May 21, 2024 • 46 mins
Summary
In this episode, the hosts discuss the importance of spending time in the Word of God and being obedient to His calling. They highlight the example of Paul, who devoted himself completely to the Word and went where God led him. They also emphasize the need to prioritize the gospel and not be discouraged by rejection. The hosts share personal experiences of standing for the truth and the blessings that come from aligning with God's Word. They encourage listeners to make the Word of God the foundation of their lives and to trust in God's provision and guidance.
Takeaways
- Spending time in the Word of God and being obedient to His calling is crucial for our spiritual growth and effectiveness in ministry.
- When we prioritize the gospel and stand for the truth, God will bless and provide for us.
- Rejection should not discourage us, but rather motivate us to focus on those who are receptive to the gospel.
- The Word of God is the foundation of our faith and should be the guiding force in our lives.
- Trusting in God's provision and guidance enables us to overcome fear and boldly proclaim the truth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your
hosts Kyle Morris, dakota Smith,david Glavin, chance Pollard,
and this is episode number 114.
Dang, I don't know, I mightstop counting, it's just too
many.
But thank you all for joiningus today on the podcast we took
about.
I don't know, it's been aboutalmost a month since we had Dr
(00:32):
Jim Ball on the podcast.
A lot's been going on here atOttawa Bible Church, along just
within our individual lives, andso now we're back to getting
back into the podcast.
School's coming to an end,schedules are becoming a little
bit lighter, and so we'reexcited to getting back into the
podcast.
School's coming to an end,schedules are becoming a little
bit lighter, and so we'reexcited to get some more
episodes in.
Welcome to the podcast, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, it's good to be back on.
It's good to get things startedagain.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I mean you went on vacation, that was good,
spent some time with the family,chance and I.
We went to the Spurgeon LibraryConference, went and spend some
time with the family Chance andI.
We went to the Spurgeon LibraryConference, went and got
edumacated for a day for one day, and David has been doing all
kinds of youth thing.
He got rummage sale coming up,and so, man, there's still a lot
going on, even with the summer.
(01:17):
But there's a bit of a shiftwhich I'm excited about.
Some things come to an end,like Braves worship for the year
at the college college, butthen we get to pick up on other
things throughout the summer.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So a good change, a good shift yeah, I think we're
looking forward to a season ofrest in the summer, if you could
call it that maybe a rest from,you know, normal
responsibilities and andstepping into ministry without
that more rhythmicresponsibility.
There's still a ton to be done,so we'll still all be very busy
(01:49):
, but you know, to take a breakfrom the norm is good.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, rest is good.
Time in prayer is good.
If you're in the Ottawacommunity, we've got our prayer
night May 5th.
We do something called FirstSundays.
Most of those are prayermeetings.
We've got some other FirstSundays throughout the summer
that are going to be a littledifferent, about parenting and
marriage Just things to lookforward to.
So if you're in the communityhere in Ottawa and Franklin
County, we'd love to have youfor those events.
(02:15):
Just check out our website,OttawaBibleChurchcom.
But we are studying the book ofActs, which has been a lot of
fun to go through together tosee what Paul's doing, what the
church is doing, but ultimatelywhat God is doing, the Holy
Spirit.
How is the Holy Spirit moving?
How is the gospel being heardand presented?
Who is the gospel going to?
And even times where the HolySpirit says no, don't go there,
(02:37):
Paul, I want you to go somewhereelse, things like that.
And so we're picking up inchapter 18 today.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, let's pray and we'll dive right in Chance.
Do you want to pray for us?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus,
lord.
We thank you for thisopportunity just to sit around
and dive into your word andspread it to the people who hear
.
God, I just pray that you'lllead our discussion and our time
in the word today and thatthose who hear it will be lifted
up for your glory, lord, andfor your name.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Amen, amen.
So Acts, 18?
Acts 18.
Starting in verse 1,.
We'll just take it one chunk ata time.
I think a good goal would be togo to verse 22 today, but just
little bites at a time.
It says in verse 1, after thesethings, he left Athens and went
to Corinth, he being Paul, andhe found a Jew named Aquila, a
(03:28):
native of Pontus, havingrecently come from Italy with
his wife Priscilla.
Because Claudius had commandedall the Jews to leave Rome, he
came to them and because he wasof the same trade, he stayed
with them and they were workingfor by trade.
They were tent makers and hewas reasoning in the synagogue
every Sabbath and trying topersuade Jews and Greeks.
(03:48):
But when Silas and Timothy camedown from Macedonia, paul began
devoting himself completely tothe word, solemnly testifying to
the Jews that Jesus was theChrist.
I think verses 1-5 have enoughthere to kind of investigate.
(04:08):
So, guys, what are some thingsthat you see?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, Paul leaves Athens where he just had a
debate with the philosophicalminds of the day.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
He left Athens and went to Corinth.
And we get the letters toCorinth, which we know in the
context of Scripture, some ofthe issues that went on in
Corinth with the church anddifferent circumstances of why
Paul was there.
So we get a lot more details inthe letters about what is
actually happening.
But we also see Aquila andPriscilla in Paul's letters as
(04:44):
people who are faithful, who aretrusted, and so we have a
little bit of background.
Though he's just meeting themhere, we kind of get an idea of
who they are and therelationship that's built with
Paul.
So a little bit of a little bitof background.
We know that they're Jewishhere and that they come from
Italy because the Jews werekicked out of Rome.
(05:08):
That's a that's a pretty bigdeal, and so they went to
Corinth and that's where theyare and their tent makers and
they're working, and so we get alittle bit of background.
And then Paul, obviously, likehe normally does, goes to the
synagogues.
He goes there to persuade theJews and the Greeks about who
Jesus is.
And then we get a couple of hishelpers, silas and Timothy,
(05:30):
those he's discipling and whichallows him to get maybe more
intense.
Maybe he doesn't have to do asmuch work outside of the
synagogue now just focusing inon the Jews and the Greeks
knowing who Jesus is, and sothat gives us a little bit of
background.
Going into Corinth and what'sgoing on just within five verses
, yeah, I think the whole thingwith Claudius here.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
He commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.
I think that's like animportant historical marker.
Here again, the Jewish peopleare being persecuted and as a
result of this politicalpersecution, whatever that might
be it's almost like god,because if we're just familiar
with the context of the entirebook of acts, it seems like
(06:13):
whenever there's any type ofconflict, god is actually always
the one that's sovereignly,like, still in control
throughout those type of things,and so so look at what's
happening.
You have two individuals Aquila, he's the husband, priscilla,
she's the wife, and, as a resultof what's going on in the world
, they're being moved forministry, and maybe right now it
(06:37):
just says that they're tentmakers, but at the end of the
day, what's taking place intheir life seems to be utilized
by God At the end of the day,like what's taking place in
their life seems to be utilizedby God.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I think it's cool.
We can kind of look back onrecent times in the world and
what moved people recently Atleast.
Covid is a big one.
Yeah, there's something calledthe great shift, where people
maybe looked at their life andreprioritize things during that
time, you know, and startedfocusing in on what's most
important to them, and I thinkthat caused a lot of movement
(07:08):
and God used that movement forgreat things.
I mean, you know, I movedduring COVID to Kansas and so,
you know, god moved in mightyways in all people's lives on
where we should be and where weshould go.
And I think this is just anothercircumstance where God uses the
events of the time to movepeople where he wants them to be
, for his will, for his desires,purpose, and I think that's
(07:31):
awesome to see God moving.
Plus, luke we know writing thebook of Acts always gives us
historical markers because it istrue history and so any history
buffs out there.
If you're into that, luke andActs are great books to say look
, this is the timeline in whichthings happen, because Luke's
very detailed in that way.
But yeah, I love seeing Godmove and two people come and
(07:55):
they meet Paul in thecircumstance of them having to
leave somewhere that they calledhome, and and we're going to
see a church be planted becauseof it, and we're going to see a
church be planted because of it.
Yeah, what do you guys think?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Also gives a little bit of, maybe a hint of, why
Paul had a heart toward Rome.
He was headed toward Rome and ifPriscilla and Aquila were part
of his early influence, maybewhat he had heard from the
community there would have beenpart of that draw for him
(08:26):
Historically.
Just to kind of piggyback onwhat you guys were saying, the
the exodus of the Jared.
You know, god worked throughexile, through exodus, through
the diaspora, through thedispersion the Christian church
through, through the Jewishcommunity, and you see the
influences of the exile toBabylon, to all the various
(08:49):
places, even in preparation forJesus coming.
The influence of Israel in allthe various places drew people's
eyes to Jerusalem and to theJews, you know.
So they were looking out.
The wise men were probablyinfluenced by that and were
(09:10):
looking for various reasons.
And God, yeah, works today thesame way.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, absolutely Chance.
What do you think?
I know that you've movedrecently here to Ottawa.
You know you can definerecently how you must.
It's not like you came, youknow last month or yesterday, or
something but yeah, has godmoved in your life through the
events of the times?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
yeah, um, very much so.
Like kyle was talking about,like during covet, even like
kylie and I got married, wemoved away from all of our
family to texas and yet in thatin our early marriage, got to be
alone and form like what is ourlife of marriage and life
together going to look like nowand not having voices speak into
that as much as we would if wewere just surrounded by family
(09:53):
back home and being like, well,my family does this, your family
does that.
So it was kind of cool even inthat, in the midst of moving
away and doing that, to whatthat formed in us now and the
foundation we got to lay.
So that was a cool kind ofprovidence of the Lord in what
we thought would be maybe notthe most of fun things to do as
moving away, especially duringCOVID and the uncertainty of
(10:14):
that, and then actually movingback to Kansas not too long
after, about a year after and soand and those things.
The Lord had his hand in a lotof different areas as to leading
us places.
And then we get home and seedoors open perfectly to
ministries calling us to and towork and provision, and that's
why I love, here too, looking athow Paul is a tent maker by
(10:36):
trade and he finds other tentmakers and instead of being like
oh no, I'm here to plantchurches and do my thing, he's
like I'm going to go work and dosome stuff with them and take
this opportunity to get my handsdirty and also do ministry
alongside these guys together.
