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which had belief through grace, for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the Bible, dear God, for your dear words. We thank you for the church, for dear brethren and sisters, and we thank you for our pastor, and we ask that you please bless him with your Holy Spirit tonight as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, we're in Acts chapter 18 this evening, and the title of the sermon tonight is Pipe Up. Pipe Up, it's from verse number nine. If you look down at your Bibles, at verse number nine of Acts chapter 18, it says, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. We'll get into that later on in the chapter, but I just wanna let you know that I'm gonna spend a good portion of the sermon on that section there. Now let me give you a bit of a review from last week's chapter, going through chapter 17. Of course, we're continuing with Paul's second missionary journey. He's going about not only establishing, or excuse me, should I say confirming the churches that have already been established, but he's also starting new churches. If you remember, he sets sails from Troas, and he goes to Amphipolis, Apollonia, and then he ends up in Thessalonica. He goes to the synagogue there, and he preaches the word of God. People get saved, Jews get mad, same old, same old, right? And then they cast them away from that area. He goes to Berea, and what we see in Berea is that people are very receptive, specifically in the synagogue. And we see that the Bible specifically says that they were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind. And they basically searched the scriptures to see if those things were so. This is something that's very noble about those in Berea. In other words, they were ready to get saved, amen? And who knows, maybe some of them were already saved. They're just kind of listening to what Paul has to say, and he's teaching them the word of God. But I would gather to say that many of them were not saved. They received the word of God with all readiness of mind. They believe on the Lord, they get saved, they move forward. We see a great work that's accomplished there. But then what do we see? The Jews, right? They come down from Thessalonica, and they start persecuting the apostle Paul and hiring men of the baser sword to come and basically tell them, these guys are teaching contrary. They're lying about them. And so what the believers do is they take Paul, and they send him to the coast, hoping that people will basically say, okay, Paul's going to the coast. He's going to set sail. He's going to go home. He's going to leave us alone in this part of the world. But really what he does is he goes to Athens. And it's in Athens that he preaches the word of God. A great work is accomplished. And this is where we see the particular story of Mars Hill. He's preaching there. And we see a group of people who are very superstitious, right? He sees an altar there to the unknown God. And Paul the apostle takes advantage of that and basically makes known the God of the Bible, the God of the universe. And what we see there is that we get three types of reactions. Some people mock him. Other people say, well, we'll listen of this matter again. But then the third group, they actually get saved. And the principle that we learned there is that, you know, when we sow the seed of God's word, we're always going to get one of those three reactions. You know, some people will actually mock you and make fun of you and reproach you when you're preaching the word of God, whether it's the strangers or your own family. Others, you know, they're interested in what you're saying. It kind of peaks their interest. It sounds intriguing, but they're not necessarily ready to get saved, right? And they can have the attitude of, well, we'll hear of thee of this matter again. In other words, let me kind of chew and ruminate on what you're saying, and then I'll consider it later on. These are the people that you're sowing the seed of God's word, but they're not necessarily ready to get saved. But then you run into people who do get saved. You know, they've heard the gospel preached before. Their heart is ready to receive the gospel, and they get saved, and they move forward. And that's an important principle, because, you know, you can become disillusioned as a Christian sometimes, because you think to yourself, man, am I not a good sowing, or I'm not seeing people saved, or what's going on? No, here's the thing, is that when you sow the seed of God's word, it's always going to land in different places, right? By the wayside, among thorns. You know, we see that they land in stony places, and sometimes they land on good ground, and people get saved and move forward and actually grow in the Lord, which is exactly what we want. But in order for us to get that product, we have to just keep sowing seeds, no matter where we go, and recognize that as we sow and weep, we will bring forth precious fruit, amen? We will see souls saved. People will come to Christ. God will use us in a great way if we decide to obey Him, if we choose to obey Him in that area. But we see here that people are pondering His saying. They're just like, you know, this sounds kind of crazy. I've never really heard this, but I'll think about it. And then others, of course, because there's a synagogue there where they're actually reading the word of God, you know, they're ready to get saved. They end up getting saved, it's great. So then in chapter 18, Paul departs from Athens, and he goes to a pretty significant area in the New Testament, which is Corinth. And the reason we say it's significant is because we have two letters in the Bible, two specific books written to the church at Corinth. Now, Corinth, you know, doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to the New Testament, right? I mean, you read the 1st and 2nd Corinthians, it's just like, good night. These people had doctrinal issues, they had church discipline issues, they had spiritual gift issues. I mean, they had a lot of issues. And in fact, one of the biggest issues that they had is they had a problem with authority, more specifically with Paul's authority, right? But that, of course, is later on. But this is where we see, in a sense, the inception of the church at Corinth. This is when he goes, he begins to get people saved there. It gets established and a great work is accomplished, and we see that there. Now, this is also the chapter where we're introduced to Aquila and Priscilla, which is a pretty awesome couple, if you ask me. And we don't know too much about them. Go with me if you would to go to Romans, Romans chapter 16. Go to Romans chapter 16, hold your place there in Acts chapter 18. This is a pretty cool couple here because they're kind of like a power couple, in a sense, right? We don't know if they have children or maybe if they're a little older. We don't know exactly too much of their background. But we do know this is that they fervently serve the Lord, right? I mean, they're there with Paul serving, getting people saved, discipling them. They are extremely fruitful and they're both on the same page. Now, one thing we can learn from them is this. Hey, we need to make sure that, as couples, we're on the same page, right? We need to make sure that we are on the same page. And