean it's.
It's interesting, you know,obviously a vicious crime would,
would, uh, want, he would wantto address if something really
bad happened.
But he even says, if it were amatter of wrongdoing, yeah, okay
, so you're telling me paul istrying to persuade you into who
the true God is.
(12:45):
All right, good for you.
Guys Like he's just like whydoes that?
Why does that even concern me?
Like that's just a conversationyou're having.
Who cares?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, that's an in-house conversation for you
guys.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Right, and so why would a conversation about who
the true God is have to do withpunishment?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And the accusation was even a little more vague
than that.
It wasn't that he waspersuading people to serve a
different God or the true God.
It was that he was persuadingthem to serve God in a different
way than they're used to.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, this man persuades men to worship God
contrary to the law.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Which, again with jesus, right pilots like I don't
really see any thing that he'sdone wrong.
He's claiming to be somebodyyou know, king of the jews.
Um, okay, like I don't, youknow, this is something between
you guys and and not that hasnothing to do with me, has
nothing to do with rome, and soit's just a very similar
(13:45):
situation, though Paul is notJesus.
Paul is under the protectionhere, though, of this vision
that he's been given, but, yeah,what an interesting.
And then how Pilate wrestleswith it and Galileo's like I'm
not even going there, I'm noteven going to deal with this.
So very, very interesting howthere's been some learning on
how to deal with the Jewishpeople over time, based on
(14:08):
Jesus's crucifixion.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, chance, jump in here.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Oh yeah, I was thinking kind of the cool thing
I'm looking at is how Paul has apromise from the Lord and a
very clear promise of protection, and so how that would build so
much confidence in hispresentation of this as well as
like he has no fear because he'strusting in the Lord.
It's like God said, I won't beharmed, so I'm not going to.
So just the boldness that Paulcould have in this moment.
(14:35):
And I also look at verse 14,when Paul was about to open his
mouth, and I feel like that'skind of the Lord in a way
protecting him too, like whoa.
And then we see Gileos like stepin, and so there was a part of
like how he's in the situation,wanting to be a part of it, but
(14:56):
then also recognizing, okay, Ican have boldness, but also I
want to make sure I'm followingthe Lord's lead and how to go
about these things.
And so, yeah, I think that'ssomething that I like to see
about Paul is like he always hadboldness and everyone's like oh
, I want to be like Paul andlike facing persecution and
facing the enemy like face toface, like going to the
synagogues and arguing withpeople and doing it in a loving
way, but a way that isglorifying to the Lord and in
(15:18):
this moment, having a promise ofthat because I think sometimes
I know for myself like I want tohave crazy boldness, but I have
doubt.
But in a moment like thisthere'd be absolutely no doubt
because you have a perfectpromise right in front of you.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So I think that's a great point that you make, to
the extent that boldness for theLord doesn't mean blindness,
right, and I'm not talking aboutblind faith, I'm, you know.
I'm saying like boldness for theLord doesn't look like you just
rushing headlong intoeverything without discernment.
Instead, it looks likepracticing discernment before
(15:53):
you're bold, right, there's atime and a place to be, you know
, harmless as a dove, you know,but also shrewd as a serpent,
right?
And so that's like some healthydisplay in Paul's life of
self-restraint.
And so, rather than it beingabout his boldness, it's
(16:14):
actually about God's promise,and so you see him practicing
trust in that promise throughoutthis passage.
So maybe, going back toSosthenes, though I feel bad for
that guy, right, he's likelythe individual who was the
leader of the synagogue, alsoknown as Crispus in verse 8.
And so, just going back, youknow, many people think I
(16:37):
shouldn't say many people,that's generically said it seems
like the cross cross referencespoint to the fact that this is
the same guy who was the leaderof the synagogue and got saved
earlier.
Since they can't put it on Paulnow, you know, the scapegoat of
Sosthenes bummer, and we knowthat christmas was baptized yeah
(16:59):
right, first christians chapterone, um only
two though, but then he said therest of you I didn't baptize
anyone except those two so paulstayed 18 months in corinth and
only baptized two people yeah,so is paul's ministry not very
good no, and in fact I thinkmaybe as a conversation that
(17:19):
helps us, as we're dealing withthe argument of 1 Corinthians 1,
where Paul says you know, someof you are saying I'm of Apollos
and I'm of Peter, and I'm ofPaul and I'm of Jesus, as if
there's distinctions here of whowe're following, and as if
there's distinctions here of whowe're following.
And that's where he then saysI'm so thankful I only baptized
(17:40):
two of you, because his wholepoint was I'm thankful I didn't
baptize you to the extent thatyou would be led astray to
following Apollos or Peter or me, right, and so instead it's
like the number one emphasis ofhis ministry was Do you remember
that I came to preach Jesus toyou?
(18:01):
That was the main point.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So yeah, so where's, where's Paul going now?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Well, verse 18 says Paul, having remained many days
longer, took leave of thebrethren and put out to sea for
Syria, and with him werePriscilla and Aquila, priscilla
being the wife, aquila being thehusband.
In Centuria he had his hair cutfor he was keeping a vow.
They came to Ephesus and heleft them there.
(18:32):
Now he himself entered thesynagogue and reasoned with the
Jews.
When they asked him to stay fora longer time, he did not
consent, but, taking leave ofthem and saying I will return to
you again if God wills, he setsail from Ephesus.
When he had landed at Caesarea,he went up and greeted the
(18:55):
church and went down to Antioch,meaning, as we talked before
the recording of this episode,he went back to home base, went
back to Antioch.
So a couple of things arehappening in verses 18 through
22.
He said sail for Syria and lookwho's with him Priscilla and
Aquila.
Right, I think this is a greatexample of the fact that when
(19:18):
Paul leads someone to the Lordand when Paul does ministry with
individuals, he's willing toequip them and bring them along
and teach them how to doministry.
You know one and the same, he'smultiplying himself, which I
think is a great principle inministry.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, and there's clear trust here with them.
Because they come to Ephesusand he does his normal thing,
goes to the synagogue, reasonswith them.
They ask him to stay and hegoes no, I don't need to stay, I
need to move on.
But what happens?
Who stays?
Aquila and Priscilla.
I don't need to stay here.
You got them, I got trustedpeople here.
(19:58):
I am going to move on.
Yeah, and so Paul isn't goingaround planting churches of Paul
.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
He cares about the gospel being preached, the truth
, and then he equips and trainspeople to continue in those
places to lead, lead the churchand to continue to do the same.
And so Paul is not necessarilya pastor per se, that would stay
in a local church.
I'm not saying he isn't ashepherd of sorts right in his
(20:28):
own right, but he is amissionary and a church planter.
I'm in, I'm sharing the gospel,I'm going to equip people and
then I'm going to leave.
Does sometimes he spend time ina lot of places Corinth, a year
and a half, ephesus, at leastthis first time, not very long.
But he's equipping people,sending them, and we have all
the evidence of the NewTestament of that, with Titus
and Timothy and many others.
(20:49):
And so I just think that showsthe trust Paul has with these
two individuals, this couple, tostart the church, to continue
to disciple and do the work.
And he moves on and then goesback to home base, for whatever
reason.
I think home base is probablyalways good for rest and
(21:10):
checking in on the church andseeing how they're doing and
being able to just see friendlyfaces, people who you've
invested in, and I think Paul'sable to do that here, though he
won't stay there long.
He'll move on, as it says inverse 23.
After spending some time there,he departed and went to the next
place, going to the region ofGalatia and Aegea, strengthening
all the disciples.
So he continues to go place toplace, encouraging.
(21:35):
That's what his letters do too.
They both equip and encourage.
They also point out things theyshouldn't be doing.
But he seems to be like I'mgoing to go around and I'm going
to have this role of justensuring that the churches are
building on Christ and healthy,and so because when I'm gone,
when I move on, they need thatand that's what he's making sure
is happening in all thoseplaces.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
They need that and that's what he's making sure is
happening in all those places.
You know, you do see a lotrelationally, a lot of
connections that that continue,that kind of bolstered you know,
paul's, paul's ministrycontinuing on.
I think this is an important.
Early on we were thinking thiswas more of a transitional, but
it really there is a lot herethis was more of a transitional,
(22:20):
but there is a lot hererelationally.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know, as you're looking at the placement of
names in chapter 18, verse 2, itsays that Aquila's name was
first and then Priscilla second.
But when it comes to the workof the ministry, priscilla's
name is put first and Aquila'sname is put second, and some
scholars have argued thatPriscilla was likely the
stronger Bible teacher actuallyout of the two, and so that's
(22:45):
why the fronting of her namecomes first.
And then, of course, you seethem elsewhere in the New
Testament as well, mentioned afew times.
But it's thought that she maybehad more of like an astute
theological understanding orcommunicative prowess, or
(23:05):
whatever you want to say, thanto her husband, aquila.
