SUNDAY - MARCH 15, 2026 "Not Just Paul"

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

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God bless.

If you have your Bibles this morning, we'll be in the gospel not in the gospel, we'll be in the book of Acts.

Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

We'll begin reading in verse 18.

So Acts 18, 18.

As you turn there, many of you know, uh I served a year, a school year at the University of Southern Mississippi as the as the BSU intern.

I worked at the Baptist Student Union.

We, in the spring of 2001, we started a Bible study with the baseball team at Southern Miss.

And then that summer, into that spring, into that summer, the BSU director came and asked me to serve as the intern the next school year.

So the fall of 2000 into the spring of 2002.

I served as the intern there.

And I won't ever forget one of the first days that I was there, that I went kind of in the in an official capacity.

I'd been in the BSU hundreds of times.

I just, as an in an official capacity, I went in and uh went into the restroom and it needed some attending.

It needed some attending.

We'll just leave it at that.

And so I came out and went to the associate BSU director and and I made him aware of it.

I was like, hey, who should I tell?

Like, what what?

And he just looked and went, mmm, you.

You tell you.

You go handle it.

Which great lesson in ministry, while ministry does require us teaching scripture, and it does acquire us to uh keep our hearts clean.

Sometimes we have to get our hands dirty.

And so I remember, but I won't ever forget that that conversation and that look with Michael, going like, who's supposed to handle this?

And he just stepped back and go, You, you're supposed to handle this.

We just take care of it.

You know, sometimes I think when we get to thinking about the kingdom of God, and as we've talked about repeatedly in the book of Acts, how we are to be called to be witnesses in the kingdom of God, sometimes when we hear that, that we are to be witnesses in the kingdom of God, sometimes we step back and go, but but wait, that's Grant's job, or that's David's job, or that's Laura's job, or that's um that's a missionary's job.

That's somebody like Paul's job.

They're supposed to be doing that.

And often I feel like God's just kind of stepping back and giving us that look that Michael Ball gave me that day, going, no, that's you.

We're all called to be witnesses in the kingdom of God.

Today, what we're gonna find in her passage is that it's not just Paul that's called.

Today, we're gonna see uh Priscilla and Aquila and Apollos serve as participants in being witnesses of the kingdom of God.

And hopefully, as we see these people who are not apostles, they're not Paul, there are other people who had other jobs and duties and things to do.

Hopefully, as we see them being witnesses to the kingdom of God, it will help us to understand that we are all called to be those witness to be witnesses in the kingdom.

Hopefully, as we see them doing this, we will be challenged ourselves to be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

So we're gonna seek to answer the question this morning: how did they participate?

What did they do as witnesses of the kingdom of God?

And hopefully, as we see what they did, it will challenge us to be witnesses as well.

So I invite you this morning, if you are able to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's Word, Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Again, we'll begin reading in verse 18 and read through the end of the chapter.

After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him for Scylla and Aquila.

At Sincrea he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined, but on taking leave of them he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail from Ephesus.

When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and to and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Now a Jew Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Achaea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples and to welcome him.

When he arrived, he greatly helped those through who who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Let's pray together.

God, we do thank you for your word.

We thank you for how you have revealed yourself to us through your word.

And we pray that this morning as we encounter you, as we study your word, that we will see you.

Reveal yourself to us, please.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray these things.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So again, let's let's let's understand exactly kind of what's going on here and where we are.

Last week we saw Paul in Corinth.

And he he spent about a year and a half in Corinth there.

And we we know that while he was in Corinth, he met Priscilla and Aquila.

God brought them into him.

We talked about how God took him to Priscilla and Aquila, and they built community as Paul was going through a difficult time.

And now, as we as we come to our passage today, Paul is going to leave Corinth and he's going to travel, and we see that he travels, he leaves Corinth, and he goes to Sincrea.

There he had cut his hair, but then he went on to Ephesus.

Now, when when he gets to Ephesus, we understand that he doesn't spend a long time there.

Now, some commentators believe this is a side note.

We won't talk.

Some commentators believe that Paul had been under a Nazarite vow.

And the Nazarite vow, you don't cut your hair until the end, but once at the end of the vow, you cut your hair, and you have so many days to get that to Jerusalem to present it at the altar.

And so Paul is kind of in a hurry.

Some commentators think that's why he doesn't stay long in Ephesus.