So I think that's encouragingto see and I love watching how
Paul continually does that wherehe's not just a guy.
That is kind of on the onetrack of this is what I'm
(10:58):
supposed to do.
I'm not going to go anywhereelse.
He's willing to go and work andmake some tents if he needs to.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, and I think maybe for our listeners there's
going to be at least a fractionof listeners who can identify
with this principle.
But notice that it doesn'treally say anything spiritual
about Aquila and Priscilla.
Like we only learn that theyare like deeply mature believers
because we see their names comeup later on in the New
(11:25):
Testament.
But here it still says thatAquila was a Jew, a native from
Pontus.
It speaks of his wife,priscilla.
It says that they've fled andbasically it says that they met
Paul because they had the sametrade.
So interestingly enough imaginethis the man who wrote half our
New Testament was a tent makerbefore he could devote himself
(11:48):
completely to the word of God inverse 5.
And that season in Paul's lifewhere he was confined and we all
know this tension right when itfelt like he was confined to
tent making, it was actuallyGod's will for him to be in that
place of tent making for aseason because it produced
Aquila and Priscilla.
So like I think so often whenwe are like stuck in the midst
(12:11):
of, ah, I'm doing the tentmaking thing, but I want to be
doing like my ideal ministry,like setting God's, like yeah,
but it's not just you I'mdeveloping.
It's who you're meeting with inthis time that I'm also getting
ready to send out.
It's who you're meeting with inthis time that I'm also getting
ready to send out.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So trying to say, like God, has purposes for, like
the development of our life andthe season that we're in.
Yeah, I mean, I spent I don'tknow, the first 12 years of
ministry with a different part,different full time job.
You, know, I didn't want to dothat.
You know, in my desire was notto work a separate full-time job
and do part-time pastoralministry.
It was to be full-time, youknow, and that took a really
(12:51):
that took 12 years to get to aplace, to where I could finally
get to that, get an opportunityto be full-time and even having
to move here with a part-timerole and another job to begin
with, to continue tent makingper se.
Um, you know that, just as partof the process, and I think, uh
, paul here, we know his, weknow how zealous paul is like,
(13:13):
yeah, ministry title or not,yeah, ministry like he's gonna
do ministry and he's like I'mgonna.
If I got a tent make, I'm gonnatent make and if that allows me
opportunity to spread the gospel, I'm gonna do it, even if I
don't like and it doesn't say hedidn't like it, but, knowing
Paul's personality, he probablywas just like I just want to be
in the word.
I don't want to do anythingelse, I just want to be in the
word and I want to teach peopleGod's word and I want them to
(13:33):
know Jesus and so, uh,definitely understand that
season.
I'm sure there's a lot of youout there that could be in that
same type of season and I wouldjust encourage all of you to be
patient, be prayerful and justkeep learning, even if you're
not in the ideal situation foryou.
Wait on God and he will provide, and just keep going.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And that's part of my story too.
I mean leading up to becomingcoming on staff here at the
church.
I worked three years inconstruction and a couple of
years in the oil field beforethat and led worship here for a
couple of years whilevolunteering.
Yeah, while working full timeand in another town, so I had a
(14:19):
drive, so I leave early in themorning, get home late at night
and, you know, serving in thechurch, and it just seemed like
you know for me my prayer wasLord, you know, if it be your
will, you know, whatever we did,what we could, but I always
felt myself wanting to spendmore time with family.
With Audrey and the kids wantedto spend more time in the church
(14:39):
doing more things, but we werevery limited and the Lord
answered that prayer in callingus here.
But there was a lot of patienceand a lot of prayer and just
really being content in wherethe Lord had me.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, I think maybe, on the flip side, sometimes this
passage can be used to lookdown.
I want to.
Maybe look down is too strong,but to bring an argument as to
say, like you know, he lookeddown is too strong.
But to bring an argument as tosay, like you know, pastors
don't need to be paid Pastors.
You know, like you know, I'veheard this argument before.
You know it would be wrong foryou to.
(15:12):
You know, seek full-timesupport.
You should be doing somethingelse as well.
And it's like I think you needto remember here that Paul did
that for a season.
He did that for a season.
But verse 5 shows us you knowhis true desire.
But when Silas and Timothy camedown from Macedonia meaning he
had more individuals to help himin the ministry Paul began
(15:35):
devoting himself completely tothe Word.
So this actually mirrors asituation we've already seen.
Is acts chapter six or seven, Iforget the chapter where
deacons were chosen.
The elders were the ones saying, hey, we need to choose deacons
to come and practically serveour people so that, so that we
(15:55):
can devote ourselves fully tothe word of god into prayer, and
so like there is a place to sayI'm doing this and this is a
noble task and a noble work, butyet in the same breath, if I
could be devoting myself fullyto the deliverance of God's word
, I'd rather be doing that.
You know so, like tent makingis a great thing, but in the
(16:17):
same breath, like it's not a anobligation.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, and Paul, we know is in his letters is going
to talk about receiving doublehonor, um, for for shepherding,
double honorarium, right To toreceive payment for the
full-time ministry that you aredoing.
Um, we also have Paul talkingabout the importance of those
called to certain giftings tothe apostles, the sent ones to
(16:43):
the evangelists, to theshepherds, there are called ones
that are supposed to spend timein the word to equip the church
to do the ministry, and that'san Ephesians.
And so we know that Paul, his,his goal here is spending time
with God in the word to equipTimothy, right First, second
Timothy we know all aboutTimothy's equipping and other
(17:05):
guys like Titus and and so onand so forth, so that they can
go reach more people.
So this idea of spending timein the word as a paid profession
, um, and, and having some sortof negative place to it, no, god
has called people to spend timebeing dedicated to his word so
(17:25):
that the body of christ can befed.
What does he tell peter?
Go right, feed my lambs.
Yeah, go tend my flock, go feedmy sheep.
Like peter is going to go andhe's going to do these things
for the Lord and that is goingto be his job, his task, his
calling, and it's an importantcalling but, and it needs to be
(17:46):
respected.
And so the opportunity comesfrom not to build tents.
He's going to take it becausehe knows that he's called to
something greater.
I mean Jesus literally met himon the road to Damascus and
called him to this somethinggreater.
I mean Jesus literally met himon the road to Damascus and
called him to this.
So you know, I'm sure he feelsa great pressure to ensure that
he's doing the tasks that Godgave him, and so he's going to
take that opportunity to be inthe word.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, it's hard for me to ignore the undertones of,
like, the humility and thehumble nature of Paul through
this too, knowing, like the pasthe had the life he was of.
Like I mean, he's like a peopleto boast, like I have all the
things to boast about and yethere he is making tents, just
doing the humble thing of I'mgoing to go in wherever God
calls me.
If there's ministry to be done,I'm willing to do that.
So I love seeing that in Paul'slife as knowing he has the
(18:30):
background, like he was underthe top dogs and he was up there
.
It's like debating in thesynagogues but yet taking
opportunity to make tents andthen produce, like that, the
disciples that come from thosehumble circumstances and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well, I mean, and Paul doesn't do this, he's not
random, right?
He's not just like I'll just gowherever the wind takes me.
Like Paul is prayerfully goingwhere God wants him to go.
We know he's listening to thespirit because we already know
he's been told not to gosomewhere right to Asia, to go
to Macedonia, and so we alreadyknow that in Acts.
(19:05):
And so we also know that Paulestablishes, uh, through the
Holy spirit, the guidelines, uhand principles for leadership.
Like Paul is very, very in tunewith the spirit and what's
going on and what he needs to do.
He's structured, he's buildingleaders, he's discipling, he's
evangelizing, and so we, we can,we can see all that Paul has
(19:27):
done and really his letters backall this up.
His letters allow us to seewhat Paul is truly doing with
the people and it gives him thatlegitimacy of what his his
intent with all of these people.
So it's awesome to watch as youread the book of Acts, to be
able to know the other lettersand go, wow, like this is so
cool.
Paul's building tents and he'sfocused on ministry.
(19:49):
Silas and Timothy come.
All right, that frees me up, itgives me some space.
I'm going to dedicate myself tothe word and I've got some
other guys helping me out andwe're going to keep moving
forward.
We're going to keep doing whatwe can to go spread the gospel
and so if tent making is it,let's do it.
If not, let's move to the nextplace and let's plant some more
churches.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I think maybe one last principle just to share
with our listeners would be thisthe text doesn't necessarily
explicitly say this, but I think, as a principle, just godly
wisdom would say don't despisethe season that you're in,
because God is working ontesting your stewardship.
(20:29):
And so, like one of the waysthat you know you're called to
full-time ministry is where youperpetually have this healthy,
healthy discontentment in yoursoul, where you're like you know
, I don't mind doing the tentmaking thing, I don't mind
humbling myself, I don't mindstewarding what would appear to
be a smaller responsibility.
(20:50):
But as you continue to take onthat mindset of humility, then
it's like the Lord is buildingin you this muscle of assurance
for when full-time stuff doescome about.
The Lord has basically provento you look, you desired this
all along.
I was just keeping that burningdesire within you.
So thank you for being faithfulwith this.
(21:10):
Now here you can have a higherresponsibility.
That was my story.
I was a high school Englishteacher, then a high school
Bible teacher, then I became anassociate pastor part-time, and
then you know all the way towhere I am here out of a Bible
and I feel like I'm doingexactly what the Lord wants me
to do and I don't know, liketruly, what else I would be
(21:31):
doing, and in fact, I don't eventhink I'm good at anything else
Not that I'm good at ministry,but I feel like depending on the
Lord for ministry that's theonly thing I'm passionate about,
so I don't even know what Iwould do.
Can't make tense Can't maketense.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
If your Domino's delivery shows up late, it's
because Dakota's delivering theDomino's.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah, you give good hugs.
I appreciate that and you'reencouraging.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Maybe I'll hold up a sign I give free hugs.
Make a living off that.
No, that's free.
Make a living off of free hugsAt least a dollar.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
That was the point of the joke.
You're not good at that.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I'm not even a good I can't even be a comedian if I
wanted to be so.