Not that she was a pastor of anysorts, but the idea is that
Paul is willing to send thismarried couple, you know, on a
ministry assignment, and wedon't often like think of that,
aside from our belief that onlymen should be pastors.
(23:26):
The fact of the matter is isthat sometimes we downplay women
in the ministry when they'reincredibly, incredibly valuable,
and so we just we have toreally be careful versus like
this unhealthy, non-biblicalbias which says, like women
can't be involved.
We're just the two biggestareas where the roles of men and
(23:47):
women I think should beprotected is one from a church
governance standpoint and twofrom a marital standpoint, in
that the man is still the leaderof the home, but that doesn't
mean that a woman and a mancan't have deferring gifts and
women can't be in ministry andcan't even teach other women or
things of that nature.
(24:07):
So I'm taking really like aside subtopic from this passage,
but I think it's prettyinteresting personally.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It makes me think back to the issue of
responsibility.
We're talking about women inministry or women teaching.
You know, christ is the head ofthe man and the man is the head
of the woman, yes, and is incharge.
So responsibility ultimatelyfalls.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
No matter whose fault it is in my home, I am
responsible for the outcome.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And in the church it's the same way, and we have
men in leadership.
They are responsible, but wealso have women who teach in
children's education and invarious ways and disciple.
But it makes me think back tothat, not to bring that back up
(25:02):
again unintentionally, but theSosthenes issue the fact that he
was the leader of the synagogue, since Paul was found innocent
before Galileo.
But who was responsible?
The leader of the synagogue?
So since he's been found, well,we're still going to beat you
(25:25):
because you let him talk youknow, and so it's the same thing
, like if we, you know, if thereare, there are times and places
where there are women, you know, in ministry, who who have
certain gifts and abilities andskills, and and who who do lead,
but it is under the leadershipof the church.
I have my responsibilities inthe church, but ultimately
(25:48):
Dakota is responsible, which iswhy I'm a little bit loose
sometimes, because I'm like,well, you know, it falls on
Dakota, so I can do what I wantDavid's a loose cannon.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
The other thing with Priscilla, at least what we know
, she doesn't come from a Jewishbackground.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
She marries a Jew yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
And they leave Rome because the Jews get kicked out
of Rome.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
And so her character.
I think whatever Paul has seenin her and in this marriage,
this willingness to one marrysomebody not of her background,
to one marry somebody not of herbackground she's most likely
from a wealthy like family tothen marry him and then move
with him in tent make yeah.
Like there was something aboutPriscilla that Paul saw a love
(26:39):
for God.
Even if they didn't know Jesusyet, she was still married a
Jewish man.
There seemed to be a love forGod Even if they didn't know
Jesus yet she was still marrieda Jewish man.
There seemed to be a love forGod, a willingness to humble
herself, a willingness to workhard.
In the midst of this time shedidn't run back home and say
I'll divorce my Jewish husbandand run back to my family.
No, she went with him and thisrelationship was built to a
(27:01):
point where there was, I think,some serious trust there.
She knew what suffering meantfor God and I think Paul always
appreciated somebody who waswilling to suffer for God.
That seemed to be a Mark.
Speaking of Mark, mark didn'twant to suffer at a time and he
(27:22):
was like I'm not unwilling totravel with you, I'm unwilling
to do ministry with you rightnow.
Priscilla and Aquila, on theother hand, you guys know
exactly what it means to bepersecuted, to suffer, to be
pushed out, and you're acceptingChrist as your savior and
they've grown over that year anda half in Corinth and now let's
go.
Let's go, let's live sin, let'sget out there and sin them.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Dare I say it sounds a little bit like Ruth.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, she, being a Gentile, not a true Israelite,
leaves home with Naomi and shegoes and God uses her graciously
in his plan to ultimately bringabout a grandson David who'd
bring about the Savior Jesus.
I mean, yeah, you candefinitely see parallels there.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Chance got anything to add.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
You guys hit a lot.
But yeah, no, I think that's.
I kind of look back at my kindof upbringing in the church and
then the college ministry I wasa part of and I saw that played
out very well where the guy whomentored me was very smart, very
steeped in the word and hiswife was as well and so and she
would bring up different thingsfrom the Greek and from Hebrew
(28:31):
and you're just like man.
So she was like very well read,knew the word, and to see the
way that she discipled youngwomen in that same way, to also
be brought up in the church andbe brought up under the word and
studying and being very, veryequipped to do ministry.
And I think that sometimes wecan have this idea of like, oh
well, the husband does all thehard stuff and the wife, like,
(28:51):
takes care of the kids was likeman.
Our wives can be brought upjust as well and can spend time
in the word and study the deeperthings of scripture and know
original languages and stufflike that.
So I see that it's a very coolpicture that Paul is saying here
too, of like in the, the kindof the background of it is that
man, that women do have a placeof ministry within other women,
(29:12):
like we've been going through inTitus and how that looks as
well.
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And I'll brag on my wife when, when we first got
married, she really had nohistory in the church.
You know a young believer.
You know I went to Biblecollege, was a pastor when we
were dating.
Not sure why she started datingme.
She's like you tricked me.
You didn't tell me what being apastor's wife meant, but she
(29:39):
really took ownership ofstudying God's word, of wanting
to know what I was talking about.
I'd have conversations withDakota and other buddies of mine
.
Caleb drew on theology andthings and she'd be like what
are you guys saying?
I don't even know the wordsyou're saying.
Um and so.
But she took it upon herself toread God's word, to study books,
(30:01):
to, uh.
We went to a Bible study weeklyat my aunt and uncle's house,
uh, but she has gotten to thatpoint now where now she's going
to teach, yeah and so, uh, it'ssuch a cool thing to watch and
to to see her faithfulness inhard circumstances and just to
dig into the word and to grow,uh, so that's been awesome to
(30:23):
see.
So I can see Priscilla kind ofjust digging in learning,
growing, taking on that, thatrole, whatever God has for her,
uh, and willing to leave home,willing to go somewhere new and
different, um, and to not runback to maybe what's comfortable
, but to move forward withChrist.
And what a deep relationshipthen she had with her husband
(30:46):
and with Paul, and now they'rein Ephesus doing ministry.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
When I first got saved, pastor Mike Ferris was
the first man to ever discipleme.
He was a senior pastor at theFirst Baptist Church in Tonopah,
nevada.
He was a senior pastor at theFirst Baptist Church in Tonopah
Nevada and his wife, mary Ferris.
Pastor Mike passed away aboutfive years ago unexpectedly and
then Mary now lives with hermother in Florida and I remember
(31:14):
Mary.
Whenever they'd have me over totheir home they'd feed me a
meal, they'd talk about Jesus,we'd open our Bibles.
Like Mary was very strong inthe Lord and she knew the
Scripture really well.
And reflecting years later Ithink to myself you know, mary
Ferris was just as impactful inmy life in the beginning there
(31:39):
as Mike Ferris was.
Mike Ferris maybe had more ofthe public, you know, view of
discipling me, but nobody reallyunderstands how pivotal Mary
was in my life too, as sheinvited me in their home and
showed me hospitality and showedme what a healthy, god-honoring
(32:05):
, pastoral marriage all thatlooked like.
I mean there were so manydynamics that I learned and they
were my first introductionreally to the faith in a deep
way.
And so you know to this day,mary Farris, thank you so much.
If you ever end up watchingthis episode, love you and miss
you very much, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, and I think you mentioned earlier that, as
women are teaching other women,but they're also teaching
children.
Well, who's amongst thechildren?
The future men of the body ofChrist?
I have great influence in myfamily of women who are faithful
, who helped raise me my greatgrandmas two of them who love
(32:41):
Jesus was a huge influence on myfather.
I mean women have an extremeinfluence, who are faithful to
God, in teaching and equippingyoung men up.
Not that saying that fathersshouldn't be there and men
shouldn't equip young boyseither, but what I'm saying is
women play a pivotal role inhelping young men grow up in the
Lord when they see women whoare faithful and then they know
(33:04):
man, I want a wife like that.
I want a wife that's going toencourage me, that's going to be
there for me in these times,who's going to be strong in the
Lord.
And so, yeah, women play such apivotal role in the church, in
the discipleship of children,and those children will become
the future leaders of the church.
And so, yeah, it is a big dealthat Priscilla is here and we're
(33:25):
seeing her do ministryalongside her husband, because
it shows us they did it togetheras a family.
And the family was important.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Yeah, something I didn't realize going into
college ministry was like thatimportant aspect of it.
