Serving the Lord with Gladness: Aquila and Priscilla

After masterfully holding forth God’s Word on Mar’s Hill in Athens, the Apostle Paul established those who believed and  then left, traveling along the coast, to Corinth. In Acts, chapter 18, the Word introduces a married couple, the second couple actually named as such in the Book of Acts. The first is Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5. In contrast to that hard-hearted and unbelieving pair, this second couple, Aquila and Priscilla, exhibited the truths of the Word mightily growing and prevailing in their lives.

Acts 18:1-3a
After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.
And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought…

Paul lived and worked with Aquila and Priscilla. This close fellowship indicates how spiritually fervent this couple was and how like-minded they became with Paul.

Vs. 3b
…for their occupation they were tentmakers [saddle makers] (the Aramaic text says ‘makers of saddle cloth’ or saddle makers)

According to Romans 16:3-5 and I Cor 16:19 Aquila and Priscilla and their household stood together on God’s Word. Paul lived side by side with them, undershepherding them and laboring together with them in the gospel. What a dynamic couple they must have been for Paul to lived with them for that period of time.

This would be akin to us having Reverend George, or any of the board of directors of this ministry coming to live and work with any of us. To help teach and run fellowship; and with the growth of the ministry in Missoula.  Can you imagine the impact this sort of relationship must have had on Aquila and Priscilla? The direct access that they had to the Apostle Paul, the believing and teaching examples that they had right in their own house.

Acts 18:18,19
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
And he came to Ephesus, and left them there…

After their time together in Corinth, Paul ventured to Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila decided to go with him on this journey. When Paul left for Caesarea and Antioch, he left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. They didn’t just go into spiritual dormancy when the man of God left them, quite the contrary. The continued speaking the Word and ministering because they had made the Word their own and grew mightily in it.

Acts 18:24,25
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

We are looking at Aquila and Priscilla, but one thing to note in this verse is Apollos’ willingness to teach and speak what he knew.  That kind of ties into Rob’s sharing from the other night; we speak what we know about this ministry and we represent the benefits that God’s Word brings to us as we live it. This man, Apollos, was a man of magnificent ability and intellect.  He had believed and disciplined himself to the point that the Word calls him mighty in the scriptures.  What he knew was the Word up to the Gospel of John.  This means that he had no knowledge whatsoever of the new birth that had been made available and he needed someone to teach him. Who could that possibly be?

Vs. 26
And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto the, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

The reason Aquila and Priscilla could do this was, first, because of the depth of the Word they had developed from their time with Paul and the love in their hearts and willingness to speak up and help; and next, Apollos’ meekness to receive. Both points are key. It takes willing hearts like Aquila and Priscilla, like us……it takes willing hearts to speak, but it also takes the meekness on the end of the recipient in order for an impact to be made. When those conditions combine, its like Captain Planet or something, the Word grows mightily and it prevails. In this case, Aquila and Priscilla were able to lead Apollos into the fullness of the manifestations of holy spirit, teaching him how to operate and enjoy all that was available spiritually.

If you continue reading through the context following these few verses you will see the impact that they truly had on this one man.  Apollos’ ability to bless God’s people and back down the adversary increased because Aquila and Priscilla lovingly showed him the way of God more perfectly.

Lets look at a couple more verses about Aquila and Priscilla in Romans.

Rom 16:3-5
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

Here we learn of the great respect and thanks that both Paul and the other believing households had for Aquila and Priscilla. They obviously had a major impact on people across the known world for it to be recorded in the Word like this. Note here, that in verse 5 and also in I Cor 16:19 it is recorded that Aquila and Priscilla were fellowship coordinators. The impact that they had on the believers across the nations they had visited, began right in their own house. They opened their home and made it available for others to come, hear and live the Word.

The word ‘helpers’ in verse 3 is ‘sunergos’ in the Greek – meaning fellow laborer, fellow worker, one who works alongside another. It sounds very much like our English word ‘synergy’ meaning  ‘combined action or functioning’.  Aquila and Priscilla worked alongside, together with the apostle Paul to move the Word, to spread the Gospel, the good news to the nations of the world. The way we labor together in the household for the same mutual cause today.

