A BELIEVING FAMILY

A BELIEVING Family

It takes more than great programs to build a great church…we have a great programs going on here, but it’s not enough.

It takes more than hard workers and sacrificial servants to build a great church … we have that

It takes more than big offerings … we have been blessed for our size to do as well as we do in tithes-for the local ministry, in missions-for around the world, and in special offerings we receive.

It takes more than a super staff working with the pastor, more than talented teachers, and more than dedicated deacons to build a great church.

It Takes BELIEVING People, BELIEVING Families, And BELIEVING Homes To Really Make A Great Church.

We ARE building a church here -- but hopefully we are building it by building people, building families, and building our homes -- if we do that -- then together we will be building a great church as a by-product and all to the glory of God!

Acts 18:1-3 (GW) After this, Paul left Athens and went to the city of Corinth. In Corinth he met a Jewish man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla. Aquila had been born in Pontus, and they had recently come from Italy because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them, and because they made tents for a living as he did, he stayed with them and they worked together.

Acts 18:18-19 (GW) After staying in Corinth quite a while longer, Paul left {for Ephesus}. Priscilla and Aquila went with him. In the city of Cenchrea, Aquila had his hair cut, since he had taken a vow. From Cenchrea they took a boat headed for Syria and arrived in the city of Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. Paul went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

Acts 18:24-26 (GW) A Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, arrived in the city of Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and knew how to use the Scriptures in a powerful way. He had been instructed in the Lord's way and spoke enthusiastically. He accurately taught about Jesus but knew only about the baptism John performed. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him {home} with them and explained God's way to him more accurately.

And in our text we see a married couple, worshipping and serving God together.

3 Ingredients Of A BELIEVING Family ....

[1] IT NEEDS TO BE A SAVED FAMILY

Allow me to reconstruct this story for you … this couple was living in Rome, Italy.

The name Priscilla is a Roman name, and secular history tells us she was from a prominent family of nobility living in Rome.

Aquila is a Jewish name. So we can see that a young Roman girl has married a young Jewish boy, and that was not acceptable in those days … a huge wave of anti-Semitism had swept that land in those days, and the Romans hated the Jews. The Emperor Claudius had just issued an edict expelling all Jews from Rome.

This was a family under pressure. It’s always hard to have to pick up and move, especially when it’s moving away from the place where you have grown up. But this couple wasn’t choosing to move, they were being forced to leave!

And they are an illustration for the 21st Century family of today … also under incredible pressure from without, and from within. Stress and tension are a huge part of the home today with the pressures of work, time, and finances we choose to live under.

And children enter the picture and the stress goes up, and more and more the older they get.

ILLUSTRATION

Here’s an eye-opener for all of us today: if you have a child or grandchild that is 14 today and beginning as a freshman in high school, here’s some things they can expect to see by the time they graduate—

2/3rd’s of their class will have used drugs

1 in 5 will be an alcoholic

2 in 5 will have consumed 5 or more drinks at 1 sitting

20% will use tobacco daily

46% of babies born out of wedlock will be to kids their age

1/3rd of all abortions will be performed on girls their age

½ will be sexually active

2nd leading cause of death of kids their age at graduation will be suicide

WE NEED A REVIVAL IN THE HOME…WE NEED A REVIVAL OF FAMILIES that starts w/ moms and dads getting serious about serving God CONSISTENTLY & FAITHFULLY — families w/ a healthy PASSION FOR GOD & HIS CHURCH MISSION!!!

2 OF MY LIFE STATEMENTS

Your Message Is Caught Before It Is Taught

What You Do In Moderation, Your Children Will Do In Excess

I Don’t Know How Anyone Can Raise A Family Today Without The Lord And Without The Help Of A Good Church Family.

Aquila and Priscilla are a family under pressure -- You see, as they were being kicked out of Rome, and were traveling east toward Corinth, the Apostle Paul was leaving Athens and traveling west to the same place, and when they met face to face -- it was the beginning of something wonderful that would last the rest of their lives.

Remember What Paul’s Trade Was? A TENTMAKER.

Acts 18:3 (GW) and because they made tents for a living as he did, he stayed with them and they worked together.

I imagine they were working together -- and what do people do when they are sitting down working? They talk! And what would Paul have talked about? It wasn’t the TEXAS RANGERS … he would have talked about Jesus Christ. He would have shared the wonderful story of the gospel -- Jesus’ birth, His life and ministry, His death and resurrection, and this couple would have been mesmerized at hearing the sweetest story they had ever heard -- and they were saved because of it!

That’s how our God is … if we BEGIN LIVING BIG FOR HIM -- GOD will cross our paths with others who need Him -- at just the right time -- in the just the right way & IS DEPENDING on us to disciple them

GOD WANTS US AS FAMILIES -- to allow our lives and schedules to be interrupted for HIS DIVINE OPPORTUNITIES WITH PEOPLE!! TO BEGIN USING OUR HOMES FOR HIS BUSINESS BY LOVING PEOPLE INTO A DEEPER WALK IN HIM

And To Be A BELIEVING Family It Must Be A Saved Family …

[2] IT NEEDS TO BE A SERVING FAMILY

Acts 18:18 (GW) After staying in Corinth quite a while longer, Paul left {for Ephesus}. Priscilla and Aquila went with him. In the city of Cenchrea, Aquila had his hair cut, since he had taken a vow. From Cenchrea they took a boat headed for Syria

Everything else we read about this couple from then on is about them SERVING GOD TOGETHER. Years later Paul writes back to the church at Rome…

Romans 16:3-4 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.

