Untitled Sermon (3)

Introduction

Imagine overnight the government signed an executive order requiring you to relocate because of ethnicity & faith.

Imagine leaving your home, and your business, 

Traveling for weeks, to move to a completely new place starting over.

What happened to wife and husband Priscilla & Aquila

Read Acts 18:1-3

God’s grace transforms lives. Believe this so completely that it is our mission statement (the thing that defines us)

Priscilla & Aquila are yet two more examples of God’s grace at work.

First - what do we know? 

They were Jewish Christians from Rome, forced out by Emperor Claudius when tensions rose between Jews and Christians. 

Suddenly uprooted, grieving what they left behind, they arrived in Corinth simply trying to survive.

Grace through community helps endure difficult trials

Paul found them - by Grace. Paul work with them, helping establish business in their new home of Corinth.

Can’t tell you what a blessing that must have been. 

Paul was Roman - appreciated a somewhat familiar face.

Moving to republic - mexican neighbors w/daughter Camilla - share food, took care when sick, kids played together - felt like home. 

Find in places like this, where community is shared - God’s grace is readily at work.

In fact, it is by the grace of God through community that we can endure even the most difficult trials.

For P&A, God’s grace gave them not only a partnership as husband and wife, but a friendship which rooted them in a community of believers.

Aprox 200x scripture describes God’s people meeting together for worship/community.

Scripture shows again and again that God protects, strengthens, and shapes His people through community—believers gathered, praying, worshiping, caring for one another. Priscilla and Aquila experienced that protection and joy through Paul and the Corinthian church.

Think about YOUR moments HERE - beyond sermon, or the music, those moments where being with God’s people brought you unexpected joy.

Bad day leaving your home, but Ron greeting you at the door ask how you’re doing.

One of the kids ran to hug you while we were greeting each other. Nothing beats knowing you are welcome, appreciated, even important to someone else. But you don’t know those things outside of community - (isolation: wonder if you are valued/even missed).

“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

P&A - more than a familiar face. Connect with people who love Jesus. 

Paul had come to Rome to tell people about the gospel and P&A quickly found themselves in the center of this mission.

Encouraged, energized as they witnessed Paul preaching/arguing in the synagogue.

Shocked and proud when he left synagogue and began preaching to the gentiles.

Encouraging Paul when jewish leaders began plotting to attack.

All happening over 6 months time.

Thrilled (a bit nervous) when Paul, announcing he was leaving Corinth, asked them to travel with him - as companions in ministry. - this is when we see God’s grace flourish as P&A take a leap of faith.

Travel with Paul all over the Mediterranean preaching the gospel and caring for believers just as they had been cared for in Corinth. 

But in true Paulian fashion - he doesn’t stay with them for long. Ephesus and Paul says, I’m leaving you here, be back Lord willing. - begged him to stay longer.

Stay, care for the church in Ephesus - brings to Acts 18:24-28

Don’t want you to miss what’s happening here. God took married couple from home in Italy to exile in Corinth. Connected them to community of believers where they found protection and purpose.

Then took them on mission from Corinth to Ephesus where they met a man - whom they discipled in the context of community - so that HE could go BACK TO CORINTH to tell the Jews about Jesus.

Do you see it now? God is carrying out a spectacular plan through the connection of Christian believers.

Church - when we participate in community God’s grace unites us in shared lives AND shared mission. - HIS mission.

Paul wasn’t successful ministering the Jews in Corinth - they attacked him, put him on trial - and he abandoned the cause. But God’s grace wasn’t done.

Sure when P&A left Rome they had no idea what God was doing - but they found strength in community of Christians - so much so that they left their home of 6 months - on mission. Only to be abandoned by their friend in another strange place.

 God’s grace was at work through every encounter, every prayer offered together, every lesson shared about the resurrection of Jesus.

God’s grace empowered P&A to leave their homes, find welcome with his people, and invest in a new believer who then finds his own place in the God’s mission - bringing grace back to the place they had left.

Priscilla and Aquila to open their home, welcome strangers, and invest in a new believer who would eventually carry the gospel right back to the place they had left. God’s grace united them in mission, helping others be transformed through the very grace that was shaping them.  

Grace unites us in shared lives and shared mission

Who do you know that needs a dose of grace?

Who could you invite to share with us?

Love of gardening

Children/teens

Always have questions, but you don’t always have the answers?

Maybe it's someone already here…

Because this is what grace does. Grace gathers us. Grace shapes us. Grace sends us.

And as we share our lives and join in God’s mission together, we become living proof of the gospel which transforms us.

So this week, ask God for one name. One person. One connection. One opportunity to share God’s grace with someone else.

Because God is still weaving His spectacular plan—and He’s inviting us to be part of it.

Benediction: Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace.…May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor 13:11a & 14)

How does the sermon illustrate the concept of grace in the lives of Priscilla and Aquila?

In what ways can we identify instances of God’s grace in our own lives, like Priscilla and Aquila experienced?

What practical steps can you take to foster community within your church as a source of strength and support?

How did Paul’s relationship with Priscilla and Aquila impact their ministry and purpose in Ephesus?

Why do you think Priscilla and Aquila felt a sense of community in Corinth despite being uprooted from their home?

Can you think of a time when being part of a community helped you through a difficult situation?

Who is one person you can reach out to this week to share God’s grace, as mentioned in the sermon?

How did Priscilla and Aquila contribute to the spread of the Gospel after they relocated?