He goes to Ephesus, he stays, they want him to stay longer, but he he takes leave and he leaves Ephesus.

He goes to Caesarea.

In Caesarea, it says he goes up to the church.

Now many believe when it says he goes up, a lot of the New Testament language, when it says go up, what they mean is he goes to Jerusalem.

So he is believed he went to Jerusalem to see the church there, possibly even to if he had been under this Nazarite vow to present his hair there.

He goes to Jerusalem, and then it says he goes down to Antioch.

Now in Antioch, we need to stop and pause for a moment here and see the joint mission that Paul has with this church at Antioch.

We've seen them before.

It was Antioch that first sent Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey that Paul went on.

We saw them go through Galatia and these other places and go through Cyprus, and then they came back to Antioch, reported what had happened, spent some time there, and then they sent Paul and Silas on Paul's second missionary journey.

Paul is wrapping up this second missionary journey in our passage today.

He comes back to Antioch to kind of report what's going on, and what we see is they're really going to send him off on his third missionary journey in this passage.

What we find is this supporting church.

There was a joint mission effort between Paul and this church.

While the church, while people in the church may not have been going out, they supported Paul.

They prayed for Paul.

Paul felt some kind of commitment to them because they had been committed to him.

And so we find him going back to this church and supporting and being an encouragement to Paul and helping Paul and challenging Paul to go on these journeys.

And so what we can see, church, through this through this effort is this.

Well, I do believe we should go as much as we can.

If you get an opportunity, we we just had a group to come back from Orlando that worked with a church plant down in Orlando this past week.

We're looking at some more, and we're gonna try to provide opportunities for you to go on some short-term mission trips.

And I encourage you to do that.

But listen, don't feel like just because you can't go, you can't be on mission.

You can be.

This church is at Antioch is because they are supportive of Paul.

Financially, they are supportive of Paul through prayer.

They are supportive of Paul through encouragement and through being interested in knowing what's going on.

There was this joint mission effort between Paul and this church.

And then we see them send Paul out on this third missionary journey.

It tells us he goes through the region of Galatia, which would have included places like that he went on his first missionary journey.

He would have gone to Derby and Lystra and Iconium and Antioch Pisidia.

Then it says he went up to Phrygia, which is north of that.

And we saw him go there on the second missionary journey.

He wanted to go to a place, and God said, No, you can't.

He closed doors and he wound up in Phrygia.

And then we find him getting the Macedonian call where he wound up going to Philippi.

But before he went to Philippi, he went through Phrygia.

And what we find Paul doing is he is going to travel over a thousand miles to go and encourage people, to strengthen churches.

He's not going to new places.

And this is over a thousand miles, not in car.

Amen.

He is going to walk over a thousand miles, not to new places, not to go start new churches.

He is going to churches already established to encourage them to disciple them.

Listen, our call, we see the call on Paul's life is not just to evangelize.

Are we supposed to be evangelizing?

Absolutely, we are.

We're called to be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

We are supposed to be telling people about Jesus.

But it's not, we are also supposed to encourage them and help people grow in their relationship with Jesus.

That's what Paul's doing here.

He's traveling around and he's doing this.

So what we find Paul doing at Ephesus is he leaves, but something interesting happens.

We're going to find two people, Priscilla and Aquila.

They did not leave.

They stayed in Ephesus.

They stayed in Ephesus to be a part and to be witnesses and to be participants and being witnesses to the kingdom of God.

So again, we come to our question today of how were they witnesses?

How did they participate as witnesses to the kingdom of God?

Let's look and see what they did.

First, what we're going to see Aquila and Priscilla doing is they discipled.

They discipled people.

Now you may say, Grant, it doesn't really tell us that in this passage.

Okay.

We're going to get to a place that it does, but initially there's no, it doesn't say specifically Aquila and Priscilla discipled people.

But we're going to see from other passages that they did.

Remember, Aquila and Priscilla had been in Corinth.

Just last week we saw Paul meet them in Corinth.

And then for some reason, when Paul left Corinth, they decided to go with him.

So here they are, and they come to Ephesus, and Paul leaves, but they stayed.

And what we're going to find in Paul's third missionary journey, we see him go back.

We've just saw him go to Galatia and Phrygeia, but next week we're going to see him back in Ephesus.

He's going to travel back to Ephesus where Aquila and Priscilla are.

When he's in Ephesus, he writes a letter to the church at Corinth that he's already been.