I didn't think that my marriagerelationship would be put on
such display as it was, because,like coming up at Baker and
doing stuff there, we'd realizethat the number of young women
that were like hey, we're sograteful that we get to see
Kylie and you both in ministrytogether pursuing this and they
(33:54):
get to see how we treat oneanother and how Kylie leads and
does different things in thewomen's ministry and how I do
different things with the menand the same way the young men
there are looking at ourrelationship and saying this is
what a godly wife looks like andso that whole part of Kylie
being steeped in the word isproducing that, I guess, essence
you could say of relationshipin front of other young
(34:16):
believers.
So I think that's very, verycool to see and we get to watch.
In the college ministryatmosphere that I didn't think
was a big deal until I was in itand I was like, oh, our
marriage matters and like theway that.
I lead, Kylie matters and howothers see that, especially
those younger men and women too.
So amen.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I'm going to begin my response with an anecdote from
a movie the Big Fat GreekWedding.
Good one yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Good job, david.
Where most of the charactersare nick or nicky, we've got
lion king my big fat greekwedding.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
This is a unique episode what's your favorite
movies guys, the daughter wantsto take college classes, and the
mom was like this is how we doit.
We're gonna need to, this ishow we're gonna.
Your dad has to make thisdecision, but this is how he's
going to make it.
But anyways, the line that sayswell, the husband might be the
head of the house, but I'm theneck and I decide which way the
(35:11):
head turns.
But I think there was a nextlevel in my thought that I
thought that illustrated bestbecause I think we're still not
quite getting to the importanceof our wives, and that is not
that you guys don't believe this, but I haven't touched on the
fact that God has put ustogether, that we have united as
(35:33):
one before the Lord, and Goduses the unique gifts of our
wives uniquely in our leadershipin every area.
I mean, my wife sets mestraight on things and she
understands that I'm theauthority and she often has um,
you know, she's submitted tothat, even though she disagree.
But she tells me and I I oftenbeen a little more timid in
(35:56):
things, or I or I err on theside of grace and other things
where audrey will tell me andthe Lord uses her to set me
straight and I think together, Imean I think our wives, every
wife does that if we, you know,are listening.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
But they're very important, and not just in our
homes but in our leadership aswell, you know, because I
process things with Audrey asI'm making decisions and she
tells me, gives me her opinionsand her perspective according to
her discernment.
It often sways, you know,depending on where the Lord's
leading, but very important.
I love you, Audra.
(36:32):
I hope this gets me somebrownie points.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
There we go.
Good job, david.
I do think, as we start toclose up this passage, that
while, yes, priscilla and Aquilahave been pivotal to Paul's
ministry and you're going to seethem mentioned elsewhere in the
New Testament, I think you'regoing to see them again in
Romans.
It is interesting we've got totalk about this.
At the end of verse 18 it sayshe had his hair cut for he was
(36:59):
keeping a vow.
Kyle, you just walked throughthis passage during a men's
Bible study across the street atCorner Market 6 am Thursday
mornings.
That's the plug for thatministry, by the way.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah men's Bible study 6 am Be there.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Be there.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Yeah, we talked about this vow a little bit, Because
I think it's important that werecognize what Paul is doing.
What we see here is we knowthat in the book of Numbers I
believe it's chapter 6, we seethe Nazarite vow being talked
about, which has to do withgrowing out your hair, kind of
(37:34):
to a state of likeridiculousness, Kind of like a
setting yourself apart, Like whyis?
Your hair so long man.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Samson practice.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, and soul was doing that.
Part of that vow was also to dowith, uh, abstaining from
anything off the vine, grapes,wine, um, you know, any products
of any kind from from the vine,and so, um, he had been doing
this during his time in cor atleast, because here he cuts his
hair.
That means he's ending the vow,that the vow is now over, and
so that is something Paul waspracticing.
Now, that was a very Jewishthing for Paul to practice
(38:10):
Absolutely, and so this helps ussee that Paul was never
anti-Jewish.
We read the book of Acts.
He's going into these towns,he's going into synagogues and
he's preaching Christ in thesynagogues through the
scriptures.
He's not going in there becausehe hates Jews, like he doesn't
hate the traditions, he doesn'thate what's in the law, he
(38:34):
doesn't hate any of those thingscopies his Messiah, who is
Jewish, who goes to the Jewsfirst, before the Gentiles, to
show them in the scriptures, toreason with them, because he
loves them so much.
And so Paul still practicessome Jewish things.
Right, the law, like we saidbefore this podcast, the law was
(38:55):
supposed to show the grace ofGod.
It was meant for us to live itin our hearts and to understand
that we can't live out God's lawperfectly and that we need the
grace of God through faith, andPaul is doing that here, and so
following these Jewishtraditions or things in the law.
Paul didn't necessarily fullystop doing those things, because
(39:17):
they were still ways to honorGod, to set himself apart, to
show himself holy before people.
Though it was not his own, doingthat saved him.
It was Christ, it's the gospel,and so that's something that he
was doing here, and I find thatreally important that we don't
view the Jewish people and theircustoms as rubbish or as
(39:39):
something that should bedisregarded.
Paul didn't disregard it and hecontinued to live in that way.
He was a Jew to the Jews, aGreek to the Greeks, and he
continued to show people whoChrist was through, even through
those different cultures, andso he still practiced some of
these things, and so I thinkthat was okay.
(40:01):
It doesn't say it wasn't okayhere.
God clearly blessed him withprotection in Corinth, and he
chose to show the people hisdedication to God through an
external means, though he nevertalked about salvation through
external means.
It was always being born again,transformed through Christ,
through faith alone, and so,yeah, I think here it really
(40:28):
does help us view the Jewishpeople differently and how Paul
viewed the Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, I think this one sentence here within a verse
is like an example for us thatthe law was not the problem.
The law was delivered untoMoses from God via angels.
It was like the glory forIsrael.
They were to follow it becauseit was the very instruction and
(40:51):
direction God wanted them totake as a nation.
And so the problem was neverthe law.
And in fact, for us who areChristians today, we are still
to follow the law to the extentthat we follow the principles of
the law.
Ceremonially speaking, no,we're not offering up sacrifices
anymore, but we do worship theultimate sacrifice, who is
(41:15):
Christ, and so nothing.
Jesus said I didn't come toabolish the law, I came to
fulfill it.
Jesus said I didn't come toabolish the law, I came to
fulfill it.
And so we as Christians, likewe've got to be careful that
we're not neglecting the law,neglecting the reading of the
law, neglecting the OldTestament.
You know what's his name, thepreacher in Atlanta Ah, I'm just
(41:38):
like blanking right now becauseit's the morning.
Anyways, he says we shouldunhitch ourselves from, not
Charles Stanley, his son, andyStanley.
Andy Stanley has said you knowwe should, as Christians,
unhitch ourselves from the OldTestament.
We should be New TestamentChristians.
What blasphemy, what heresythat kind of statement is that
(41:59):
you should remove yourself fromthe Old Testament.
And so he.
You got it wrong, andy Stanley.
Sorry to say you're a falseteacher, but as believers, you
know, we need to live in a placewhere we see the law, the First
Testament, as that which pointsus to Christ and then gives us
(42:20):
the standard of living oncewe're in the Spirit.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Well, and you know, if you're thinking the New
Testament is the only one thatwe're supposed to listen to,
like, just don't listen to Actsthen Right.
Because what did Paul do thewhole time?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Reason with him in the Scriptures.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, which was the First Testament, the.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
First Testament.
And so you, you really have togo far off base.
To say what God gave beforeJesus came is somehow irrelevant
.
No, it actually proves howrelevant Jesus is and it proves
prophecy.
Speaker 4 (42:53):
It proves so many other things, and the law is
what shaped every believer thatwe see in the new Testament.
And so for us to look back andsay, oh man, the old Testament
is something that we should getrid of and that we should not
look at it's.
It's pretty silly to think thatwe look up to these men in the
new testament, how they livetheir lives, how they followed
the lord, but yet they were allshaped as children from
everything we have in the oldtestament well, and technically
(43:15):
the gospels still fall within,yeah, the old testament.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
It does Everything before Jesus' resurrection.
So you might as well get rid ofthat.
So you might as well get rid ofthat.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
So it's a weird place to sit, and so I think it's
really good for us to recognizethat that's not biblical, right,
and if it's not biblical, thenwe need to throw it out.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
The New Testament canon wasn't completed until the
last scriptures of John theApostle were written.
If you think about it like, howdo we know that the New
Testament canon was coming to aclose?
Well, when the last livingapostle out of the twelve, when
he died, then you don't have anymore scripture.
And so you know, the one wholived the longest was John, and
(44:01):
so there's argument as towhether he wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd
John or Revelation 1st, or whichcame in front, but nevertheless
those were the latest NewTestament scriptures and so we
can't even have the completionof the New Testament written
Word of God inspired by the HolySpirit, until you get to John's
last writings, until you get toJohn's last writings.
