Family Day was awesome
Thank you to everyone who made this past Sunday our best Family Day ever! It was really a lot of fun AND very powerful. Families made musical instruments together, then we used them to sing some of our favorite songs. We helped parents have a strategy to “not skip a beat” over the next several weeks, and we challenged dads to be the spiritual leader in their homes.
Thanksgiving Turkeys
Hey, we are STILL in need of turkeys for the upcoming community Thanksgiving dinner. This is a great chance for US to cooperate with other churches to BE the Body of Christ in Gilmer County by providing a free Thanksgiving Dinner to anyone who wants or needs one.
Who is your “Joshua?”
On Sunday, we talked about how Israel went into the darkest period of their history as a nation because Joshua didn’t have a Joshua. What does that mean to you?
Think about a typical week of your life. What responsibilities do you have each week? Who do you see and where do you go?
Out of the places you frequent, including your work, how would you describe your relationships in those places?
We recognize the big name folks in the New Testament, but there are so many others who’s names we may or not remember. These men and women are no less significant and represent to us a picture of gospel partnership and friendship among the early church. Paul met many of these people in his daily lives and they became much needed partners in his ministry.
Acts 18:1–3 (NLT)
Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.
Acts 18:24–26 (NLT)
Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.
Why do you think Luke included this reference to Paul’s staying with Aquila and Priscilla and working with them as a tentmaker? What do we learn about Paul’s ministry approach from these details?
Paul was an evangelist… Someone who spread the Good News. But, he didn’t make his living by preaching, right? What did he do for a living?
While in Corinth, Paul worked as a means to an end. But, I am certain that Paul did not see himself as a maker of tents. Paul earned a living to fund his mission. Paul did what he did so he could be who God wanted him to be.
How is that different from our typical American mentality towards our work?
What does the fact that Aquila and Priscilla left Corinth with Paul suggest about the relationship he had built with this couple?
What do we learn about Apollos from the verses above? What lessons can we learn from Priscilla and Aquila’s investment in Apollos’s life? What key truths about Jesus would have been included in their teaching?
Apollos was well educated, and a cultured, eloquent person. As a Jew, he was well-versed in the Old Testament. Apollos learned about Jesus from others who passed the word along.
BVut Apollos only knew part of the story. He knew about John the Baptist, but didn’t realize that Jesus was the Messiah. That’s why Priscilla and Aquila had to step in. This husband and wife team heard Apollos’s teaching, and they recognized it to be incomplete. Priscilla and Aquila filled in the gaps- including Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection.
Who might God be putting on your heart to tell about Jesus? Why might it be challenging to listen to that person attentively and engage him or her in conversations about faith?
Romans 16:3–5 (NLT)
Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a follower of Christ.
2 Timothy 4:19 (NLT)
Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus.
What must these believers have meant to Paul to include them in his most important missionary letter and the last piece he ever wrote?
Who are those friends that you would count on when it matters most? Who has invested in your life in an impactful way?
Who has invested in your faith like Priscilla and Aquila invested in Paul, Apollos, and others? How have they done that?
If you are married, how can you invest in someone or disciple another couple together as a family?
How can you minister and disciple your spouse and children?
As you pray together, pray for each other’s heart towards others, and for God to speak into and through us to bring someone specific (pray by name) to Himself.