So Paul began verse fivedevoting himself completely to
the word, solemnly, like, withreverence, testifying to the
Jews that Jesus was the Christ,he was the Messiah Verse 6,.
But when they resisted andblasphemed, he shook out his
(22:23):
garments and said to them yourblood be on your own heads.
I am clean For now on I will goto the Gentiles Guys.
Just this little section hereseems to be a pivotal point in
Paul's ministry, not only by wayof his occupation, but by way
of his audience.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, I mean from this end of history.
We know Paul is the one whowent to the Gentiles.
Well, here's the moment inwhich he turns to the Gentiles.
He even says it out loud in aquote I'm, I'm not going to, I'm
done with you guys, you guysare not listening, and he's,
(23:03):
he's fed up with it,specifically to the Jews.
And so, like you, I can't evenimagine how angry you have to be
to say your blood be on yourown heads.
I mean, that's pretty much like, fine, go to hell.
I mean that's, you know, like,don't listen or keep leading
people astray, right?
So you know, keep going downthat path, guys.
Fine, I've already said whatI've had to say.
(23:24):
I'm moving on to people whowill listen to me and we see
some of those principles.
And as Jesus, you know, teachesthe disciples, they go out two
by two and what they should doif they're not received to, you
know, dust off their, theirsandals and and move on, don't,
don't, don't, carry that withthem.
And so you know Paul is upsethere.
(23:46):
Obviously he cares for theJewish people.
He wouldn't, he wouldn't be soupset if he didn't care and he'd
been going to the synagoguestrying to reason with them.
And they clearly aren'treceiving it, and so he's going
to continue to.
He's just going to move on.
Not that he'll never talk to aJewish person again, but his
ministry is going to be thenations.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Look, jesus came, israel rejected.
What did he do?
Moved on essentially to the, tothe Gentiles.
Not that the Jews couldn'treceive Christ, because they can
, but Jesus was prophesied tocome first to his own people and
then to the nations.
Paul goes to his people,presents the gospel, and now
(24:27):
he's moving on to the nations.
So Israel has had time and timeand time again to receive the
gospel, and this is just anotherexample of a time where they've
been presented the good news,they been presented the good
news, they've rejected the goodnews, and then Paul moves on.
And so we've seen this pattern.
We see it all throughout theBible, but we see it both in
Jesus's ministry and now inPaul's ministry.
(24:48):
And even Peter, right, peter'sthe one who confirmed with the
Holy Spirit that the Gentilescould receive the Holy Spirit,
and so with seven other jewish,uh, men, and so, um, you know,
we we also think of peter'sministry, just to the jews, but
peter was actually the one whowas there when the holy spirit
confirmed it, and so that wehave witnesses on both ends of
(25:10):
these things.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
And I think that that again adds to the legitimacy of
the apostles ministry, becauseall of them ministered to both
jew and gentile and this, I feellike this also isn't a one-off
thing for paul too, because wesee this in romans, one where it
comes back to, where he'sdrawing out why this thing
happens, where he's saying, well, they worship the creation over
the creator and because of that, like god delivers them over.
(25:33):
So it's kind of I see that andthis is, like you said, the very
pivotal but seeing that sameprinciple come about right here,
where he's like hey, if youguys aren't willing to receive
what I have, then go worshipwhatever you want.
And I'm going to go find people, like you said, that are hungry
, that that don't know the Lord,that are willing to follow and
learn and be teachable, and thatGod also wants to love and save
(25:55):
.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So yeah, teachable, and that God also wants to love
and save.
So yeah, I will say like, assomeone who believes, god has
consistently prompted me toevangelism in my own life there
really is a time and a place tomove on to people that are more
worth your time and I know thatsounds extreme, because the
gospel is for everybody.
But you know like if you'regoing to be rejecting, then fine
(26:20):
, I would much rather plant aseed and then just move on and
then actually have more fullyinvested conversations with
people who actually have aninterest in the gospel.
Like I would rather be spendingmy time where fruit is going to
be born rather than you knowpeople rejecting.
That's not to say you totallyignore the rejecters, but
(26:42):
there's a time and a place whereyou say you know what?
I got people more interested inthe gospel that that need my
attention right now.
So it's time to move on, and Ithink Paul realizes that.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
With that.
Are there just for thelisteners kind of, are there
specific you guys like thinkabout or not necessarily boxes
to check?
But in a conversation where yourealize like this is not really
going further into the gospeland further into a meaningful
conversation, how do you kind ofmake that distinction decision?
Because I know I have had thatquestion come up before.
(27:13):
So I'm curious, how do you guysdeal with that when someone is
kind of beyond their, theirreceiving part, you're saying
you know what, this isn't reallyworth my time.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, well, for for me personally, um, I I love to
ask the question if Christianitywere true, would you become a
Christian?
Because if they say no, likeeven if it was true, I wouldn't
become a Christian because Istill disagree with it.
Then it's like well, fine, thenlike, no matter what
conversation we have over itbeing true, no matter what
(27:44):
evidence that I show you, you'restill going to reject.
It's that.
And then it's just also thetone or the shortness that they
use.
If I'm picking up, we just hadan evangelism training a couple
weeks back here at OBC.
Kyle did a great job ofpretending to be a man at the
door who had just a filthyattitude towards me, knocking on
his door and trying to talk tohim about.
(28:06):
Jesus we had this great roleplaying going on.
But if it's super intense thenI try to do whatever I can to
get the gospel message in there.
But you can just naturally telloh man, this, this conversation
, is getting cut short.
So attitude and time.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, I also think in the conversation, if they're
pressing beyond, like if I'vealready presented the gospel and
I keep redirecting back toscripture and I keep having to
do that time and time again, butthey keep pushing beyond it,
that's what I, that's what Ifinally kind of get to the place
in the conversation where I say, look, you know, I've already
(28:45):
told you who Jesus is, what theBible says, that's now something
you're going to have to wrestlewith now that you've been
presented with this information,information and you know, you
know.
And then I try to.
I try to get the conversationto end, because all they're
doing is asking questions to, totry to end on a, on a point in
which they can get their ahamoment in like a high one yeah.
(29:06):
It's like I'm not here to do anaha moment.
Here's the Bible, here's whoJesus is.
Now you wrestle with it.
I'm not trying to get you, I'mnot trying to catch you up, I'm
just trying to share the truthwith you, and so I'm going to
move on now, and so usually ifthat happens in a conversation,
then I just kind of end.
At that point I may change thesubject to just move on to
(29:27):
something lighter, because it'sjust not going anywhere.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Yeah, putting the ball in their court,
(30:01):
no-transcript, and that givesthem something to think about
and to ask the questions forlater.
And also in a small communitylike Ottawa, people know where
to find you Usually if you'rehaving a conversation, even if
it's in a public place.
We go to Corner Market a lotand other various places and I
(30:22):
mean I've had people come backto me after years who who have
circled back around and wantedto have a deeper conversation
and more seriously approach theBible and the Lord, the.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Bible and the Word.
I think that's very key andevangelism even is looking at
that kind of question of hey,what is the end?
All be all, what do you believeabout Jesus Christ?
Because we can debate all thesesecondary issues and things for
hours if you want but if youdon't actually believe in the
death, burial and resurrectionof Jesus Christ—.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
None of it matters.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Yeah, that's it Put hinges on.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
People want to take sidebar issues, and people will
knowingly or unknowingly theywill try to divert your
attention from the gospel.
And it's like listen, all thetertiary, all the secondary
questions that you might have,that's great, but let's deal
with the death and resurrection.
That's what it all comes downto.
If Jesus didn't rise again,then all of this is a hoax.
(31:19):
If he did rise again, then hedemands a response from you, and
it just comes down to that.
So that's kind of, to be honest, that's what I press my classes
with.
Like, Christianity is true IfJesus rose again.
Christianity is not true if hedidn't.
And so you've got to examinethe evidence of the resurrection
.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, and I think those secondary arguments,
tertiary arguments, however faryou want to go, a lot of those
aren't going to make any senseanyways if you don't believe in
the truth, which is Jesus, deathand resurrection.
You know what I mean.
A lot of times people will belike, well, how do we know the
word was created?
I'm like, okay, well, I can gothrough that biblically with you
(31:53):
, but you're not going tobelieve me unless you believe in
Jesus.
But you're not going to believeme unless you believe in Jesus
and the conversions that I'veseen people coming to faith,
truly in Jesus.
It wasn't the creation account,it wasn't the flood, it wasn't
these other things that savedthem.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Those are necessary, those are necessary.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
But it was their recognition that I'm a sinner
and I need a savior.
Yeah, and Jesus is that savior.
Yeah, that's what.
Jesus is that savior.
Yeah, that's what it came downto.
It wasn't those other things.
Those other things can be builtup later.
Some of them maybe have been aninfluence towards the cross,
and that's that's good becauseit's in the Bible.
But it really comes down towhat Paul's doing here, like he
(32:31):
is talking about Jesus as theMessiah, as the one who has been
raised from the dead, and Ilove this three words.
I am innocent, yeah, yep, likewhat a cool phrase that he adds
in there.
I am innocent, he knows whathe's saying is absolutely true.
Yeah, he knows that he's beensaved by the blood of Jesus
Christ.
And I'm going to move on,because I'm not arguing for my
(32:54):
sake, I'm arguing for yours, andyou guys aren't seeing that
Moving on it also shows anaccountability to the Lord
higher than himself.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
He's not sharing these things for himself or his
own passion, but it's hiscalling from Jesus himself.
Yeah, so it's like before theLord.
I've done my job.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yep, I'm noticing the flow of this conversation.
I hope it's okay with you guys,but rather than aiming after
verse 22, I think it's good toland the plane at verse 11.
So we've got verses 7 through11.
And here are some events thattake place after 1 through 6.
It says Then he left there andwent to the house of a man named
Titus Justice, a worshiper ofGod, whose house was next to the
(33:39):
synagogue.
So he would have been aproselyte Jew right One
converted to Judaism.
Crispus, the leader of thesynagogue, believed in the Lord
with all his household, praise.