(44:21):
And so then what do you do withthe whole first generation of
believers from Pentecost, allthe way, you know, until John's
death?
They likely had some gospelsthat were being passed around.
They had Paul's letters, butit's not like every single newly
planted church had all 27 booksof the New Testament.
That's just not true.
(44:42):
Maybe they had more lettersfrom the apostles that weren't
counted as inspired scriptureand stuff like that, but
nevertheless the scripture theyprimarily had at first was the
First Testament.
So when Andy Stanley says youknow, detach yourself from the
Old Testament.
He's arguing against firstgeneration Christians and the
only word they had from the verystart.
He's arguing againstfirst-generation Christians and
(45:02):
the only word they had from thevery start.
Not that they didn't have moreafterwards, but you're arguing
against what the firstgeneration of the church held in
their possession.
And so it's just, it's bad.
He's got an agenda, you know,to preach the values of the
world, and that's why he'stelling people to neglect the
Word of God.
And so, unfortunately, ifyou're to preach the values of
the world and that's why he'stelling people to neglect the
(45:22):
Word of God, and so,unfortunately, if you're
listening to Andy Stanley, wedidn't mean for this segment on
the episode to become about him.
But Paul's pretty clear to callout false teachers when they are
one, and so he's a falseteacher.
He can't help you.
Stop watching his stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Sorry, but I'm not sorry, I'm not sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
You know when somebody teaches something
unbiblical.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
It needs to be called out because you're leading
people astray.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
And we need to make sure that in any of the
arguments for the early churchor for scripture, the canon,
archaeology, history, you wantthe earliest representation of
the thing that you're studying.
And the earliest representationof the church is the book of
Acts.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
So if you're going to throw out the Old Testament,
you got to throw out the book ofActs, because that's what they
studied, the gospel messagewhich came through the apostles,
and then the old testament.
So so it's really importantthat we don't go down that
rabbit hole of dismissingscripture because oh, that's old
(46:31):
, we don't need it.
That was for jewish people orwhatever weird perspective you
want to have.
No, it's for god's people.
It's how god revealed himselfto, to us.
It's special revelation, it'shis way of saying here's who I
am and this is how I want you tolive and follow me.
And so we can't ignore themajority of this book because
(46:51):
some guy andy stanley got itwrong.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah, for the sake of time, I don't think my comment
was you can comment but it'sokay, jump in brother I mean,
just just as we weigh truthagainst scripture it's our
balance, right, um, we weigh itagainst, uh, the new testament,
against the gospels, againstwhat, um, the spirit has
inspired in there.
(47:14):
But this is what the the oldtestament scriptures is what
they were weighing it againstand what they were arguing with.
When paul went to thesynagogues, he reasoned with
them in the Scriptures.
And so we're reasoning andthere's a layer to it.
Jesus said I've come not toabolish the law but to fulfill
it.
And in that fulfillment andfollowing Christ, we're still
(47:34):
following the law, but as wefollow Christ and we don't make
sacrifices anymore you made thatcomment but we're living the
sacrifice.
We are therefore livingsacrifices who have died with
christ, and our life is thatsacrifice as we live with jesus.
It's almost like jesus was thejew and we're jewish and as much
(47:55):
as you know jesus was, we'refollowing him, but, you know, as
gentiles we're following him,but as Gentiles, we're not
called to become Jewish.
We're Christians, we followChrist.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Amen, christian, yeah , christ, christ follower, yeah.
So I think the next episode youknow.
Obviously we learned here thatPaul is going back to the home
base in Antioch and he beginshis third missionary journey in
verses 23 to 28 to finishchapter 18.
So next time.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yeah, we'll be introduced to Apollos next time.
Yeah, that's a big I don't wantto say character.
He's a person, apollos, theperson, the man who's going to
also have a great reputation forpreaching the gospel.
So so, yeah, thank you all forlistening to the be disciples
podcast.
We're excited to be in our newoffices as we continue to just
(48:48):
study the book of Acts.
Thank you for joining us.
Hopefully we'll get some moreon a regular basis.
We've made lots of transitionsrecently with the office and
just moving around, and so it'sgood to be back talking over
scripture with you guys andbeing able to share it with you
all.
Have a blessed week.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your
hosts Kyle Morris, dakota Smith,david Glavin and Chance
Holleran.
This is episode number 115, andwe are studying the book of
Acts and we'll be in chapter 18today.
Good morning guys.
How's everybody doing Doingreally good, good, solid, solid
18 today.
Good morning guys.
How's everybody doing Doingreally good, good, solid, solid.
I like that response Solid FirmIn Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Right, it's a Monday morning, but I was thinking
yesterday was a great day atchurch, had a lot of fun, so
there's a lot of interactionwith God's people.
And, yeah, sometimes Mondaysare you have like that
exhausting feeling.
But it's a good exhaustion.
It's like, yeah, that was worththe, that was worth all the
(00:53):
preparation for, that was worthgiving everything to the Lord
and then waking up and saying,all right, let's, let's do it
again this week.
So Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I agree, yeah, and I think after the service, second
service, especially peoplestayed and talked for a long
time.
They did and but the sermon youknow took a break from Matthew
and was in Isaiah 40.
I think that just spurred onsome some good conversation
about God's grace and what he'sdoing and that he's in control,
(01:24):
he's sovereign, he's great, andI think that reminded and
encouraged people of who God isin the darkest times or in times
where you just don't understandwhat God's doing.
But he does, he knows what he'sdoing, so that was an
encouraging sermon.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, it was the three questions that we asked
were does God desire to deliver?
Can he deliver?
Will he deliver?
And that passage of Isaiah 40is so classic.
I just feel like the people'shearts and minds were redirected
to the Lord more specifically,for where we're at as a
congregation and it was fun topreach, it was an honor to be a
(02:05):
part of those things and evenafter the first service some
people stayed behind before theywent over to breakfast and,
like one thing that I have beenwatching in our church is a
willingness to stay after and totalk, a willingness to continue
on with conversations whenpeople leave right away.
You know you neglectrelationships and I've just been
(02:27):
noticing that people enjoyhanging around.
That's a really good sign forour church.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, and also, if you notice, if you're watching
this on YouTube, we're in adifferent location.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, we got these bookshelves behind us and we're
actually in my office, my newoffice, and we all have moved
downtown Ottawa.
We're on main and fourth, aboveCrown Realty, and we all have
our offices here, individualoffices, whereas before we were
sharing one, and so we've gottenmore space.
(02:59):
We're excited to have that toone, work together as a team, be
in the same place a little moreoften, uh, but also we're
across the street from thecoffee shop corner market, uh,
we can counsel people.
It just gives us that, uh, moreavailability and space to do
more ministry, including thepodcast, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Chance doesn't have an office but he was eyeballing
a closet.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We've got a closet and a foyer, yeah, office, but
he was eyeballing a closet.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We've got a closet and a foyer, yeah, just so you
know, dakota and I started offin a little copy room, closet
back to back, and uh, so nowwe've we've grown up a little
bit and this is not anexaggeration.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It was so small.
Our chairs would bump into eachother as we got up till they go
to the bathroom or something.
Yeah, yeah, it was tiny, humblebeginning.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, good job, yeah now, now I can sit in my office
with nobody touching my chair.
Yeah, yeah, good, all right,come touch your chair every now
and then, just to do it, just tokick it.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, yeah, remember this, yeah don't forget what you
, where you came from somemufasa stuff stuff.
Remember who you are.
Where'd that come from?
I don't know, good old.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Lion King reference.
Alright, so we're going tocontinue in the book of Acts,
but let's pray, guys, and we'regoing to continue to follow Paul
on his journey, as he's been inCorinth.
So let's pray, father, just aswe have conversation over your
word.
Lord, be with us, work throughus, encourage us, grow us.
(04:35):
Just allow us to continue toread your word and enjoy reading
your word.
Reading your word isn't a chore.
It's something that allows usto get to know you more, the
work that you've done, yourcharacter, everything about you,
lord.
So just, we pray that we wouldall fall in love with you more
(04:59):
and more and that all those whoare listening would do the same
that reading the Bible, knowingmore about who you are, would be
just a constant pursuit.
Because, lord, you first lovedus and we just want to continue
to fall more in love with you.
And so, through your word,through discipleship, through
(05:20):
fellowship with believers, lord,we continue to see you work.
So we thank you, lord, inJesus' name, Amen.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Amen.
Well, chapter 18, verses 1through 11, is what we walked
through in our last episode.
Paul has left Athens, he's goneto Corinth.
He's seen some conversionsthere.
He waited for Silas and Timothyto show up so that he could
move on from tent making todevoting himself completely to
the Word of God.
And then I think if there'sanything that we should really
(05:50):
remember, it's verses 9 and 10.