And it's interesting that he mentions Aquila and Priscilla in his letter at Corinth, to Corinth.

Would have been normal that he would do that because it's where they were from.

But listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 19.

1 Corinthians 16:19

See what he says about Aquila and Priscilla.

The churches of Asia send you greetings.

Now Ephesus was in Asia, so understand that.

The churches in Asia send you greetings.

Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

The church in their house.

Understand what's happening again.

They travel to Corinth from Corinth to Ephesus with Paul.

Paul leaves, they stay.

Now, they didn't panic when Paul left.

They didn't sit around and go, well, why did we, God, why did you bring us here?

I mean, we traveled here with Paul and he's gone.

God, what do we do now?

They didn't sit around, they didn't think it was necessary for Paul to be there.

They didn't, here's what they did.

They knew that they were empowered by the Holy Spirit, so they got to work.

They became witnesses to the kingdom of God and they started a church in their home without Paul.

They didn't need him.

They had the Holy Spirit.

Now, again, see who they are.

I know I've said it already, but I I want you to see it.

They were a married couple who left Rome fleeing persecution.

They went to Corinth.

In Corinth, they took up their occupation of being tent makers.

They were not evangelists.

They were not preachers.

They were not apostles who had spent time with Jesus.

They were not disciples who had even seen Jesus.

They were tent makers who God crossed their paths with Paul.

They allowed Paul to stay with them for a year and a half as Paul did ministry in Corinth.

But from reading and looking at what they do in their lives, it's not just Paul doing ministry.

They're there beside him doing it as well as tent makers.

So they decide to travel to Ephesus with Paul.

They get to Ephesus, and for some reason, we don't know if God just said, hey, Paul's going to go.

You need to stay.

We don't know if Paul said, hey, I don't want you to come with me.

We don't know.

We don't know why they stayed.

Here's what we know: they stayed.

They stayed in Ephesus.

Tent makers.

We're going to see Paul come back to Ephesus.

And you know what he's going to do when he comes back to Ephesus?

Yeah, he's going to evangelize.

But you know what else he's going to do?

Be a tent maker.

With Aquila and Priscilla.

They're tent makers.

Who became witnesses to the kingdom of God and started a church in their home.

After Paul left.

Because they had the power of the Holy Spirit.

Church, hear me.

Church, hear me.

You can be a witness to the kingdom of God.

Because as believers, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, and that's what we need.

That's all we need.

We need to trust Him and we need to follow Him.

Understanding it's not just Paul.

It's the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

They began a church.

Not only that, we see them disciple this young man named Apollos.

Now we're gonna we're gonna see more about Apollos in just a moment.

But let's see what happens.

Apollos, he comes to town and he begins to speak boldly.

In verse 26, it tells us he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Apollos is gonna show up and he is a dynamic person.

And he begins to speak boldly in the synagogue, and he's teaching about Jesus.

He's teaching accurately about Jesus.

The problem is he only knows the baptism of John.

We're gonna get there in a little bit, okay?

But for right now, he only knows the baptism of John.

So see what Aquila and Priscilla did.

They didn't stand up in the middle of the synagogue.

They could have been there because they were Jewish Christians.

They could have been there, but they didn't stand up in the middle of the synagogue and go, You're wrong, you need to be quiet and sit down.

No, they saw something in this young man.

They gently pulled him aside and they taught him the truth.

They taught him the way of the Lord more accurately.

They discipled him.

That's what discipling is.

So often we hear that word and we become intimidated by it.

Don't be intimidated by the word.

The word disciple means we bring somebody along.

We teach them, we mentor them.

That's what Aquila and Priscilla did to Apollos.

They brought him along, they pulled him aside and gently taught him the way of God more accurately.

They led him in truth.

They discipled him.

Again, remember who they are.

They are tent makers.

And I say that like there's something wrong.

There's nothing wrong with being a tent maker.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

What I want you to see is not that there's something wrong, be a tent maker.

I want you to see these are everyday people caring about everyday lives who are discipling people, starting churches in their home because they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And what I'm hoping you see by this is you can do it as well.

You can be witnesses to the kingdom of God as well.

It's not just my job.

It's not just David's job or Laura's job or the missionaries that we send out's job.

He has called us all to be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

Aquila and Priscilla were doing that.

Second, or the third person that we really see, I almost said second, it's Aquila and Priscilla, while they are two people.

Just an interesting fact, you know, you never see them separated.