God became a Christian and manyof the Corinthians, when they
heard, were believing and beingbaptized.
(34:00):
So you could say this is theinception of the Corinthian
church right there.
Verse 9,.
And the Lord said to Paul inthe night 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.
(34:22):
And he settled there a year andsix months teaching the word of
God among them.
So he stayed for 18 months andhe had the confirmation of God.
Listen, you're going to be justfine here.
Settle for a while.
You know you've gone throughenough persecution for a season.
Keep working at the church ofCorinth.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It's good to know that there were seasons Paul
wasn't persecuted you know,because sometimes you read
through Paul and you're like, ohbad, what a life, like just
continually being like justpeople going after him either
the Jews or the Romans orsomebody trying to go after Paul
and so this was clearly.
There are times when Pauldidn't have that and he got to
(35:02):
spend time building up disciples, building up the church, and
that's what we see in Corinth.
It's really cool.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Shows a little bit of Paul's humanity.
I mean, you don't get the hintthat he's afraid of anything, he
just opens his mouth notconcerned about consequences to
his physical health.
But the Lord knew and it saysdon't be afraid.
From what we've read, it's likeoh, he was afraid.
That's how he actually wasafraid.
Yeah, but not hindered.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
When you read first corinthians, you know the letter
opens up and it's paul mentionsthe fact.
You know I came to you in fearand trembling with the good news
of the word and it's it'sbecause of his previous
experience of persecution.
And I also think you know thereare a few churches that paul
spent this much time with.
He spent the majority of time,the time that he had, with the
(35:52):
church of Ephesus, but thenCorinth would have been second,
which kind of goes to show youwhen he's writing to the
Corinthian church that's goingastray.
In first and second Corinthianshe does speak with so much
compassion and affection forthem because he knows them all
very well.
This is not some church he'stemporarily planted and had
somebody else delegated to lookover it.
(36:13):
This is like he spent a longtime there.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, it wasn't just there for the ribbon cutting.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so you know it'sinteresting what the Lord does
and giving him this confirmation, this verse actually is just
near and dear to my heart Versenine and 10.
Many of you know my story ofthe Philippines and I'll keep
this very short.
But on the night when I wassupposed to go to the
southwestern island of thePhilippines called Mindanao with
(36:40):
the Bob Thiebaud organization,I didn't get on the plane
because persecution and war andMuslim influence was breaking
out and I didn't get on theplane.
Bob Tebow came and he rebukedme in my hotel room for not
staying committed and he saidyou're just like Peter.
And he pointed his finger in myface and like nearly yelled at
(37:01):
me and he said if you don't go,you'll never have stories.
And I actually felt convicted bythe fact that I didn't go
because before I made thedecision to not get on the plane
, I was reading that verse.
Like the Lord led me to this, Ididn't even necessarily know
that's where the statement wasat in Acts 18.
(37:22):
But I read that and the HolySpirit gave me confirmation hey,
go to Zamboanga, you're goingto be just fine.
And I didn't listen.
Thankfully, bob sent me on thetrip a week later and it was
incredible, but it was like manI should have.
I should have listened to theLord.
I was going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah, a huge principle here that we need to
follow in ministry is it's beenrepeated here in this text that
we've read that Paul's concernwas to be in the word, so that
he could equip people and sharethe gospel.
It's the word that he'sconcerned with.
You know, whenever the word ofGod is the reason in which we're
(38:02):
going to go, do something, Ithink it is a powerful, um, a
powerful place to be in in thesense of I know God's going to
provide, I know God's going tohelp here, because I'm aligning
my desires with his word.
His word is the priority.
Yours was in the Philippinesearlier this year.
In Mexico, I got sick, but Iknew that the word of God was
(38:25):
more important and the Holyspirit confirmed that, yes, you
need to go, I'll take care ofyou in your sickness.
The word of God is moreimportant and I think in any of
those moments it has not failedme ever.
When the word of God is thepriority, when it is the mission
to get it to other people, godprovides and he gets you there.
I'm not saying it's going to beeasy.
(38:46):
I'm not saying you're not goingto fear like Paul did.
You're not going to get sick ormaybe hurt or attacked or
whatever it may be, but God willallow his word to get where he
wants his word to be, and whenwe're faithful to it, we can
trust him.
And here the Lord comes to Pauland says you can trust me,
(39:11):
don't worry about it whileyou're there.
This is a time to invest in thepeople and it's a time to stay
in the word, and then there'llbe a moment you'll move on, but
until then, you're good.
Yeah, I'm just giving you thatso that you can concentrate on
the most important thing, whichis the word of God.
And isn't that cool to like,know that, like, if you're
spending time in the word,that's what God wants you to be
doing.
Like, if you're, if you're not,spending time in the word, that
(39:33):
is a clear sign of hey, man,you should spend some time with
God and that's in his word.
And so that's just a marker inyour life.
Maybe you're listening andyou're like I've been trying to
get back in the word and listento your podcast because I want
to spend time in the word.
If that is lacking as aspiritual discipline and it's
even it's even kind of crazy tocall it a spiritual discipline,
even though it is, but it is thefoundation.
(39:55):
Like this is God's word.
Why wouldn't you want to bereading it and spending time in
it?
Like this is all that.
This will give you everythingyou need for your Christian life
, and so, when you're in it,your life it'll, it'll be seen
in your life and God will allowyou to see great things, do
great things for him and, uh,you'll be able to get glimpses
(40:17):
of the kingdom while you'reworking in his word and with his
people, and I think that is thefruit that you'll be able to
experience in your life.
Until there is a new kingdom,there is a new earth to live on,
and uh, and, and that'll be anawesome time.
But teaching the word, spendingtime in the word I think right
here we see God confirming withPaul and it helps us understand
(40:38):
that when we spend time in theword, that is the most important
thing.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It reminds me of a conversation that Kyle me and
you had um with a student nottoo long ago, and he was like
man I want to hear from the Lord.
I'm like cool, read the Bible.
He's like, well, I want to hearfrom the Lord audibly.
It's like cool, read from theBible out loud.
Yeah, that's it, and I thinkthat's something that we see
again here with Paul is that sosteeped in the word, spending so
much time like meditating overGod's word and going exactly
(41:03):
where he wants them to go, thathe has no fear in those moments
because he knows this is whatGod's called me to do.
And even again, like if feardoes come up, the Lord is
affirming hey, don't be afraid,I'm with you, I'm the one that's
going to be leading you and andcalling you to do my will for
these people, and so I thinkthat's where his confidence is.
We know that Paul's confidenceis not in his ability to
(41:23):
withhold himself.
It's in the Lord's ability tosustain him in every way, and I
think that's why we get to seePaul do such awesome things.
And again, going back justprior to this, we're like the
men who have overturned theworld, like they're here and
like Paul was one of those guysthat was doing the God, like the
Lord's will, and running to thedepths of the brokenness and
finding exactly where God wantedhim to be, by studying his word
(41:46):
and being obedient to thespirit in every way.
And God's affirming that andsaying hey, don't be afraid, I'm
with you.
Keep talking about the thingsI'm putting on your heart,
because they're important andsomeone needs to say them.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, and Kyle, you're right, on chance You're
right on verse five, just tosupport it.
It says Paul began devotinghimself completely to the word
Number one.
You get it again in verse nine.
Towards the end of it, god saiddon't be afraid any longer, but
go on speaking about what,about the word, and do not be
silent.
Then you see it at the end ofverse 11.
He settled there a year and sixmonths teaching the word of God
(42:19):
among them.
I think maybe this is a goodplace to land the plane.
But the idea is, if you'restanding for the word of God,
there's always a blessing there.
You know, we're in a particularsituation right now where we
don't need to go into detail,but we're trying to stand for
the word of God in a particularissue in our community and I
(42:42):
think if you're standing fortruth and you're doing it with
humility, god will honor that,god will bless that.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, I think anytime you, you make the word the
foundation of your life andhopefully that's every day and I
know we, we fall short andwe're sinners and we're not
perfect and we may say thingsthat we, that that don't align
with God's word, but the moreyou spend time in it, the more
you spend time in prayer, themore you spend time in
fellowship, the more you investin your relationship with Jesus
(43:12):
Christ.
When those moments come, whereyou need to stand, you'll stand
not because of your own doing,but because of the strength and
the peace and the comfort andeverything that God provides in
those moments.
That's what Paul's experiencing.
It's God's provision for hispeople and saying, yes, you're
standing on the word of God andI will be right there with you
(43:34):
because those are my words andyou take them seriously and you
don't just use them day to dayas just simple reminders about I
just need to be a good person,but you're truly standing on
them in the midst of persecution, in the midst of hard times,
and I think when we can do that,our faith becomes more real.
(43:54):
It becomes the day-to-day, theconstant having to just put
everything into the Lord and say, no, I trust you, lord, I may
get flack for this, I may gain areputation in a way that I
don't necessarily desire, but aslong as it's true, it is good,
and it's for you, lord, that I'mwilling to do it, and that's
(44:16):
what Paul's doing.
I think that's what we need todo.
We just can't back down.
Just because someone disagreeswith you Doesn't mean one you
have to hate each other, right?
No, it just means that this isan opportunity to share the word
of God, the truth, and wherethese things come from in
scripture and why we follow themand why they're important, and
that gives us more opportunityto evangelize and be good
(44:37):
witnesses and have a goodtestimony and stand up and say
no, Jesus says this, and this iswhy I stand firm on it, this is
why I have this, but I'm alsogoing to treat you with respect,
because God loves you too, yeah, and God values you and wants
you to know him, and so I wantyou to know him too, not because
I want you to agree with me,but because I want you to be
(44:58):
saved.
I want you to know Jesus, andso when we do that, well, um, I
think we we get to see,eventually, the fruit.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
And even if we don't see the fruit.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I trust that it'll happen because it's God's word.
Yeah, amen, david, david, Ilove how we're laying in the
plane and we're David close itout.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Well, thank you so much for listening to the be
disciples podcast.
We're trying to be disciples bythe way.
Yeah, we're trying to bedisciples, by the way.