The Lord said to Paul in thenight by a vision do not be
afraid any longer, but go onspeaking and do not be silent,
for I am with you and no manwill attack you in order to harm
you, for I have many people inthis city.
Then verse 11 says he was therefor 18 months teaching the word
(06:11):
of God.
And so that's like the settingby which we come into today's
passage, which is likely verses12, all the way to 22,.
Maybe more, maybe less.
So I'm going to read verses 12through 22, and then we'll kind
of break it up in differentsections.
Here it says but while Galileowas proconsul of Achaia, which
(06:32):
is the region of Corinth, theJews, with one accord, rose up
against Paul and brought himbefore the judgment seat.
Now, keep in mind, paul hasGod's promise that he just gave
to him in the previous verses.
So the Jews rose up with oneaccord against Paul and brought
him before the judgment seat,saying this man persuades men to
(07:17):
worship God contrary to the law.
But when Paul was about to openhis mouth, galio said to the
Jews if it were a matter ofwrong or a vicious crime to the
synagogue and began beating himin front of the judgment seat.
But Galileo was not concernedabout any of these things.
Actually, I think that's a goodplace to land before we keep
(07:38):
going.
So here Paul is put on trialand we have a bit of conflict
before us between Galio reallythe judge Paul and then the Jews
who rise up against him.
So let's break this down.
What are the principles that wecan derive or take out of this
(07:59):
short passage?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well, first, why is he being brought before the
pro-council?
What's?
What's the whole purpose?
Uh well, the, the statementmade here is this man is
persuading people to worship god, contrary to the law.
Well, we're talking about notthe law as in, like roman law,
we're talking about Jewish law,and so we see here that Galileo
(08:27):
clearly does not care aboutJewish law.
I don't care about the namesand the law and the prophets and
whatever.
That's your problem, that'syour deal.
He did nothing of a viciouscrime.
But what I find interesting inthis whole section is the one
who is usually talking is Paul.
(08:47):
He doesn't talk.
One time in this section wedon't hear him say anything.
No defense, no defense, and soI find that very interesting, as
if, like he's, like nothing'sgoing to happen to me, god told
me.
So I'm just going to sit hereand see how this works out.
It seems like he didn't, hedidn't need to say anything and,
(09:08):
um, I mean we even see Jesus inhis trial being pretty quiet at
times, not saying anything, um,and so there's this.
There's this kind of justsimilarities, though some
contrast, but similarities toJesus being put on trial, paul
here being put on trial by theJews going to Roman leadership
(09:31):
or government to try to get theRomans to take care of their
dirty business.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I do find it interesting and then Chance and
David chime in on this but I dofind it interesting that Jesus
was willing to trust the Fatheron his worst day, no matter what
happened to him, because he wasconfident the Father would
raise him from the dead right.
And so, whether or not Pauldoes go through something in
(09:57):
this specific moment, he'spromised nobody's going to harm
you.
But we see a previous promisefrom the Lord, especially right
after Paul got saved, where yousee a different sentiment, where
you know God, or Jesusspecifically said you know, go,
he's a chosen instrument of mine, I will show him how much he
must suffer for me.
(10:18):
And so it's like, while Paulhas the temporary peace of not
going through anything, he'salso got the ultimate
understanding of what hisministry is going to look like.
He too is going to go throughgreat judgment.
So you just see this as himtrusting God with exactly with
his current, presentcircumstance.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
God showing protection, both from the Jews
and from the Romans.
I mean not just.
I mean he didn't, he used whatdid you say?
Galio, galio?
Yeah, used Galio and hisindifference.
But then also, they stillwanted to beat somebody, but
(11:01):
they still didn't beat Paul.
They beat the other guy.
Yeah, so God's protection wasthere, a beating was coming, but
it wasn't coming to Paul,because God promised.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, and we see Galio really wanted nothing to
do with this, like to the pointwhere you guys can do what you
want and they do, and he saysGalio paid no attention to any
of this like whatever you guyswant to do, I don't care, as
long as it doesn't get in my wayof my business and make me look
bad.
Do what you want.
So there was still aselfishness with galeo, but he
(11:36):
definitely did not care what thejews did.
Just don't.
Don't involve me.
This isn't something I'm tojudge.
I'm not part of your thing.
Do it on your own.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well, it shows that he's been perhaps learning by
experience, because any timeGod's people have been
persecuted here, what happens?
It continues to grow and tospread.
And so perhaps maybe he'slooked back and he's seen these
things coming upon the world forthe last couple of years, last
couple of decades, and he'sthinking it's just better if I
(12:09):
don't get involved.
Maybe he's thinking to protecthimself in the matter, you know,
to stop from there being abigger uprising.
You never know what hisintention was.
Either way, he didn't want toget involved.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, and I mean mean it's.
It's interesting, you know,obviously a vicious crime would,
would, uh, want, he would wantto address if something really
bad happened.
But he even says, if it were amatter of wrongdoing, yeah, okay
, so you're telling me paul istrying to persuade you into who
the true God is.
(12:45):
All right, good for you.
Guys Like he's just like whydoes that?
Why does that even concern me?
Like that's just a conversationyou're having.
Who cares?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, that's an in-house conversation for you
guys.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Right, and so why would a conversation about who
the true God is have to do withpunishment?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And the accusation was even a little more vague
than that.
It wasn't that he waspersuading people to serve a
different God or the true God.
It was that he was persuadingthem to serve God in a different
way than they're used to.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, this man persuades men to worship God
contrary to the law.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Which, again with jesus, right pilots like I don't
really see any thing that he'sdone wrong.
He's claiming to be somebodyyou know, king of the jews.
Um, okay, like I don't, youknow, this is something between
you guys and and not that hasnothing to do with me, has
nothing to do with rome, and soit's just a very similar
(13:45):
situation, though Paul is notJesus.
Paul is under the protectionhere, though, of this vision
that he's been given, but, yeah,what an interesting.
And then how Pilate wrestleswith it and Galileo's like I'm
not even going there, I'm noteven going to deal with this.
So very, very interesting howthere's been some learning on
how to deal with the Jewishpeople over time, based on
(14:08):
Jesus's crucifixion.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, chance, jump in here.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Oh yeah, I was thinking kind of the cool thing
I'm looking at is how Paul has apromise from the Lord and a
very clear promise of protection, and so how that would build so
much confidence in hispresentation of this as well as
like he has no fear because he'strusting in the Lord.
It's like God said, I won't beharmed, so I'm not going to.
So just the boldness that Paulcould have in this moment.
(14:35):
And I also look at verse 14,when Paul was about to open his
mouth, and I feel like that'skind of the Lord in a way
protecting him too, like whoa.
And then we see Gileos like stepin, and so there was a part of
like how he's in the situation,wanting to be a part of it, but
(14:56):
then also recognizing, okay, Ican have boldness, but also I
want to make sure I'm followingthe Lord's lead and how to go
about these things.
And so, yeah, I think that'ssomething that I like to see
about Paul is like he always hadboldness and everyone's like oh
, I want to be like Paul andlike facing persecution and
facing the enemy like face toface, like going to the
synagogues and arguing withpeople and doing it in a loving
way, but a way that isglorifying to the Lord and in
(15:18):
this moment, having a promise ofthat because I think sometimes
I know for myself like I want tohave crazy boldness, but I have
doubt.
But in a moment like thisthere'd be absolutely no doubt
because you have a perfectpromise right in front of you.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So I think that's a great point that you make, to
the extent that boldness for theLord doesn't mean blindness,
right, and I'm not talking aboutblind faith, I'm, you know.
I'm saying like boldness for theLord doesn't look like you just
rushing headlong intoeverything without discernment.
Instead, it looks likepracticing discernment before
(15:53):
you're bold, right, there's atime and a place to be, you know
, harmless as a dove, you know,but also shrewd as a serpent,
right?
And so that's like some healthydisplay in Paul's life of
self-restraint.
And so, rather than it beingabout his boldness, it's
(16:14):
actually about God's promise,and so you see him practicing
trust in that promise throughoutthis passage.
So maybe, going back toSosthenes, though I feel bad for
that guy, right, he's likelythe individual who was the
leader of the synagogue, alsoknown as Crispus in verse 8.
And so, just going back, youknow, many people think I
(16:37):
shouldn't say many people,that's generically said it seems
like the cross cross referencespoint to the fact that this is
the same guy who was the leaderof the synagogue and got saved
earlier.
Since they can't put it on Paulnow, you know, the scapegoat of
Sosthenes bummer, and we knowthat christmas was baptized yeah
(16:59):
right, first christians chapterone, um only
two though, but then he said therest of you I didn't baptize
anyone except those two so paulstayed 18 months in corinth and
only baptized two people yeah,so is paul's ministry not very
good no, and in fact I thinkmaybe as a conversation that
(17:19):
helps us, as we're dealing withthe argument of 1 Corinthians 1,
where Paul says you know, someof you are saying I'm of Apollos
and I'm of Peter, and I'm ofPaul and I'm of Jesus, as if
there's distinctions here of whowe're following, and as if
there's distinctions here of whowe're following.