They're not ever mentioned in the New Testament as just Aquila or just Priscilla.

Every time they're mentioned, they're mentioned as Aquila and Priscilla.

Couples, just something for you to think about.

The other person that we're gonna meet is Apollos.

Now, Apollos shows up out of the blue, just kind of just bangs in on the story.

Haven't seen him, we've never met him, we've never heard of him, nothing like that.

All of a sudden, he just shows up here in Ephesus and he begins to speak boldly in the synagogue.

There are some things that we do know about Apollos.

We know that he is from Alexandria.

Now we haven't read a lot about Alexandria in the New Testament, but history tells us some stuff about Alexandria.

Alexandria is known even before the time of Jesus to have a great, it's a city in Egypt that had a great library.

The library at Alexandria.

Had all kinds of documents.

And what we also know from history is that there was a large Jewish population in Alexandria.

And so there were a lot of even Old Testament documents in the library at Alexandria.

And so when it comes, and we we know that he was probably an educated man because he was from Alexandria.

We also know this that he was an eloquent man, and it tells us he was competent in the scriptures.

This is what that would mean.

He had been taught, he had been trained, he had come up understanding the Old Testament scriptures.

He would have known what they were, he would have known the prophecies, he would have known all of these things.

It's probably why he is able to teach Jesus accurately because he understood the Old Testament, the Old Testament scriptures pointed to Messiah coming.

He heard about Jesus and said, Well, this must be the Messiah.

He was competent in the scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

And he was fervent in spirit.

Now there is some debate, I guess, about what that means.

Was he fervent in spirit?

Some would say he is referring there because it's in some translations you see a lowercase s, so they're talking about he was a fervent person.

Some translations you see a capital S that means he was fervent in the Holy Spirit.

It's hard to tell exactly what Luke was saying here.

It's hard to tell about exactly what Luke was telling us about Apollo.

So we know that he was teaching about Jesus accurately, but we also know that he had only known the baptism of John.

So was he a believer?

Luke doesn't really tell us.

We don't really know.

And if you read different commentaries, some will say yes, definitely he was a believer, some will say no, he probably wasn't.

Here's what I know, though.

And here's what we know from scripture about him.

While Luke may not tell us if he was a believer or not, there are questions that arise, right?

Like, how could he teach Jesus accurately and teach about Jesus accurately and not be a believer?

Well, you can know a lot about Jesus and not believe in him.

You can be a very religious person and not have a relationship with Jesus.

So I don't know.

Then the question is when the question comes, well, what about the Spirit?

Well, I will say this.

I believe it is necessary for a believer to have the Holy Spirit indwell in him, and I believe the Holy Spirit is a mark of a true believer.

If you do not have the Holy Spirit, I believe you are not a believer.

If you do, you are a believer.

We don't know for sure what script what Luke is telling us about Timothy here.

We don't know, but I'll say this: if he had the Spirit, he was a believer.

If he didn't, he wasn't.

We're not real sure, but here's what we know: he didn't know the baptism of Jesus.

But here's where we see something super important in Apollos.

We see his humility.

Because look what happens.

Priscilla and Aquila, while he speaks boldly in the temple, accurately, accurately teaching about Jesus.

He's eloquent, he's fervent.

He's all the things a good speaker would be.

I mean, if he showed up here, we'd go, man, teach us something, Apollos.

But Aquila and Priscilla knew that he only knew the baptism of John.

So they gently pulled him aside and they taught him more accurately about Jesus.

Now, Luke here in Acts doesn't tell us that if he was baptized, but it does tell us this.

He wanted to go to Achaia, to Corinth, where Paul had been.

And so what the church did is they blessed him to go to Corinth, and they didn't just say, hey, yeah, that's a good idea, go to Corinth.

And it's not the synagogue that's blessing him, it's the church.

The church blesses him and writes him a letter to take to Corinth to tell the believers in Corinth to welcome him, welcome him.

Now, while Luke may not tell us that he was baptized in the name of Jesus, I think we can pretty well assume it by the way that the church encourages him and sends him off.

And in Apollos, we see his humility to receive that teaching and recognize he doesn't know it all and follow Jesus.

We also see in Apollos that he wanted to be helpful.

Here, what he did is he went to Corinth, to Achaia.

Corinth is in Achaia.

He goes to Corinth and he powerfully refutes the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ, that the Christ was Jesus.