Yeah, we're trying to bedisciples of Jesus, and so thank
you so much for listening.
We hope that you take God'sword, that it equips you, it
encourages you and it'ssomething that you continue to
spend time in.
(45:41):
Again, this is justsupplemental, hopefully, for
your spiritual life, that youwould spend time in a local
church, whether that's OttawaBible Church or another church
that puts God's word at thefoundation, the authority over
God's people, and so thank youso much for listening.
We'll see you next time, thankyou.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your
hosts Kyle Morris, dakota Smith,david Glavin, chance Pollard,
and this is episode number 114.
Dang, I don't know, I mightstop counting, it's just too
many.
But thank you all for joiningus today on the podcast we took
about.
I don't know, it's been aboutalmost a month since we had Dr
(00:32):
Jim Ball on the podcast.
A lot's been going on here atOttawa Bible Church, along just
within our individual lives, andso now we're back to getting
back into the podcast.
School's coming to an end,schedules are becoming a little
bit lighter, and so we'reexcited to getting back into the
podcast.
School's coming to an end,schedules are becoming a little
bit lighter, and so we'reexcited to get some more
episodes in.
Welcome to the podcast, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, it's good to be back on.
It's good to get things startedagain.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I mean you went on vacation, that was good,
spent some time with the family,chance and I.
We went to the Spurgeon LibraryConference, went and spend some
time with the family Chance andI.
We went to the Spurgeon LibraryConference, went and got
edumacated for a day for one day, and David has been doing all
kinds of youth thing.
He got rummage sale coming up,and so, man, there's still a lot
going on, even with the summer.
(01:17):
But there's a bit of a shiftwhich I'm excited about.
Some things come to an end,like Braves worship for the year
at the college college, butthen we get to pick up on other
things throughout the summer.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So a good change, a good shift yeah, I think we're
looking forward to a season ofrest in the summer, if you could
call it that maybe a rest from,you know, normal
responsibilities and andstepping into ministry without
that more rhythmicresponsibility.
There's still a ton to be done,so we'll still all be very busy
(01:49):
, but you know, to take a breakfrom the norm is good.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, rest is good.
Time in prayer is good.
If you're in the Ottawacommunity, we've got our prayer
night May 5th.
We do something called FirstSundays.
Most of those are prayermeetings.
We've got some other FirstSundays throughout the summer
that are going to be a littledifferent, about parenting and
marriage Just things to lookforward to.
So if you're in the communityhere in Ottawa and Franklin
County, we'd love to have youfor those events.
(02:15):
Just check out our website,OttawaBibleChurchcom.
But we are studying the book ofActs, which has been a lot of
fun to go through together tosee what Paul's doing, what the
church is doing, but ultimatelywhat God is doing, the Holy
Spirit.
How is the Holy Spirit moving?
How is the gospel being heardand presented?
Who is the gospel going to?
And even times where the HolySpirit says no, don't go there,
(02:37):
Paul, I want you to go somewhereelse, things like that.
And so we're picking up inchapter 18 today.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, let's pray and we'll dive right in Chance.
Do you want to pray for us?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus,
lord.
We thank you for thisopportunity just to sit around
and dive into your word andspread it to the people who hear
.
God, I just pray that you'lllead our discussion and our time
in the word today and thatthose who hear it will be lifted
up for your glory, lord, andfor your name.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Amen, amen.
So Acts, 18?
Acts 18.
Starting in verse 1,.
We'll just take it one chunk ata time.
I think a good goal would be togo to verse 22 today, but just
little bites at a time.
It says in verse 1, after thesethings, he left Athens and went
to Corinth, he being Paul, andhe found a Jew named Aquila, a
(03:28):
native of Pontus, havingrecently come from Italy with
his wife Priscilla.
Because Claudius had commandedall the Jews to leave Rome, he
came to them and because he wasof the same trade, he stayed
with them and they were workingfor by trade.
They were tent makers and hewas reasoning in the synagogue
every Sabbath and trying topersuade Jews and Greeks.
(03:48):
But when Silas and Timothy camedown from Macedonia, paul began
devoting himself completely tothe word, solemnly testifying to
the Jews that Jesus was theChrist.
I think verses 1-5 have enoughthere to kind of investigate.
(04:08):
So, guys, what are some thingsthat you see?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, Paul leaves Athens where he just had a
debate with the philosophicalminds of the day.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
He left Athens and went to Corinth.
And we get the letters toCorinth, which we know in the
context of Scripture, some ofthe issues that went on in
Corinth with the church anddifferent circumstances of why
Paul was there.
So we get a lot more details inthe letters about what is
actually happening.
But we also see Aquila andPriscilla in Paul's letters as
(04:44):
people who are faithful, who aretrusted, and so we have a
little bit of background.
Though he's just meeting themhere, we kind of get an idea of
who they are and therelationship that's built with
Paul.
So a little bit of a little bitof background.
We know that they're Jewishhere and that they come from
Italy because the Jews werekicked out of Rome.
(05:08):
That's a that's a pretty bigdeal, and so they went to
Corinth and that's where theyare and their tent makers and
they're working, and so we get alittle bit of background.
And then Paul, obviously, likehe normally does, goes to the
synagogues.
He goes there to persuade theJews and the Greeks about who
Jesus is.
And then we get a couple of hishelpers, silas and Timothy,
(05:30):
those he's discipling and whichallows him to get maybe more
intense.
Maybe he doesn't have to do asmuch work outside of the
synagogue now just focusing inon the Jews and the Greeks
knowing who Jesus is, and sothat gives us a little bit of
background.
Going into Corinth and what'sgoing on just within five verses
, yeah, I think the whole thingwith Claudius here.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
He commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.
I think that's like animportant historical marker.
Here again, the Jewish peopleare being persecuted and as a
result of this politicalpersecution, whatever that might
be it's almost like god,because if we're just familiar
with the context of the entirebook of acts, it seems like
(06:13):
whenever there's any type ofconflict, god is actually always
the one that's sovereignly,like, still in control
throughout those type of things,and so so look at what's
happening.
You have two individuals Aquila, he's the husband, priscilla,
she's the wife, and, as a resultof what's going on in the world
, they're being moved forministry, and maybe right now it
(06:37):
just says that they're tentmakers, but at the end of the
day, what's taking place intheir life seems to be utilized
by God At the end of the day,like what's taking place in
their life seems to be utilizedby God.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I think it's cool.
We can kind of look back onrecent times in the world and
what moved people recently Atleast.
Covid is a big one.
Yeah, there's something calledthe great shift, where people
maybe looked at their life andreprioritize things during that
time, you know, and startedfocusing in on what's most
important to them, and I thinkthat caused a lot of movement
(07:08):
and God used that movement forgreat things.
I mean, you know, I movedduring COVID to Kansas and so,
you know, god moved in mightyways in all people's lives on
where we should be and where weshould go.
And I think this is just anothercircumstance where God uses the
events of the time to movepeople where he wants them to be
, for his will, for his desires,purpose, and I think that's
(07:31):
awesome to see God moving.
Plus, luke we know writing thebook of Acts always gives us
historical markers because it istrue history and so any history
buffs out there.
If you're into that, luke andActs are great books to say look
, this is the timeline in whichthings happen, because Luke's
very detailed in that way.
But yeah, I love seeing Godmove and two people come and
(07:55):
they meet Paul in thecircumstance of them having to
leave somewhere that they calledhome, and and we're going to
see a church be planted becauseof it, and we're going to see a
church be planted because of it.
Yeah, what do you guys think?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Also gives a little bit of, maybe a hint of, why
Paul had a heart toward Rome.
He was headed toward Rome and ifPriscilla and Aquila were part
of his early influence, maybewhat he had heard from the
community there would have beenpart of that draw for him
(08:26):
Historically.
Just to kind of piggyback onwhat you guys were saying, the
the exodus of the Jared.
You know, god worked throughexile, through exodus, through
the diaspora, through thedispersion the Christian church
through, through the Jewishcommunity, and you see the
influences of the exile toBabylon, to all the various
(08:49):
places, even in preparation forJesus coming.
The influence of Israel in allthe various places drew people's
eyes to Jerusalem and to theJews, you know.
So they were looking out.
The wise men were probablyinfluenced by that and were
(09:10):
looking for various reasons.
And God, yeah, works today thesame way.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, absolutely Chance.
What do you think?
I know that you've movedrecently here to Ottawa.
You know you can definerecently how you must.
It's not like you came, youknow last month or yesterday, or
something but yeah, has godmoved in your life through the
events of the times?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
yeah, um, very much so.
Like kyle was talking about,like during covet, even like
kylie and I got married, wemoved away from all of our
family to texas and yet in thatin our early marriage, got to be
alone and form like what is ourlife of marriage and life
together going to look like nowand not having voices speak into
that as much as we would if wewere just surrounded by family
(09:53):
back home and being like, well,my family does this, your family
does that.
So it was kind of cool even inthat, in the midst of moving
away and doing that, to whatthat formed in us now and the
foundation we got to lay.
So that was a cool kind ofprovidence of the Lord in what
we thought would be maybe notthe most of fun things to do as
moving away, especially duringCOVID and the uncertainty of
(10:14):
that, and then actually movingback to Kansas not too long
after, about a year after and soand and those things.
The Lord had his hand in a lotof different areas as to leading
us places.
And then we get home and seedoors open perfectly to
ministries calling us to and towork and provision, and that's
why I love, here too, looking athow Paul is a tent maker by
(10:36):
trade and he finds other tentmakers and instead of being like
oh no, I'm here to plantchurches and do my thing, he's
like I'm going to go work and dosome stuff with them and take
this opportunity to get my handsdirty and also do ministry
alongside these guys together.
So I think that's encouragingto see and I love watching how
Paul continually does that wherehe's not just a guy.
That is kind of on the onetrack of this is what I'm
(10:58):
supposed to do.
I'm not going to go anywhereelse.
He's willing to go and work andmake some tents if he needs to.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, and I think maybe for our listeners there's
going to be at least a fractionof listeners who can identify
with this principle.
But notice that it doesn'treally say anything spiritual
about Aquila and Priscilla.