What a great example of a believing couple that God has set for us in His Word. Aquila and Priscilla were fellowship coordinators who, at one point, lived together with the great apostle Paul. He even regarded them as his helpers, his fellowlaborers in Christ. They travelled with him and moved the Word with him. In their day they made such an impact that household fellowships far and wide gave thanks for their lives and their labors of love.  In Ephesus they met Apollos, whom they brought to a more accurate knowledge of the truth that had been made available at the Day of Pentecost and led into the manifestation of holy spirit. They certainly made an impact in their areas of influence with the Word that they knew and taught.

We have all the enablements today to do the same. We speak the Word. We are fully equipped with the knowledge to instruct those with the hunger to know the more accurate truth of what is available spiritually. And we continue to make an impact in our area and in our fellowship. Keep this example of Aquila and Priscilla in your minds as you go forth, serving the Lord with gladness.

The Power of Believing: Part 2

God’s Ability Always Equals His Willingness

Rom 4:20,21 – “faith” = Greek word ‘pistis,’ which is better rendered as “believing”

What God is able to do, He is also willing to do. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Lets look at Hebrews 11, “the believer’s hall of fame” as we call it and see what the Word says about Sarah (Abraham’s Sarah, who conceived a child at 100 years old) and her thoughts on the matter.

Heb 11:11 – “she judged him faithful who had promised” - Sarah had a baby at a very advanced age because of the promise that God had made many years before. What God promised, He kept when Sarah believed. The same way that what He promises in his Word, He will honor when WE believe.

Two Examples of the Law of Believing In Action

In this section of scripture we will see two individual records of people’s believing for healing. One is the woman with the issue of blood. The other involves a leader of the synagogue and his believing for healing for his daughter, who was very sick. I will read it from the Amplified Bible and you can follow along in the KJV, or just listen if you wish.

Mark 5:22-43

Vs. 22-24 – here we see Jarius and his great desire for Jesus to come to his house and help his daughter. He had most likely heard of the works that Jesus had done and the other miracles he had performed and believed that it was available for his daughter to be completely healed, so he approached Jesus and asked this of him. Keep this in mind, because at this point the record actually switches focus to another individual.

Vs. 25,26 – enter the lady with the issue of blood. From reading here, we see that she had been bleeding for 12 years, had seen many physicians who had no idea how to help her and that she had suffered greatly from this affliction.

Vs. 27-28 – what we learn from reading the Amplified version is that the woman had been repeating this to herself to encourage and strengthen her believing. She too, had heard of the miracles Jesus had performed and she believed that all she had to do was touch his clothing to receive the healing she so needed and desired. She didn’t even want any direct attention from him.

Vs. 29 – she got what she was believing for. She was completely healed.

Vs. 30 – he knew that something had happened. Even in this time where he had set out specifically to accomplish another task, he was spiritually in tune and via word of knowledge he knew that something had occurred, that someone had touched him. We will see the reason for this revelation in the next few verses.

Vs. 31-34 – the healing had already been done by this time and Jesus didn’t really have anything to do with it. It was the woman’s believing that caused her condition to be healed. If she had believed that a rock would have healed her, then it probably would have. But due to what she believed and the action that she took, God was able to perform and deliver her. Now lets get back to Jarius and his ill daughter.

Vs. 35 – What a shock this would have been. Jarius was on an urgent mission because his daughter was very, very sick and close to death. Then someone from his household comes to inform him that she has indeed died.

Vs. 36 – I love this part here where the Amplified version says that Jesus ignored what was said and then encouraged Jarius to keep on believing, by not being seized with alarm and struck with fear. Keep the doubt, worry and fear away because those emotions are negative believing and produce negative results. If you want positive results, then believe positively.

Vs. 37-40 – See the key here? Positive believing to receive the positive results. He booted out all those who were laughing and jeering at him because of the doubt, worry and fear that they had. The parents remained positive in this situation, for they were present during the events of the next few verses.