And that's where he then saysI'm so thankful I only baptized
(17:40):
two of you, because his wholepoint was I'm thankful I didn't
baptize you to the extent thatyou would be led astray to
following Apollos or Peter or me, right, and so instead it's
like the number one emphasis ofhis ministry was Do you remember
that I came to preach Jesus toyou?
(18:01):
That was the main point.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So yeah, so where's, where's Paul going now?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Well, verse 18 says Paul, having remained many days
longer, took leave of thebrethren and put out to sea for
Syria, and with him werePriscilla and Aquila, priscilla
being the wife, aquila being thehusband.
In Centuria he had his hair cutfor he was keeping a vow.
They came to Ephesus and heleft them there.
(18:32):
Now he himself entered thesynagogue and reasoned with the
Jews.
When they asked him to stay fora longer time, he did not
consent, but, taking leave ofthem and saying I will return to
you again if God wills, he setsail from Ephesus.
When he had landed at Caesarea,he went up and greeted the
(18:55):
church and went down to Antioch,meaning, as we talked before
the recording of this episode,he went back to home base, went
back to Antioch.
So a couple of things arehappening in verses 18 through
22.
He said sail for Syria and lookwho's with him Priscilla and
Aquila.
Right, I think this is a greatexample of the fact that when
(19:18):
Paul leads someone to the Lordand when Paul does ministry with
individuals, he's willing toequip them and bring them along
and teach them how to doministry.
You know one and the same, he'smultiplying himself, which I
think is a great principle inministry.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, and there's clear trust here with them.
Because they come to Ephesusand he does his normal thing,
goes to the synagogue, reasonswith them.
They ask him to stay and hegoes no, I don't need to stay, I
need to move on.
But what happens?
Who stays?
Aquila and Priscilla.
I don't need to stay here.
You got them, I got trustedpeople here.
(19:58):
I am going to move on.
Yeah, and so Paul isn't goingaround planting churches of Paul
.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
He cares about the gospel being preached, the truth
, and then he equips and trainspeople to continue in those
places to lead, lead the churchand to continue to do the same.
And so Paul is not necessarilya pastor per se, that would stay
in a local church.
I'm not saying he isn't ashepherd of sorts right in his
(20:28):
own right, but he is amissionary and a church planter.
I'm in, I'm sharing the gospel,I'm going to equip people and
then I'm going to leave.
Does sometimes he spend time ina lot of places Corinth, a year
and a half, ephesus, at leastthis first time, not very long.
But he's equipping people,sending them, and we have all
the evidence of the NewTestament of that, with Titus
and Timothy and many others.
(20:49):
And so I just think that showsthe trust Paul has with these
two individuals, this couple, tostart the church, to continue
to disciple and do the work.
And he moves on and then goesback to home base, for whatever
reason.
I think home base is probablyalways good for rest and
(21:10):
checking in on the church andseeing how they're doing and
being able to just see friendlyfaces, people who you've
invested in, and I think Paul'sable to do that here, though he
won't stay there long.
He'll move on, as it says inverse 23.
After spending some time there,he departed and went to the next
place, going to the region ofGalatia and Aegea, strengthening
all the disciples.
So he continues to go place toplace, encouraging.
(21:35):
That's what his letters do too.
They both equip and encourage.
They also point out things theyshouldn't be doing.
But he seems to be like I'mgoing to go around and I'm going
to have this role of justensuring that the churches are
building on Christ and healthy,and so because when I'm gone,
when I move on, they need thatand that's what he's making sure
is happening in all thoseplaces.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
They need that and that's what he's making sure is
happening in all those places.
You know, you do see a lotrelationally, a lot of
connections that that continue,that kind of bolstered you know,
paul's, paul's ministrycontinuing on.
I think this is an important.
Early on we were thinking thiswas more of a transitional, but
it really there is a lot herethis was more of a transitional,
(22:20):
but there is a lot hererelationally.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know, as you're looking at the placement of
names in chapter 18, verse 2, itsays that Aquila's name was
first and then Priscilla second.
But when it comes to the workof the ministry, priscilla's
name is put first and Aquila'sname is put second, and some
scholars have argued thatPriscilla was likely the
stronger Bible teacher actuallyout of the two, and so that's
(22:45):
why the fronting of her namecomes first.
And then, of course, you seethem elsewhere in the New
Testament as well, mentioned afew times.
But it's thought that she maybehad more of like an astute
theological understanding orcommunicative prowess, or
(23:05):
whatever you want to say, thanto her husband, aquila.
Not that she was a pastor of anysorts, but the idea is that
Paul is willing to send thismarried couple, you know, on a
ministry assignment, and wedon't often like think of that,
aside from our belief that onlymen should be pastors.
(23:26):
The fact of the matter is isthat sometimes we downplay women
in the ministry when they'reincredibly, incredibly valuable,
and so we just we have toreally be careful versus like
this unhealthy, non-biblicalbias which says, like women
can't be involved.
We're just the two biggestareas where the roles of men and
(23:47):
women I think should beprotected is one from a church
governance standpoint and twofrom a marital standpoint, in
that the man is still the leaderof the home, but that doesn't
mean that a woman and a mancan't have deferring gifts and
women can't be in ministry andcan't even teach other women or
things of that nature.
(24:07):
So I'm taking really like aside subtopic from this passage,
but I think it's prettyinteresting personally.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It makes me think back to the issue of
responsibility.
We're talking about women inministry or women teaching.
You know, christ is the head ofthe man and the man is the head
of the woman, yes, and is incharge.
So responsibility ultimatelyfalls.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
No matter whose fault it is in my home, I am
responsible for the outcome.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And in the church it's the same way, and we have
men in leadership.
They are responsible, but wealso have women who teach in
children's education and invarious ways and disciple.
But it makes me think back tothat, not to bring that back up
(25:02):
again unintentionally, but theSosthenes issue the fact that he
was the leader of the synagogue, since Paul was found innocent
before Galileo.
But who was responsible?
The leader of the synagogue?
So since he's been found, well,we're still going to beat you
(25:25):
because you let him talk youknow, and so it's the same thing
, like if we, you know, if thereare, there are times and places
where there are women, you know, in ministry, who who have
certain gifts and abilities andskills, and and who who do lead,
but it is under the leadershipof the church.
I have my responsibilities inthe church, but ultimately
(25:48):
Dakota is responsible, which iswhy I'm a little bit loose
sometimes, because I'm like,well, you know, it falls on
Dakota, so I can do what I wantDavid's a loose cannon.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
The other thing with Priscilla, at least what we know
, she doesn't come from a Jewishbackground.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
She marries a Jew yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
And they leave Rome because the Jews get kicked out
of Rome.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
And so her character.
I think whatever Paul has seenin her and in this marriage,
this willingness to one marrysomebody not of her background,
to one marry somebody not of herbackground she's most likely
from a wealthy like family tothen marry him and then move
with him in tent make yeah.
Like there was something aboutPriscilla that Paul saw a love
(26:39):
for God.
Even if they didn't know Jesusyet, she was still married a
Jewish man.
There seemed to be a love forGod Even if they didn't know
Jesus yet she was still marrieda Jewish man.
There seemed to be a love forGod, a willingness to humble
herself, a willingness to workhard.
In the midst of this time shedidn't run back home and say
I'll divorce my Jewish husbandand run back to my family.
No, she went with him and thisrelationship was built to a
(27:01):
point where there was, I think,some serious trust there.
She knew what suffering meantfor God and I think Paul always
appreciated somebody who waswilling to suffer for God.
That seemed to be a Mark.
Speaking of Mark, mark didn'twant to suffer at a time and he
(27:22):
was like I'm not unwilling totravel with you, I'm unwilling
to do ministry with you rightnow.
Priscilla and Aquila, on theother hand, you guys know
exactly what it means to bepersecuted, to suffer, to be
pushed out, and you're acceptingChrist as your savior and
they've grown over that year anda half in Corinth and now let's
go.
Let's go, let's live sin, let'sget out there and sin them.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Dare I say it sounds a little bit like Ruth.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, she, being a Gentile, not a true Israelite,
leaves home with Naomi and shegoes and God uses her graciously
in his plan to ultimately bringabout a grandson David who'd
bring about the Savior Jesus.
I mean, yeah, you candefinitely see parallels there.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Chance got anything to add.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
You guys hit a lot.
But yeah, no, I think that's.
I kind of look back at my kindof upbringing in the church and
then the college ministry I wasa part of and I saw that played
out very well where the guy whomentored me was very smart, very
steeped in the word and hiswife was as well and so and she
would bring up different thingsfrom the Greek and from Hebrew
(28:31):
and you're just like man.