Like we only learn that theyare like deeply mature believers
because we see their names comeup later on in the New
(11:25):
Testament.
But here it still says thatAquila was a Jew, a native from
Pontus.
It speaks of his wife,priscilla.
It says that they've fled andbasically it says that they met
Paul because they had the sametrade.
So interestingly enough imaginethis the man who wrote half our
New Testament was a tent makerbefore he could devote himself
(11:48):
completely to the word of God inverse 5.
And that season in Paul's lifewhere he was confined and we all
know this tension right when itfelt like he was confined to
tent making, it was actuallyGod's will for him to be in that
place of tent making for aseason because it produced
Aquila and Priscilla.
So like I think so often whenwe are like stuck in the midst
(12:11):
of, ah, I'm doing the tentmaking thing, but I want to be
doing like my ideal ministry,like setting God's, like yeah,
but it's not just you I'mdeveloping.
It's who you're meeting with inthis time that I'm also getting
ready to send out.
It's who you're meeting with inthis time that I'm also getting
ready to send out.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So trying to say, like God, has purposes for, like
the development of our life andthe season that we're in.
Yeah, I mean, I spent I don'tknow, the first 12 years of
ministry with a different part,different full time job.
You, know, I didn't want to dothat.
You know, in my desire was notto work a separate full-time job
and do part-time pastoralministry.
It was to be full-time, youknow, and that took a really
(12:51):
that took 12 years to get to aplace, to where I could finally
get to that, get an opportunityto be full-time and even having
to move here with a part-timerole and another job to begin
with, to continue tent makingper se.
Um, you know that, just as partof the process, and I think, uh
, paul here, we know his, weknow how zealous paul is like,
(13:13):
yeah, ministry title or not,yeah, ministry like he's gonna
do ministry and he's like I'mgonna.
If I got a tent make, I'm gonnatent make and if that allows me
opportunity to spread the gospel, I'm gonna do it, even if I
don't like and it doesn't say hedidn't like it, but, knowing
Paul's personality, he probablywas just like I just want to be
in the word.
I don't want to do anythingelse, I just want to be in the
word and I want to teach peopleGod's word and I want them to
(13:33):
know Jesus and so, uh,definitely understand that
season.
I'm sure there's a lot of youout there that could be in that
same type of season and I wouldjust encourage all of you to be
patient, be prayerful and justkeep learning, even if you're
not in the ideal situation foryou.
Wait on God and he will provide, and just keep going.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And that's part of my story too.
I mean leading up to becomingcoming on staff here at the
church.
I worked three years inconstruction and a couple of
years in the oil field beforethat and led worship here for a
couple of years whilevolunteering.
Yeah, while working full timeand in another town, so I had a
(14:19):
drive, so I leave early in themorning, get home late at night
and, you know, serving in thechurch, and it just seemed like
you know for me my prayer wasLord, you know, if it be your
will, you know, whatever we did,what we could, but I always
felt myself wanting to spendmore time with family.
With Audrey and the kids wantedto spend more time in the church
(14:39):
doing more things, but we werevery limited and the Lord
answered that prayer in callingus here.
But there was a lot of patienceand a lot of prayer and just
really being content in wherethe Lord had me.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, I think maybe, on the flip side, sometimes this
passage can be used to lookdown.
I want to.
Maybe look down is too strong,but to bring an argument as to
say, like you know, he lookeddown is too strong.
But to bring an argument as tosay, like you know, pastors
don't need to be paid Pastors.
You know, like you know, I'veheard this argument before.
You know it would be wrong foryou to.
(15:12):
You know, seek full-timesupport.
You should be doing somethingelse as well.
And it's like I think you needto remember here that Paul did
that for a season.
He did that for a season.
But verse 5 shows us you knowhis true desire.
But when Silas and Timothy camedown from Macedonia meaning he
had more individuals to help himin the ministry Paul began
(15:35):
devoting himself completely tothe Word.
So this actually mirrors asituation we've already seen.
Is acts chapter six or seven, Iforget the chapter where
deacons were chosen.
The elders were the ones saying, hey, we need to choose deacons
to come and practically serveour people so that, so that we
(15:55):
can devote ourselves fully tothe word of god into prayer, and
so like there is a place to sayI'm doing this and this is a
noble task and a noble work, butyet in the same breath, if I
could be devoting myself fullyto the deliverance of God's word
, I'd rather be doing that.
You know so, like tent makingis a great thing, but in the
(16:17):
same breath, like it's not a anobligation.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, and Paul, we know is in his letters is going
to talk about receiving doublehonor, um, for for shepherding,
double honorarium, right To toreceive payment for the
full-time ministry that you aredoing.
Um, we also have Paul talkingabout the importance of those
called to certain giftings tothe apostles, the sent ones to
(16:43):
the evangelists, to theshepherds, there are called ones
that are supposed to spend timein the word to equip the church
to do the ministry, and that'san Ephesians.
And so we know that Paul, his,his goal here is spending time
with God in the word to equipTimothy, right First, second
Timothy we know all aboutTimothy's equipping and other
(17:05):
guys like Titus and and so onand so forth, so that they can
go reach more people.
So this idea of spending timein the word as a paid profession
, um, and, and having some sortof negative place to it, no, god
has called people to spend timebeing dedicated to his word so
(17:25):
that the body of christ can befed.
What does he tell peter?
Go right, feed my lambs.
Yeah, go tend my flock, go feedmy sheep.
Like peter is going to go andhe's going to do these things
for the Lord and that is goingto be his job, his task, his
calling, and it's an importantcalling but, and it needs to be
(17:46):
respected.
And so the opportunity comesfrom not to build tents.
He's going to take it becausehe knows that he's called to
something greater.
I mean Jesus literally met himon the road to Damascus and
called him to this somethinggreater.
I mean Jesus literally met himon the road to Damascus and
called him to this.
So you know, I'm sure he feelsa great pressure to ensure that
he's doing the tasks that Godgave him, and so he's going to
take that opportunity to be inthe word.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, it's hard for me to ignore the undertones of,
like, the humility and thehumble nature of Paul through
this too, knowing, like the pasthe had the life he was of.
Like I mean, he's like a peopleto boast, like I have all the
things to boast about and yethere he is making tents, just
doing the humble thing of I'mgoing to go in wherever God
calls me.
If there's ministry to be done,I'm willing to do that.
So I love seeing that in Paul'slife as knowing he has the
(18:30):
background, like he was underthe top dogs and he was up there
.
It's like debating in thesynagogues but yet taking
opportunity to make tents andthen produce, like that, the
disciples that come from thosehumble circumstances and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Well, I mean, and Paul doesn't do this, he's not
random, right?
He's not just like I'll just gowherever the wind takes me.
Like Paul is prayerfully goingwhere God wants him to go.
We know he's listening to thespirit because we already know
he's been told not to gosomewhere right to Asia, to go
to Macedonia, and so we alreadyknow that in Acts.
(19:05):
And so we also know that Paulestablishes, uh, through the
Holy spirit, the guidelines, uhand principles for leadership.
Like Paul is very, very in tunewith the spirit and what's
going on and what he needs to do.
He's structured, he's buildingleaders, he's discipling, he's
evangelizing, and so we, we can,we can see all that Paul has
(19:27):
done and really his letters backall this up.
His letters allow us to seewhat Paul is truly doing with
the people and it gives him thatlegitimacy of what his his
intent with all of these people.
So it's awesome to watch as youread the book of Acts, to be
able to know the other lettersand go, wow, like this is so
cool.
Paul's building tents and he'sfocused on ministry.
(19:49):
Silas and Timothy come.
All right, that frees me up, itgives me some space.
I'm going to dedicate myself tothe word and I've got some
other guys helping me out andwe're going to keep moving
forward.
We're going to keep doing whatwe can to go spread the gospel
and so if tent making is it,let's do it.
If not, let's move to the nextplace and let's plant some more
churches.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I think maybe one last principle just to share
with our listeners would be thisthe text doesn't necessarily
explicitly say this, but I think, as a principle, just godly
wisdom would say don't despisethe season that you're in,
because God is working ontesting your stewardship.
(20:29):
And so, like one of the waysthat you know you're called to
full-time ministry is where youperpetually have this healthy,
healthy discontentment in yoursoul, where you're like you know
, I don't mind doing the tentmaking thing, I don't mind
humbling myself, I don't mindstewarding what would appear to
be a smaller responsibility.
(20:50):
But as you continue to take onthat mindset of humility, then
it's like the Lord is buildingin you this muscle of assurance
for when full-time stuff doescome about.
The Lord has basically provento you look, you desired this
all along.
I was just keeping that burningdesire within you.
So thank you for being faithfulwith this.
(21:10):
Now here you can have a higherresponsibility.
That was my story.
I was a high school Englishteacher, then a high school
Bible teacher, then I became anassociate pastor part-time, and
then you know all the way towhere I am here out of a Bible
and I feel like I'm doingexactly what the Lord wants me
to do and I don't know, liketruly, what else I would be
(21:31):
doing, and in fact, I don't eventhink I'm good at anything else
Not that I'm good at ministry,but I feel like depending on the
Lord for ministry that's theonly thing I'm passionate about,
so I don't even know what Iwould do.
Can't make tense Can't maketense.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
If your Domino's delivery shows up late, it's
because Dakota's delivering theDomino's.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah, you give good hugs.
I appreciate that and you'reencouraging.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Maybe I'll hold up a sign I give free hugs.
Make a living off that.
No, that's free.
Make a living off of free hugsAt least a dollar.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
That was the point of the joke.
You're not good at that.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I'm not even a good I can't even be a comedian if I
wanted to be so.
So Paul began verse fivedevoting himself completely to
the word, solemnly, like, withreverence, testifying to the
Jews that Jesus was the Christ,he was the Messiah Verse 6,.
But when they resisted andblasphemed, he shook out his
(22:23):
garments and said to them yourblood be on your own heads.
I am clean For now on I will goto the Gentiles Guys.
Just this little section hereseems to be a pivotal point in
Paul's ministry, not only by wayof his occupation, but by way
of his audience.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, I mean from this end of history.