Vs. 41-43 – He took the girls hand and told her to stand up and she did.

So we see the key to both this and the previous record was the believing of the affected individuals. Jesus instructed the woman that her believing is what had made her whole and encouraged the man to remain steadfast in his believing for his daughter with comforting words and with his actions by kicking all the negative individuals out of the house.

Mark 11:23 –

The lesson is to keep your thoughts positive when you are believing for something to come to pass. Eliminate the negativity that might surround you and boost your believing with positive influences. These records that we looked at today specifically deal with healing, but this principle of positive believing can be applied to any goal, or need that you might have whether it be spiritual or physical as long as it is in line with what God has made available. Keeping a positive mindset allows God to work in any situation because His ability equals His willingness to bless you in any way that He can.

So today we have seen that God’s will for us is to prosper and be in health; and that we can receive His blessings with meekness as we believe His Word. We also saw that to match God’s desire is His willingness and His ability to make that prosperity and health a reality in our lives. As we focus on our goals and remain positive in our believing, not doubting what God has made available, we will absolutely accomplish what we set out to do.

God Bless You!

The Power of Believing: Part 1

Something new that I have decided to do: Start posting my teachings from fellowship up on the blog.  I am beliving that it will generate thought, research and/or study by those who read them.  At the very least, maybe even some comments. Keep in mind that these are meant to be read in a teaching environment, so some thoughts may be detailed out, while yet others may be more vague.  If there are any spelling issues, let me know and I will work to correct them.  Hope you enjoy these periodic posts of teaching I have done at our household fellowship.  Here goes:

Serving the Lord With Gladness – The Power of Believing

Today we will be looking at two different records in God’s Word concerning the topic of believing. In order to tap into the resources of God’s abundance and power, we need to learn how to go to the Word to find out what is available, how to receive it and then what to do with it afterwards. We can receive God’s blessings as we keep in mind His willingness and ability to perform every promise that he has set forth in His Word. 1^st we will look at what is available and how to receive it. Then we will see God’s ability and His willingness. And finally we will look at the Law of Believing and two records of it in action.

What’s Available and How to Receive It

III John 2 – God’s will is for us to prosper. He never meant for His children to be poverty-stricken or downtrodden in any aspect of their lives. He also wants His kids to be in good health. This includes us! We are God’s children by seed, His spirit created in each of us, and he wants us to prosper and to be in good health. If His Word states it, then it must be available for us to receive.

II Cor 9:8 - “all sufficiency in all things” – sufficiency is the will of God for His children in order that His children may abound unto every good work

Rom 8:37 – God said it so it must be possible! And there are hundreds o f promises in the Word that enable us to prosper and to be in good health. We can only utilize the promises that we know and there is only one place to learn more about what God has made available to us.

James 1:21

How do we receive the spiritual things that we know are available? Since we were born we have been taught how to receive material things and spiritual things may be received in the same manner, with meekness and thanksgiving. Once we know the promise that meets the need, all we have to do is believe literally what the promise says and it will come to pass. The next step in gaining that confidence to believe God’s promises is in the understanding that God’s ability always equals his willingness.

END OF INSTALLMENT #1 – Keep tabs for the next section of this teaching in the next week or so.

What’s New?

Wow. A month and a week? Really? Its been that long since the last post… What a month its been too. It absolutely flew by. So, what’s new?