So she was like very well read,knew the word, and to see the
way that she discipled youngwomen in that same way, to also
be brought up in the church andbe brought up under the word and
studying and being very, veryequipped to do ministry.
And I think that sometimes wecan have this idea of like, oh
well, the husband does all thehard stuff and the wife, like,
(28:51):
takes care of the kids was likeman.
Our wives can be brought upjust as well and can spend time
in the word and study the deeperthings of scripture and know
original languages and stufflike that.
So I see that it's a very coolpicture that Paul is saying here
too, of like in the, the kindof the background of it is that
man, that women do have a placeof ministry within other women,
(29:12):
like we've been going through inTitus and how that looks as
well.
So yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And I'll brag on my wife when, when we first got
married, she really had nohistory in the church.
You know a young believer.
You know I went to Biblecollege, was a pastor when we
were dating.
Not sure why she started datingme.
She's like you tricked me.
You didn't tell me what being apastor's wife meant, but she
(29:39):
really took ownership ofstudying God's word, of wanting
to know what I was talking about.
I'd have conversations withDakota and other buddies of mine
.
Caleb drew on theology andthings and she'd be like what
are you guys saying?
I don't even know the wordsyou're saying.
Um and so.
But she took it upon herself toread God's word, to study books,
(30:01):
to, uh.
We went to a Bible study weeklyat my aunt and uncle's house,
uh, but she has gotten to thatpoint now where now she's going
to teach, yeah and so, uh, it'ssuch a cool thing to watch and
to to see her faithfulness inhard circumstances and just to
dig into the word and to grow,uh, so that's been awesome to
(30:23):
see.
So I can see Priscilla kind ofjust digging in learning,
growing, taking on that, thatrole, whatever God has for her,
uh, and willing to leave home,willing to go somewhere new and
different, um, and to not runback to maybe what's comfortable
, but to move forward withChrist.
And what a deep relationshipthen she had with her husband
(30:46):
and with Paul, and now they'rein Ephesus doing ministry.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
When I first got saved, pastor Mike Ferris was
the first man to ever discipleme.
He was a senior pastor at theFirst Baptist Church in Tonopah,
nevada.
He was a senior pastor at theFirst Baptist Church in Tonopah
Nevada and his wife, mary Ferris.
Pastor Mike passed away aboutfive years ago unexpectedly and
then Mary now lives with hermother in Florida and I remember
(31:14):
Mary.
Whenever they'd have me over totheir home they'd feed me a
meal, they'd talk about Jesus,we'd open our Bibles.
Like Mary was very strong inthe Lord and she knew the
Scripture really well.
And reflecting years later Ithink to myself you know, mary
Ferris was just as impactful inmy life in the beginning there
(31:39):
as Mike Ferris was.
Mike Ferris maybe had more ofthe public, you know, view of
discipling me, but nobody reallyunderstands how pivotal Mary
was in my life too, as sheinvited me in their home and
showed me hospitality and showedme what a healthy, god-honoring
(32:05):
, pastoral marriage all thatlooked like.
I mean there were so manydynamics that I learned and they
were my first introductionreally to the faith in a deep
way.
And so you know to this day,mary Farris, thank you so much.
If you ever end up watchingthis episode, love you and miss
you very much, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, and I think you mentioned earlier that, as
women are teaching other women,but they're also teaching
children.
Well, who's amongst thechildren?
The future men of the body ofChrist?
I have great influence in myfamily of women who are faithful
, who helped raise me my greatgrandmas two of them who love
(32:41):
Jesus was a huge influence on myfather.
I mean women have an extremeinfluence, who are faithful to
God, in teaching and equippingyoung men up.
Not that saying that fathersshouldn't be there and men
shouldn't equip young boyseither, but what I'm saying is
women play a pivotal role inhelping young men grow up in the
Lord when they see women whoare faithful and then they know
(33:04):
man, I want a wife like that.
I want a wife that's going toencourage me, that's going to be
there for me in these times,who's going to be strong in the
Lord.
And so, yeah, women play such apivotal role in the church, in
the discipleship of children,and those children will become
the future leaders of the church.
And so, yeah, it is a big dealthat Priscilla is here and we're
(33:25):
seeing her do ministryalongside her husband, because
it shows us they did it togetheras a family.
And the family was important.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Yeah, something I didn't realize going into
college ministry was like thatimportant aspect of it.
I didn't think that my marriagerelationship would be put on
such display as it was, because,like coming up at Baker and
doing stuff there, we'd realizethat the number of young women
that were like hey, we're sograteful that we get to see
Kylie and you both in ministrytogether pursuing this and they
(33:54):
get to see how we treat oneanother and how Kylie leads and
does different things in thewomen's ministry and how I do
different things with the menand the same way the young men
there are looking at ourrelationship and saying this is
what a godly wife looks like andso that whole part of Kylie
being steeped in the word isproducing that, I guess, essence
you could say of relationshipin front of other young
(34:16):
believers.
So I think that's very, verycool to see and we get to watch.
In the college ministryatmosphere that I didn't think
was a big deal until I was in itand I was like, oh, our
marriage matters and like theway that.
I lead, Kylie matters and howothers see that, especially
those younger men and women too.
So amen.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I'm going to begin my response with an anecdote from
a movie the Big Fat GreekWedding.
Good one yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Good job, david.
Where most of the charactersare nick or nicky, we've got
lion king my big fat greekwedding.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
This is a unique episode what's your favorite
movies guys, the daughter wantsto take college classes, and the
mom was like this is how we doit.
We're gonna need to, this ishow we're gonna.
Your dad has to make thisdecision, but this is how he's
going to make it.
But anyways, the line that sayswell, the husband might be the
head of the house, but I'm theneck and I decide which way the
(35:11):
head turns.
But I think there was a nextlevel in my thought that I
thought that illustrated bestbecause I think we're still not
quite getting to the importanceof our wives, and that is not
that you guys don't believe this, but I haven't touched on the
fact that God has put ustogether, that we have united as
(35:33):
one before the Lord, and Goduses the unique gifts of our
wives uniquely in our leadershipin every area.
I mean, my wife sets mestraight on things and she
understands that I'm theauthority and she often has um,
you know, she's submitted tothat, even though she disagree.
But she tells me and I I oftenbeen a little more timid in
(35:56):
things, or I or I err on theside of grace and other things
where audrey will tell me andthe Lord uses her to set me
straight and I think together, Imean I think our wives, every
wife does that if we, you know,are listening.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
But they're very important, and not just in our
homes but in our leadership aswell, you know, because I
process things with Audrey asI'm making decisions and she
tells me, gives me her opinionsand her perspective according to
her discernment.
It often sways, you know,depending on where the Lord's
leading, but very important.
I love you, Audra.
(36:32):
I hope this gets me somebrownie points.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
There we go.
Good job, david.
I do think, as we start toclose up this passage, that
while, yes, priscilla and Aquilahave been pivotal to Paul's
ministry and you're going to seethem mentioned elsewhere in the
New Testament, I think you'regoing to see them again in
Romans.
It is interesting we've got totalk about this.
At the end of verse 18 it sayshe had his hair cut for he was
(36:59):
keeping a vow.
Kyle, you just walked throughthis passage during a men's
Bible study across the street atCorner Market 6 am Thursday
mornings.
That's the plug for thatministry, by the way.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah men's Bible study 6 am Be there.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Be there.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Yeah, we talked about this vow a little bit, Because
I think it's important that werecognize what Paul is doing.
What we see here is we knowthat in the book of Numbers I
believe it's chapter 6, we seethe Nazarite vow being talked
about, which has to do withgrowing out your hair, kind of
(37:34):
to a state of likeridiculousness, Kind of like a
setting yourself apart, Like whyis?
Your hair so long man.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Samson practice.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, and soul was doing that.
Part of that vow was also to dowith, uh, abstaining from
anything off the vine, grapes,wine, um, you know, any products
of any kind from from the vine,and so, um, he had been doing
this during his time in cor atleast, because here he cuts his
hair.
That means he's ending the vow,that the vow is now over, and
so that is something Paul waspracticing.
Now, that was a very Jewishthing for Paul to practice
(38:10):
Absolutely, and so this helps ussee that Paul was never
anti-Jewish.
We read the book of Acts.
He's going into these towns,he's going into synagogues and
he's preaching Christ in thesynagogues through the
scriptures.
He's not going in there becausehe hates Jews, like he doesn't
hate the traditions, he doesn'thate what's in the law, he
(38:34):
doesn't hate any of those thingscopies his Messiah, who is
Jewish, who goes to the Jewsfirst, before the Gentiles, to
show them in the scriptures, toreason with them, because he
loves them so much.