We know Paul is the one whowent to the Gentiles.
Well, here's the moment inwhich he turns to the Gentiles.
He even says it out loud in aquote I'm, I'm not going to, I'm
done with you guys, you guysare not listening, and he's,
(23:03):
he's fed up with it,specifically to the Jews.
And so, like you, I can't evenimagine how angry you have to be
to say your blood be on yourown heads.
I mean, that's pretty much like, fine, go to hell.
I mean that's, you know, like,don't listen or keep leading
people astray, right?
So you know, keep going downthat path, guys.
Fine, I've already said whatI've had to say.
(23:24):
I'm moving on to people whowill listen to me and we see
some of those principles.
And as Jesus, you know, teachesthe disciples, they go out two
by two and what they should doif they're not received to, you
know, dust off their, theirsandals and and move on, don't,
don't, don't, carry that withthem.
And so you know Paul is upsethere.
(23:46):
Obviously he cares for theJewish people.
He wouldn't, he wouldn't be soupset if he didn't care and he'd
been going to the synagoguestrying to reason with them.
And they clearly aren'treceiving it, and so he's going
to continue to.
He's just going to move on.
Not that he'll never talk to aJewish person again, but his
ministry is going to be thenations.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Look, jesus came, israel rejected.
What did he do?
Moved on essentially to the, tothe Gentiles.
Not that the Jews couldn'treceive Christ, because they can
, but Jesus was prophesied tocome first to his own people and
then to the nations.
Paul goes to his people,presents the gospel, and now
(24:27):
he's moving on to the nations.
So Israel has had time and timeand time again to receive the
gospel, and this is just anotherexample of a time where they've
been presented the good news,they been presented the good
news, they've rejected the goodnews, and then Paul moves on.
And so we've seen this pattern.
We see it all throughout theBible, but we see it both in
Jesus's ministry and now inPaul's ministry.
(24:48):
And even Peter, right, peter'sthe one who confirmed with the
Holy Spirit that the Gentilescould receive the Holy Spirit,
and so with seven other jewish,uh, men, and so, um, you know,
we we also think of peter'sministry, just to the jews, but
peter was actually the one whowas there when the holy spirit
confirmed it, and so that wehave witnesses on both ends of
(25:10):
these things.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
And I think that that again adds to the legitimacy of
the apostles ministry, becauseall of them ministered to both
jew and gentile and this, I feellike this also isn't a one-off
thing for paul too, because wesee this in romans, one where it
comes back to, where he'sdrawing out why this thing
happens, where he's saying, well, they worship the creation over
the creator and because of that, like god delivers them over.
(25:33):
So it's kind of I see that andthis is, like you said, the very
pivotal but seeing that sameprinciple come about right here,
where he's like hey, if youguys aren't willing to receive
what I have, then go worshipwhatever you want.
And I'm going to go find people, like you said, that are hungry
, that that don't know the Lord,that are willing to follow and
learn and be teachable, and thatGod also wants to love and save
(25:55):
.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So yeah, teachable, and that God also wants to love
and save.
So yeah, I will say like, assomeone who believes, god has
consistently prompted me toevangelism in my own life there
really is a time and a place tomove on to people that are more
worth your time and I know thatsounds extreme, because the
gospel is for everybody.
But you know like if you'regoing to be rejecting, then fine
(26:20):
, I would much rather plant aseed and then just move on and
then actually have more fullyinvested conversations with
people who actually have aninterest in the gospel.
Like I would rather be spendingmy time where fruit is going to
be born rather than you knowpeople rejecting.
That's not to say you totallyignore the rejecters, but
(26:42):
there's a time and a place whereyou say you know what?
I got people more interested inthe gospel that that need my
attention right now.
So it's time to move on, and Ithink Paul realizes that.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
With that.
Are there just for thelisteners kind of, are there
specific you guys like thinkabout or not necessarily boxes
to check?
But in a conversation where yourealize like this is not really
going further into the gospeland further into a meaningful
conversation, how do you kind ofmake that distinction decision?
Because I know I have had thatquestion come up before.
(27:13):
So I'm curious, how do you guysdeal with that when someone is
kind of beyond their, theirreceiving part, you're saying
you know what, this isn't reallyworth my time.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, well, for for me personally, um, I I love to
ask the question if Christianitywere true, would you become a
Christian?
Because if they say no, likeeven if it was true, I wouldn't
become a Christian because Istill disagree with it.
Then it's like well, fine, thenlike, no matter what
conversation we have over itbeing true, no matter what
(27:44):
evidence that I show you, you'restill going to reject.
It's that.
And then it's just also thetone or the shortness that they
use.
If I'm picking up, we just hadan evangelism training a couple
weeks back here at OBC.
Kyle did a great job ofpretending to be a man at the
door who had just a filthyattitude towards me, knocking on
his door and trying to talk tohim about.
(28:06):
Jesus we had this great roleplaying going on.
But if it's super intense thenI try to do whatever I can to
get the gospel message in there.
But you can just naturally telloh man, this, this conversation
, is getting cut short.
So attitude and time.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, I also think in the conversation, if they're
pressing beyond, like if I'vealready presented the gospel and
I keep redirecting back toscripture and I keep having to
do that time and time again, butthey keep pushing beyond it,
that's what I, that's what Ifinally kind of get to the place
in the conversation where I say, look, you know, I've already
(28:45):
told you who Jesus is, what theBible says, that's now something
you're going to have to wrestlewith now that you've been
presented with this information,information and you know, you
know.
And then I try to.
I try to get the conversationto end, because all they're
doing is asking questions to, totry to end on a, on a point in
which they can get their ahamoment in like a high one yeah.
(29:06):
It's like I'm not here to do anaha moment.
Here's the Bible, here's whoJesus is.
Now you wrestle with it.
I'm not trying to get you, I'mnot trying to catch you up, I'm
just trying to share the truthwith you, and so I'm going to
move on now, and so usually ifthat happens in a conversation,
then I just kind of end.
At that point I may change thesubject to just move on to
(29:27):
something lighter, because it'sjust not going anywhere.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Yeah, putting the ball in their court,
(30:01):
no-transcript, and that givesthem something to think about
and to ask the questions forlater.
And also in a small communitylike Ottawa, people know where
to find you Usually if you'rehaving a conversation, even if
it's in a public place.
We go to Corner Market a lotand other various places and I
(30:22):
mean I've had people come backto me after years who who have
circled back around and wantedto have a deeper conversation
and more seriously approach theBible and the Lord, the.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Bible and the Word.
I think that's very key andevangelism even is looking at
that kind of question of hey,what is the end?
All be all, what do you believeabout Jesus Christ?
Because we can debate all thesesecondary issues and things for
hours if you want but if youdon't actually believe in the
death, burial and resurrectionof Jesus Christ—.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
None of it matters.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Yeah, that's it Put hinges on.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
People want to take sidebar issues, and people will
knowingly or unknowingly theywill try to divert your
attention from the gospel.
And it's like listen, all thetertiary, all the secondary
questions that you might have,that's great, but let's deal
with the death and resurrection.
That's what it all comes downto.
If Jesus didn't rise again,then all of this is a hoax.
(31:19):
If he did rise again, then hedemands a response from you, and
it just comes down to that.
So that's kind of, to be honest, that's what I press my classes
with.
Like, Christianity is true IfJesus rose again.
Christianity is not true if hedidn't.
And so you've got to examinethe evidence of the resurrection
.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, and I think those secondary arguments,
tertiary arguments, however faryou want to go, a lot of those
aren't going to make any senseanyways if you don't believe in
the truth, which is Jesus, deathand resurrection.
You know what I mean.
A lot of times people will belike, well, how do we know the
word was created?
I'm like, okay, well, I can gothrough that biblically with you
(31:53):
, but you're not going tobelieve me unless you believe in
Jesus.
But you're not going to believeme unless you believe in Jesus
and the conversions that I'veseen people coming to faith,
truly in Jesus.
It wasn't the creation account,it wasn't the flood, it wasn't
these other things that savedthem.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Those are necessary, those are necessary.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
But it was their recognition that I'm a sinner
and I need a savior.
Yeah, and Jesus is that savior.
Yeah, that's what.
Jesus is that savior.
Yeah, that's what it came downto.
It wasn't those other things.
Those other things can be builtup later.
Some of them maybe have been aninfluence towards the cross,
and that's that's good becauseit's in the Bible.
But it really comes down towhat Paul's doing here, like he
(32:31):
is talking about Jesus as theMessiah, as the one who has been
raised from the dead, and Ilove this three words.
I am innocent, yeah, yep, likewhat a cool phrase that he adds
in there.
I am innocent, he knows whathe's saying is absolutely true.
Yeah, he knows that he's beensaved by the blood of Jesus
Christ.
And I'm going to move on,because I'm not arguing for my
(32:54):
sake, I'm arguing for yours, andyou guys aren't seeing that
Moving on it also shows anaccountability to the Lord
higher than himself.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
He's not sharing these things for himself or his
own passion, but it's hiscalling from Jesus himself.
Yeah, so it's like before theLord.
I've done my job.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yep, I'm noticing the flow of this conversation.
I hope it's okay with you guys,but rather than aiming after
verse 22, I think it's good toland the plane at verse 11.
So we've got verses 7 through11.
And here are some events thattake place after 1 through 6.
It says Then he left there andwent to the house of a man named
Titus Justice, a worshiper ofGod, whose house was next to the
(33:39):
synagogue.
So he would have been aproselyte Jew right One
converted to Judaism.
Crispus, the leader of thesynagogue, believed in the Lord
with all his household, praise.
God became a Christian and manyof the Corinthians, when they
heard, were believing and beingbaptized.
(34:00):
So you could say this is theinception of the Corinthian
church right there.
Verse 9,.
And the Lord said to Paul inthe night 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.
(34:22):
And he settled there a year andsix months teaching the word of
God among them.
So he stayed for 18 months andhe had the confirmation of God.
Listen, you're going to be justfine here.
Settle for a while.
You know you've gone throughenough persecution for a season.