Twitter.com for one. I have found a new depth to the internet at Twitter.com. Its a social networking site that asks ‘What are you doing?’ and basically allows you to open your life to anyone who wants to ‘follow’ you. With a whole host of added applications and feature sites, you can send a ‘tweet’ that updates your calendar and todo lists, or you can send a message to a friend. It also allows Aimee and I to communicate using text messaging from our phones to any Twitter application on a computer, or even the iPod’s. If one of use forgets our phone, we can still communicate via the internet. Take a look if you have some time. Its been a lot of fun so far and each of us has an account:

Jason - Aimee - Anaiya - Jordan

Aside from sharing what you are doing, Twitter in turn allows you a view into other peoples lives. Actors/Actresses/Celebs (Demi Moore, Stephen Fry, LeVar Burton, to name a select few,) politicians, news networks like CNN, comedic accounts (Michael_Bay, CobraCommander, DarthVader) – not only can you see what they are up to as they post, but you can also message them directly. People send messages containing links to information/articles/videos online, as well as pictures and stories from their travels around the world. It gives you contact to a whole realm of people you would not normally have access to. Want to ask LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: TNG, Reading Rainbow) a question? Go ahead! if you catch him at the right time, you might just get a reply back! It really is a fascinating new way to connect with other people. I have even successfully invited a local Twitter contact to a fellowship outreach event. He actually accepted the invite and we all got to have some fun hanging out at our house that evening!

That is one small piece of what is new for us. In other news, Jordan was diagnosed about a month ago with reflux (similar to adult acid reflux) and he is now on a small amount of Zantac throughout the day. From as soon as two days after putting him on the medication, his periods of spitting up have been greatly reduced and he hardly ever has issues anymore. He is keeping his food down and has gained a good amount of weight in the last few weeks. It puts him at the low end of the ‘normal’ range, but in the range nonetheless. A great blessing to be sure! Now that he is getting all the food that he needs and keeping it down, his sleeping patterns fall right into place and things are wonderfully sweet during the night. He is starting to enjoy belly time more and more and has even rolled over twice now. Its so hard to believe that it has already been four whole months since he was born. Time sure is flying!

Anaiya continues to grow and learn every day. She especially enjoys building the Word into her mind through scripture and song and we frequently hear her singing ‘Got Any Rivers?’ (‘God Specializes’ as she calls it) and ‘Peace, Peace’ to herself as she plays with her blocks, or when she goes to sleep in her Hello Kitty tent that she got for the holidays. She brings the meaning of the word ‘cute’ to an entirely new level, doling out hugs and kisses to everyone at fellowship and even pretending to lead/teach the meeting while we set up. Watching her try to lead songs is a riot. She ’started off’ our fellowship the other night with “Welcome to fellowship. This is how it’s going down!” – We have NO idea where that came from, but everyone there got a big kick out of it. In pure energy and childish wonderment, she reminds us of a certain young boy named Danny that we knew when we lived back in Ohio. Some of you who are reading this will know just who I am talking about and how amazing it can be to see a little one who can hold their own in a conversation. These are great times, indeed!

There it is…a small glimpse into what we have been up to for the last month, or so.

Until next time!

The Internet

The internet is a wonderful thing. You can find just about any piece of information you wish, if only you know how to look. What really revolutionized this process is Google. I love Google. I Google stuff on a daily basis, whether at work or at home. I have had a sore throat for about a week now and all the doctor could tell me is to gargle with salt water. How does this help? Here is my latest find:

“How can such a seemingly simple solution of salt and water cure that sore throat? The answer lies within the very nature of salt. It’s a natural dehydrator commonly used in food preservation and preparation. Its ability to draw out the water in foods is the reason pickles retain their tartness and crunch after months in a jar, and also how salmon lox is made.
While salt doesn’t exactly pickle your throat, the same principle applies. A sore throat is usually inflamed due to bacteria and other germs wreaking havoc on your soft tissues or mucosa. These inflammations (known as edemas) are usually filled with water, and the salt works its way into your throat. Through osmosis, the salt draws out the edema fluid, killing the bacteria, which requires a warm, wet environment.

While the relief from pain and swelling is real, gargling with salt doesn’t necessarily cure the ailment. Also, the principle of too much of a good thing can apply. While the warm water and salt grains dancing in your throat may feel good, too much salt can harm your mucosa. Gargle in moderation, then go see a doctor if your symptoms persist. “ – Ask Yahoo

Good stuff. The other good place to look for stuff is Wikipedia. Wonderful resources at the tip of our fingers and all for free!