And so Paul still practicessome Jewish things.
Right, the law, like we saidbefore this podcast, the law was
(38:55):
supposed to show the grace ofGod.
It was meant for us to live itin our hearts and to understand
that we can't live out God's lawperfectly and that we need the
grace of God through faith, andPaul is doing that here, and so
following these Jewishtraditions or things in the law.
Paul didn't necessarily fullystop doing those things, because
(39:17):
they were still ways to honorGod, to set himself apart, to
show himself holy before people.
Though it was not his own, doingthat saved him.
It was Christ, it's the gospel,and so that's something that he
was doing here, and I find thatreally important that we don't
view the Jewish people and theircustoms as rubbish or as
(39:39):
something that should bedisregarded.
Paul didn't disregard it and hecontinued to live in that way.
He was a Jew to the Jews, aGreek to the Greeks, and he
continued to show people whoChrist was through, even through
those different cultures, andso he still practiced some of
these things, and so I thinkthat was okay.
(40:01):
It doesn't say it wasn't okayhere.
God clearly blessed him withprotection in Corinth, and he
chose to show the people hisdedication to God through an
external means, though he nevertalked about salvation through
external means.
It was always being born again,transformed through Christ,
through faith alone, and so,yeah, I think here it really
(40:28):
does help us view the Jewishpeople differently and how Paul
viewed the Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, I think this one sentence here within a verse
is like an example for us thatthe law was not the problem.
The law was delivered untoMoses from God via angels.
It was like the glory forIsrael.
They were to follow it becauseit was the very instruction and
(40:51):
direction God wanted them totake as a nation.
And so the problem was neverthe law.
And in fact, for us who areChristians today, we are still
to follow the law to the extentthat we follow the principles of
the law.
Ceremonially speaking, no,we're not offering up sacrifices
anymore, but we do worship theultimate sacrifice, who is
(41:15):
Christ, and so nothing.
Jesus said I didn't come toabolish the law, I came to
fulfill it.
Jesus said I didn't come toabolish the law, I came to
fulfill it.
And so we as Christians, likewe've got to be careful that
we're not neglecting the law,neglecting the reading of the
law, neglecting the OldTestament.
You know what's his name, thepreacher in Atlanta Ah, I'm just
(41:38):
like blanking right now becauseit's the morning.
Anyways, he says we shouldunhitch ourselves from, not
Charles Stanley, his son, andyStanley.
Andy Stanley has said you knowwe should, as Christians,
unhitch ourselves from the OldTestament.
We should be New TestamentChristians.
What blasphemy, what heresythat kind of statement is that
(41:59):
you should remove yourself fromthe Old Testament.
And so he.
You got it wrong, andy Stanley.
Sorry to say you're a falseteacher, but as believers, you
know, we need to live in a placewhere we see the law, the First
Testament, as that which pointsus to Christ and then gives us
(42:20):
the standard of living oncewe're in the Spirit.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Well, and you know, if you're thinking the New
Testament is the only one thatwe're supposed to listen to,
like, just don't listen to Actsthen Right.
Because what did Paul do thewhole time?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Reason with him in the Scriptures.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, which was the First Testament, the.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
First Testament.
And so you, you really have togo far off base.
To say what God gave beforeJesus came is somehow irrelevant
.
No, it actually proves howrelevant Jesus is and it proves
prophecy.
Speaker 4 (42:53):
It proves so many other things, and the law is
what shaped every believer thatwe see in the new Testament.
And so for us to look back andsay, oh man, the old Testament
is something that we should getrid of and that we should not
look at it's.
It's pretty silly to think thatwe look up to these men in the
new testament, how they livetheir lives, how they followed
the lord, but yet they were allshaped as children from
everything we have in the oldtestament well, and technically
(43:15):
the gospels still fall within,yeah, the old testament.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
It does Everything before Jesus' resurrection.
So you might as well get rid ofthat.
So you might as well get rid ofthat.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
So it's a weird place to sit, and so I think it's
really good for us to recognizethat that's not biblical, right,
and if it's not biblical, thenwe need to throw it out.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
The New Testament canon wasn't completed until the
last scriptures of John theApostle were written.
If you think about it like, howdo we know that the New
Testament canon was coming to aclose?
Well, when the last livingapostle out of the twelve, when
he died, then you don't have anymore scripture.
And so you know, the one wholived the longest was John, and
(44:01):
so there's argument as towhether he wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd
John or Revelation 1st, or whichcame in front, but nevertheless
those were the latest NewTestament scriptures and so we
can't even have the completionof the New Testament written
Word of God inspired by the HolySpirit, until you get to John's
last writings, until you get toJohn's last writings.
(44:21):
And so then what do you do withthe whole first generation of
believers from Pentecost, allthe way, you know, until John's
death?
They likely had some gospelsthat were being passed around.
They had Paul's letters, butit's not like every single newly
planted church had all 27 booksof the New Testament.
That's just not true.
(44:42):
Maybe they had more lettersfrom the apostles that weren't
counted as inspired scriptureand stuff like that, but
nevertheless the scripture theyprimarily had at first was the
First Testament.
So when Andy Stanley says youknow, detach yourself from the
Old Testament.
He's arguing against firstgeneration Christians and the
only word they had from the verystart.
He's arguing againstfirst-generation Christians and
(45:02):
the only word they had from thevery start.
Not that they didn't have moreafterwards, but you're arguing
against what the firstgeneration of the church held in
their possession.
And so it's just, it's bad.
He's got an agenda, you know,to preach the values of the
world, and that's why he'stelling people to neglect the
Word of God.
And so, unfortunately, ifyou're to preach the values of
the world and that's why he'stelling people to neglect the
(45:22):
Word of God, and so,unfortunately, if you're
listening to Andy Stanley, wedidn't mean for this segment on
the episode to become about him.
But Paul's pretty clear to callout false teachers when they are
one, and so he's a falseteacher.
He can't help you.
Stop watching his stuff.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Sorry, but I'm not sorry, I'm not sorry.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
You know when somebody teaches something
unbiblical.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
It needs to be called out because you're leading
people astray.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
And we need to make sure that in any of the
arguments for the early churchor for scripture, the canon,
archaeology, history, you wantthe earliest representation of
the thing that you're studying.
And the earliest representationof the church is the book of
Acts.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
So if you're going to throw out the Old Testament,
you got to throw out the book ofActs, because that's what they
studied, the gospel messagewhich came through the apostles,
and then the old testament.
So so it's really importantthat we don't go down that
rabbit hole of dismissingscripture because oh, that's old
(46:31):
, we don't need it.
That was for jewish people orwhatever weird perspective you
want to have.
No, it's for god's people.
It's how god revealed himselfto, to us.
It's special revelation, it'shis way of saying here's who I
am and this is how I want you tolive and follow me.
And so we can't ignore themajority of this book because
(46:51):
some guy andy stanley got itwrong.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah, for the sake of time, I don't think my comment
was you can comment but it'sokay, jump in brother I mean,
just just as we weigh truthagainst scripture it's our
balance, right, um, we weigh itagainst, uh, the new testament,
against the gospels, againstwhat, um, the spirit has
inspired in there.
(47:14):
But this is what the the oldtestament scriptures is what
they were weighing it againstand what they were arguing with.
When paul went to thesynagogues, he reasoned with
them in the Scriptures.
And so we're reasoning andthere's a layer to it.
Jesus said I've come not toabolish the law but to fulfill
it.
And in that fulfillment andfollowing Christ, we're still
(47:34):
following the law, but as wefollow Christ and we don't make
sacrifices anymore you made thatcomment but we're living the
sacrifice.
We are therefore livingsacrifices who have died with
christ, and our life is thatsacrifice as we live with jesus.
It's almost like jesus was thejew and we're jewish and as much
(47:55):
as you know jesus was, we'refollowing him, but, you know, as
gentiles we're following him,but as Gentiles, we're not
called to become Jewish.
We're Christians, we followChrist.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Amen, christian, yeah , christ, christ follower, yeah.
So I think the next episode youknow.
Obviously we learned here thatPaul is going back to the home
base in Antioch and he beginshis third missionary journey in
verses 23 to 28 to finishchapter 18.
So next time.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yeah, we'll be introduced to Apollos next time.
Yeah, that's a big I don't wantto say character.
He's a person, apollos, theperson, the man who's going to
also have a great reputation forpreaching the gospel.
So so, yeah, thank you all forlistening to the be disciples
podcast.
We're excited to be in our newoffices as we continue to just
(48:48):
study the book of Acts.
Thank you for joining us.
Hopefully we'll get some moreon a regular basis.
We've made lots of transitionsrecently with the office and
just moving around, and so it'sgood to be back talking over
scripture with you guys andbeing able to share it with you
all.
Have a blessed week.
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