Keep working at the church ofCorinth.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It's good to know that there were seasons Paul
wasn't persecuted you know,because sometimes you read
through Paul and you're like, ohbad, what a life, like just
continually being like justpeople going after him either
the Jews or the Romans orsomebody trying to go after Paul
and so this was clearly.
There are times when Pauldidn't have that and he got to
(35:02):
spend time building up disciples, building up the church, and
that's what we see in Corinth.
It's really cool.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Shows a little bit of Paul's humanity.
I mean, you don't get the hintthat he's afraid of anything, he
just opens his mouth notconcerned about consequences to
his physical health.
But the Lord knew and it saysdon't be afraid.
From what we've read, it's likeoh, he was afraid.
That's how he actually wasafraid.
Yeah, but not hindered.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
When you read first corinthians, you know the letter
opens up and it's paul mentionsthe fact.
You know I came to you in fearand trembling with the good news
of the word and it's it'sbecause of his previous
experience of persecution.
And I also think you know thereare a few churches that paul
spent this much time with.
He spent the majority of time,the time that he had, with the
(35:52):
church of Ephesus, but thenCorinth would have been second,
which kind of goes to show youwhen he's writing to the
Corinthian church that's goingastray.
In first and second Corinthianshe does speak with so much
compassion and affection forthem because he knows them all
very well.
This is not some church he'stemporarily planted and had
somebody else delegated to lookover it.
(36:13):
This is like he spent a longtime there.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, it wasn't just there for the ribbon cutting.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so you know it'sinteresting what the Lord does
and giving him this confirmation, this verse actually is just
near and dear to my heart Versenine and 10.
Many of you know my story ofthe Philippines and I'll keep
this very short.
But on the night when I wassupposed to go to the
southwestern island of thePhilippines called Mindanao with
(36:40):
the Bob Thiebaud organization,I didn't get on the plane
because persecution and war andMuslim influence was breaking
out and I didn't get on theplane.
Bob Tebow came and he rebukedme in my hotel room for not
staying committed and he saidyou're just like Peter.
And he pointed his finger in myface and like nearly yelled at
(37:01):
me and he said if you don't go,you'll never have stories.
And I actually felt convicted bythe fact that I didn't go
because before I made thedecision to not get on the plane
, I was reading that verse.
Like the Lord led me to this, Ididn't even necessarily know
that's where the statement wasat in Acts 18.
(37:22):
But I read that and the HolySpirit gave me confirmation hey,
go to Zamboanga, you're goingto be just fine.
And I didn't listen.
Thankfully, bob sent me on thetrip a week later and it was
incredible, but it was like manI should have.
I should have listened to theLord.
I was going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah, a huge principle here that we need to
follow in ministry is it's beenrepeated here in this text that
we've read that Paul's concernwas to be in the word, so that
he could equip people and sharethe gospel.
It's the word that he'sconcerned with.
You know, whenever the word ofGod is the reason in which we're
(38:02):
going to go, do something, Ithink it is a powerful, um, a
powerful place to be in in thesense of I know God's going to
provide, I know God's going tohelp here, because I'm aligning
my desires with his word.
His word is the priority.
Yours was in the Philippinesearlier this year.
In Mexico, I got sick, but Iknew that the word of God was
(38:25):
more important and the Holyspirit confirmed that, yes, you
need to go, I'll take care ofyou in your sickness.
The word of God is moreimportant and I think in any of
those moments it has not failedme ever.
When the word of God is thepriority, when it is the mission
to get it to other people, godprovides and he gets you there.
I'm not saying it's going to beeasy.
(38:46):
I'm not saying you're not goingto fear like Paul did.
You're not going to get sick ormaybe hurt or attacked or
whatever it may be, but God willallow his word to get where he
wants his word to be, and whenwe're faithful to it, we can
trust him.
And here the Lord comes to Pauland says you can trust me,
(39:11):
don't worry about it whileyou're there.
This is a time to invest in thepeople and it's a time to stay
in the word, and then there'llbe a moment you'll move on, but
until then, you're good.
Yeah, I'm just giving you thatso that you can concentrate on
the most important thing, whichis the word of God.
And isn't that cool to like,know that, like, if you're
spending time in the word,that's what God wants you to be
doing.
Like, if you're, if you're not,spending time in the word, that
(39:33):
is a clear sign of hey, man,you should spend some time with
God and that's in his word.
And so that's just a marker inyour life.
Maybe you're listening andyou're like I've been trying to
get back in the word and listento your podcast because I want
to spend time in the word.
If that is lacking as aspiritual discipline and it's
even it's even kind of crazy tocall it a spiritual discipline,
even though it is, but it is thefoundation.
(39:55):
Like this is God's word.
Why wouldn't you want to bereading it and spending time in
it?
Like this is all that.
This will give you everythingyou need for your Christian life
, and so, when you're in it,your life it'll, it'll be seen
in your life and God will allowyou to see great things, do
great things for him and, uh,you'll be able to get glimpses
(40:17):
of the kingdom while you'reworking in his word and with his
people, and I think that is thefruit that you'll be able to
experience in your life.
Until there is a new kingdom,there is a new earth to live on,
and uh, and, and that'll be anawesome time.
But teaching the word, spendingtime in the word I think right
here we see God confirming withPaul and it helps us understand
(40:38):
that when we spend time in theword, that is the most important
thing.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It reminds me of a conversation that Kyle me and
you had um with a student nottoo long ago, and he was like
man I want to hear from the Lord.
I'm like cool, read the Bible.
He's like, well, I want to hearfrom the Lord audibly.
It's like cool, read from theBible out loud.
Yeah, that's it, and I thinkthat's something that we see
again here with Paul is that sosteeped in the word, spending so
much time like meditating overGod's word and going exactly
(41:03):
where he wants them to go, thathe has no fear in those moments
because he knows this is whatGod's called me to do.
And even again, like if feardoes come up, the Lord is
affirming hey, don't be afraid,I'm with you, I'm the one that's
going to be leading you and andcalling you to do my will for
these people, and so I thinkthat's where his confidence is.
We know that Paul's confidenceis not in his ability to
(41:23):
withhold himself.
It's in the Lord's ability tosustain him in every way, and I
think that's why we get to seePaul do such awesome things.
And again, going back justprior to this, we're like the
men who have overturned theworld, like they're here and
like Paul was one of those guysthat was doing the God, like the
Lord's will, and running to thedepths of the brokenness and
finding exactly where God wantedhim to be, by studying his word
(41:46):
and being obedient to thespirit in every way.
And God's affirming that andsaying hey, don't be afraid, I'm
with you.
Keep talking about the thingsI'm putting on your heart,
because they're important andsomeone needs to say them.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, and Kyle, you're right, on chance You're
right on verse five, just tosupport it.
It says Paul began devotinghimself completely to the word
Number one.
You get it again in verse nine.
Towards the end of it, god saiddon't be afraid any longer, but
go on speaking about what,about the word, and do not be
silent.
Then you see it at the end ofverse 11.
He settled there a year and sixmonths teaching the word of God
(42:19):
among them.
I think maybe this is a goodplace to land the plane.
But the idea is, if you'restanding for the word of God,
there's always a blessing there.
You know, we're in a particularsituation right now where we
don't need to go into detail,but we're trying to stand for
the word of God in a particularissue in our community and I
(42:42):
think if you're standing fortruth and you're doing it with
humility, god will honor that,god will bless that.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Yeah, I think anytime you, you make the word the
foundation of your life andhopefully that's every day and I
know we, we fall short andwe're sinners and we're not
perfect and we may say thingsthat we, that that don't align
with God's word, but the moreyou spend time in it, the more
you spend time in prayer, themore you spend time in
fellowship, the more you investin your relationship with Jesus
(43:12):
Christ.
When those moments come, whereyou need to stand, you'll stand
not because of your own doing,but because of the strength and
the peace and the comfort andeverything that God provides in
those moments.
That's what Paul's experiencing.
It's God's provision for hispeople and saying, yes, you're
standing on the word of God andI will be right there with you
(43:34):
because those are my words andyou take them seriously and you
don't just use them day to dayas just simple reminders about I
just need to be a good person,but you're truly standing on
them in the midst of persecution, in the midst of hard times,
and I think when we can do that,our faith becomes more real.
(43:54):
It becomes the day-to-day, theconstant having to just put
everything into the Lord and say, no, I trust you, lord, I may
get flack for this, I may gain areputation in a way that I
don't necessarily desire, but aslong as it's true, it is good,
and it's for you, lord, that I'mwilling to do it, and that's
(44:16):
what Paul's doing.
I think that's what we need todo.
We just can't back down.
Just because someone disagreeswith you Doesn't mean one you
have to hate each other, right?
No, it just means that this isan opportunity to share the word
of God, the truth, and wherethese things come from in
scripture and why we follow themand why they're important, and
that gives us more opportunityto evangelize and be good
(44:37):
witnesses and have a goodtestimony and stand up and say
no, Jesus says this, and this iswhy I stand firm on it, this is
why I have this, but I'm alsogoing to treat you with respect,
because God loves you too, yeah, and God values you and wants
you to know him, and so I wantyou to know him too, not because
I want you to agree with me,but because I want you to be
(44:58):
saved.
I want you to know Jesus, andso when we do that, well, um, I
think we we get to see,eventually, the fruit.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
And even if we don't see the fruit.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I trust that it'll happen because it's God's word.
Yeah, amen, david, david, Ilove how we're laying in the
plane and we're David close itout.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Well, thank you so much for listening to the be
disciples podcast.
We're trying to be disciples bythe way.
Yeah, we're trying to bedisciples, by the way.
Yeah, we're trying to bedisciples of Jesus, and so thank
you so much for listening.
We hope that you take God'sword, that it equips you, it
encourages you and it'ssomething that you continue to
spend time in.
(45:41):
Again, this is justsupplemental, hopefully, for
your spiritual life, that youwould spend time in a local
church, whether that's OttawaBible Church or another church
that puts God's word at thefoundation, the authority over
God's people, and so thank youso much for listening.
We'll see you next time, thankyou.
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