Now we don't hear much else from Apollos, at least right here in Acts.

But we do read about Apollos in other places.

When Paul writes back from Ephesus, when he writes back this letter to Corinth that we've already looked at, he talks about Apollos there.

Apollos had gone to Corinth and had such an impact.

Now this is not a good thing.

His impact was good, but what happened after that is not necessarily.

He had had such a good, had such a big impact on the church at Corinth.

What we find in Paul's in the first chapter of Paul's letter is that people were quarreling over whose baptism was better.

Some said, well, I was baptized by Paul.

Some said I was baptized by Apollos.

And they were arguing over which baptism was better.

Now, what an argument, right?

They must have been Baptists.

They're arguing over whose baptism was better.

But Paul, in addressing it, he mentions Apollos again in chapter 3.

Here's what he writes in 1 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 5.

He says, This.

What is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each.

I planted.

Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive the wages according to his labor.

For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building.

Do you hear what Paul is saying about Apollos?

He calls him a fellow servant.

Apollos wasn't an apostle.

He had not spent time with Jesus like Paul had.

He was from Alexandria.

Good chance he didn't even meet Jesus.

Never knew who Jesus.

I mean, he knew about Jesus.

He had learned the teachings of Jesus, but good chance he had never met him.

From Alexandria, not even from the promised land.

But he comes and humility is discipled and becomes such a witness of the kingdom of God that Paul calls him a fellow servant.

Who doesn't seek to bring glory to himself, but seeks to glorify God.

Church, hear me.

What we see in Aquila and Priscilla, what we see in Apollos are everyday people who seek to be witnesses of the kingdom of God and impact the kingdom greatly.

You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

That's you.

That's me.

But hear me.

If we're going to be those witnesses, if we're going to be witnesses of the kingdom of God, you must first be a citizen to the kingdom of God.

It's not enough just to know about Jesus.

Maybe like Apollos.

We are called to know Jesus, to be in a relationship with him, to believe in him.

Listen, and if you have never done that today, I challenge you.

Know Jesus.

Know that Jesus is the Christ, as Apollos taught.

Here's what that means: it means that God sent Jesus to this earth to die in the place of sinners, me and you.

And he died a horrible death on the cross, taking upon himself the punishment that you and I deserve for the sin that we have committed.

And he was buried and he arose conquering death, conquering that sin.

And now what he offers to us is life.

And if you've never believed in him, I pray that today you will believe in Jesus, that you understand that you know you have sinned and you have fallen short of the glory of God.

And the only way to have life is by believing in Jesus and entering into a relationship with him.

I pray that today will be the day of salvation for you.

I pray that today you will become a citizen in the kingdom of God.

But if you are a citizen, the life that we have been given through Jesus Christ and through his triumph, through the, as we say, through the victory that we have been given through the resurrection.

With that victory, we have been called to be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

Where God has placed you right now.

I'm saying tomorrow when you go to work, be a witness of the kingdom of God.

Students, I'm saying tomorrow, when you go to school, be a witness to the kingdom of God.

Families, I'm saying today, when you go home from church and you're with each other, be a witness to the kingdom of God.

Disciple each other, encourage each other, share the gospel with those around you.

Aquila and Priscilla did it every day as tent makers.

Yeah, I know Apollo's taught in the synagogue, but I mean nobody knew him before that.

Just decided to follow God.

We are called to be witnesses.

I challenge you to be witnesses.

Just a moment, we're gonna pray and sing.

As we pray, I invite you to come forward.

Or after we pray, as we sing, I invite you to come forward.

If you've never trusted in Christ as your Savior, oh let today be the day of salvation.

If you have, but you need, you have been challenged to be that witnesses, we would love to pray with you.

Maybe you just want to come kneel at these steps and make that commitment to God.

We invite you to come.

If you're looking for a church home, we saw last week that we need that.

If you're looking for a church home so together we can be witnesses of the kingdom of God, we invite you to come.

However, God is leading you.

As we stand and sing in just a moment, we invite you to come.

Let's pray together.

God, you are good and we love you.

We thank you for how you love us.

We thank you for all you've done for us.

God, I pray that as you are here and moving among us today, God, you will give us the faith that we need to answer your call.

For those who need salvation, I pray that today will be the day of salvation.

For those who just need to commit themselves to being witnesses, I pray that today will be that day.

God, move and work as only you can.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSoto Hills.com.