1 Corinthians 16:19 (GW) The churches in the province of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca and the church that meets in their house send their warmest Christian greetings.

1 Corinthians 16:13-16 (GW) Be alert. Be firm in the Christian faith. Be courageous and strong. Do everything with love. You know that the family of Stephanas was the first family to be won {for Christ} in Greece. This family has devoted itself to serving God's people. So I encourage you, brothers and sisters, to follow the example of people like these and anyone else who shares their labor and hard work.

Do you know what’s happening to this couple? The same thing that ought to happen to each and every one of us after we get saved -- regardless of our occupation, OUR MAIN BUSINESS OUGHT TO BE GOD’S BUSINESS!

Worshipping and serving Him, teaching and helping others, winning souls and seeing people get saved!

ILLUSTRATION

1858 -- Edward Kimball was a businessman in Boston [volunteer come to stage], he was also a Sunday School teacher of older teen boys -- and in his class was a kid named Dwight -- one Saturday he decided to visit each boy in the class to see if they were saved -- he visited Dwight at the store where he was working and Dwight got saved -- by 1879 Dwight was an evangelist who was going out doing crusades -- one of the men at one crusade was named Frederick Meyer who was pastoring a small church -- not doing too much, but hearing Dwight the Evangelist LIT a fire under him and he became a world-renown preacher. His travels brought him to America, and preaching on a college campus a student walked the aisle and got saved one day…his name was Wilbur, and he got saved and went into the ministry. He hired a guy named Billy to help him. Billy preached a crusade in Charlotte, NC that was so successful that the local businessman’s assoc. decided to have another big crusade. Billy couldn’t do it, so they hired a preacher named Hamm. At the crusade a young man came forward and got saved…another Billy -- know his last name? Graham!

Millions have been saved under his ministry, and millions more thru ones like Mordecai Hamm, and the other Billy [who liked baseball] before him [Billy Sunday], and J. Wilbur Chapman, and F. B. Meyer, and Dwight L. Moody…and all because of a businessman named Ed who said, my main business is God’s business!

A Heritage Is Passed Down From Each Of These To Their Families, And To All Those They Reach…And Just Think Of How Many Have Been Saved At Billy Graham’s Rallies, And They Are Now Witnessing And Preaching And Reaching Many Others.

AND from Billy Graham, a man named Marsh Brewster was saved, who led his son Thomas Brewster to the Lord and then influenced His son John Brewster to know the Lord and most of my family has followed and gotten saved, and my destiny was changed, as are the destinies of all those my grandfather the Rev Marsh Brewster has won, and I have won, and all those that they go on to win!

I’m So Thankful That Aquila And Priscilla Understood That Tho’ They Were Tentmakers By Trade, Their Main Business Was Serving God!

A BELIEVING Family Is A Saved Family ... A Serving Family …

[3] IT NEEDS TO BE A SANCTIFIED FAMILY

That Means “Set Apart”… Separated From The World

Romans 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

1 Corinthians 16:19 (GW) The churches in the province of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca and the church that meets in their house send their warmest Christian greetings.

Did you know it was the 3rd Century 300 AD before the church ever had such a thing as it’s own building? Before that they met in homes and caves and catacombs because of the persecutions -- where families were separated and divided from one another -- more out of the cultural views of women and children’s place -- BUT -- when the church began to grow in freedom -- more integration of the family unit was allowed.

This reminds me of the simplicity of what is “THE CHURCH.”

They didn’t have any of the things that we today think we HAVE to have in order to have church.

They didn’t have a building or padded chairs, no PA system or projector and screen, no AC, no advertising, literature, website, etc.

They did so much with so little … and we need to do so much more with the advances we have now -- USING everything we have at our disposal to catch fish [PEOPLE] for JESUS!

You can feel the spirit move if you’re knee deep in carpet or sitting in sawdust!

ILLUSTRATION

INFLUENCERS --

a person or thing that influences another. marketing a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media. SEE -- they simply take photos of themselves involved with the product they want to help sell -- influencing other people to be as cool and hip and as trendy as they are by wearing, using or experiencing what they are selling.

WE NEED TO BE INFLUENCERS IN & FROM OUR HOMES AS A FAMILY

OUR INFLUENCE ISN'T ABOUT US

John 17:20-21 (MSG) I'm praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me Because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind— Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.

SO -- we're not set apart just to be set apart -- BUT TO BECOME ONE

Think Like Jesus

Talk Like Jesus

Walk Like Jesus

Love Like Jesus

This Couple Had A BELIEVING Home, And It Led To A BELIEVING GROWING Church

So How About The Church That Is Your Home?!

Our Highest Calling Is Our Own Children, Our Own Marriage, Our Own Home.

I Hope Everyone Here Can Have A Saved Family, A Serving Family, A Sanctified Family -- Set Apart TO LIVE BIG FOR GOD TOGETHER!