to the singles out there, I would say this. Hey, make sure that that potential person that you're going to marry is on the same page with you. You know, as far as your church is concerned, as far as the direction you're going in, your fervency, you know, you guys got to have the same core values, right? You know, if you love our church, but your potential spouse hates Pastor Mejia, there's going to be some contention there. You know, it's just like, well, I don't want to go to First Works. And they're like, well, I want to go to Rick Warren's church. She's like, what? I want to go to the liberal fund center or something. It's like, what in the world? You got to make sure you're on the same track, on the same page, so you can become effective in the service of the Lord. Okay? But we see the introduction to them. Actually, I'm going to read to you from Acts 18. You're in Romans 16. I'm going to read to you here. It says in verse number one, 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. Because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers. So we see the introduction to Priscilla and Aquila here. And again, I can't stress this point enough, how important it is to be on the same page. Okay? And one way to really know whether someone's on the same page with you, I mean, the most ideal way is that they come to your church, right? So you kind of observe them and kind of see how they operate with other people. You know, this is a good way to do that. Now, you say, well, why? I'm just going to just rush into everything. I'd rather just do it that way and just get married right away and good to go. Yeah, but here's the thing. Once you're married, it's over with. Stick a fork in you, you're done. Okay? So you want to make sure that you are making the right decision when it comes to a spouse. Okay? And don't just jump into anything just blindly and just be led. Don't be pressed in your spirit like Paul was here. You know, emotionally involved and then you end up regretting this later on. And let me just tell you, there's horror stories out there of people who did that and they're regretting it today. Okay? Because they married someone who's not on board with them. And you know, sometimes spouses can hold an individual back. And it's sad, you know? You know, maybe a spouse, maybe a guy wanted to become a pastor or a missionary and they wanted to serve the Lord but they marry someone who doesn't. You know? Well, you know, kiss those goals goodbye. Because now when you're married, now you got to do, you got to basically take care of your wife or you got to take care of your husband. You know, you guys got to be on the same page. Okay? And you know, if your wife or your husband, we'll say your wife because obviously if you're a pastor or a missionary, if your wife is not on board with that type of life, you can't do it. You know? I thank God that, you know, my wife wants to serve the Lord and you know, she's very much content where she's at right now with me in our stage of life, so to speak, with me pastoring a church is great. But you know what? What if my wife was just like, I don't like this kind of lifestyle. I want the rich lifestyle. I want you to bring in the millions or thousands of dollars. I want the nice cars and the luxurious things of life. I want the nice life. I wouldn't be able to become a pastor. Okay? Because, you know, I'm not, you know, Adam Fanner, you know, I'm not the type to steal money. That's not my, that's not my thing. Okay? I'm not like some of these pastors who is like, oh, don't worry, honey, I got you. You know, I know how much comes into that plate and I'll just collect some for myself and I'll buy you whatever you want. There's pastors like that. Okay? It's wicked. Quill and Priscilla, it seems that those, they're just living humble lives. You know, they're tent makers by trade. They seem to want to serve God and just kind of give it their all. And they're not necessarily looking for the spotlight. They just want to serve God. And it's for that reason, I think, that God put Aquila and Priscilla in the life of Paul. You know, Paul obviously is not married, but he's a tent maker by trade as well. So they have like the same occupation. And so, you know, they're co-laborers, so to speak. Okay? And by the way, later on we see, actually, let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 16, 19. It says, the churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. So these people are pretty generous. I mean, you know, they're not rich, but you know what? They're willing to utilize their possessions for the service of the Lord. Okay? Now, it's my personal belief that the church that is in their house is actually referring to the church at Ephesus. Now, obviously they didn't stay in their house because any church that's doing sowing and growing, they're gonna grow out of that house. Okay? But I believe that's what they're doing here. Look at Romans 16, verse number one. It says, I commend unto you, Phoebe your sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Chantria, that you receive her in the Lord as become of the saints, and that ye assist her in whatever business she hath need of you. For she hath been a succor of many, a succor of many, excuse me, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks. Dude, this couple, these people are awesome. I don't know exactly what that entails, but when you say someone laid down their neck for you, you almost kind of, you assume that's referring to their life. Like they put their necks on the line for you. In other words, they're willing to go to a, you know, a pretty heavy extent to either protect or support the leader. So it says they laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. So they're not, you know, this couple that's just like, well, we want to get it in good with the leader, so that, you know, the leader kind of favors us and kind of respects us and just, you know, you know, treats us good. They're actually good to everyone. And in fact, the verse that comes to mind is in Galatians where the Bible tells us, as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good to all men, but especially them of the household of faith. And that is in context of being a blessing to the leader, but it just says be a blessing to anybody from the household of faith. So Quilla Priscilla really have fulfilled this to its fullest extent. They want to be a blessing to the leader, but they're a blessing to everyone, okay? All the churches of the Gentiles know about Quilla and Priscilla. Verse five, likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epinatus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. Now go with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter one. 1 Timothy chapter one. So, you know, they start this church and Paul's like, you know, we need a place to meet. And Quilla and Priscilla's like, well, we got a home where you guys can meet, you know, have church. You know, our movement, so to speak, is often known by starting in houses, right? And there's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but really it's not the best way to start a church, okay? And I'm gonna explain to you why. And I've talked about this with my pastor friends. You know, initially when pastors in our movement began started churches, it was a good idea. It's no longer a good idea to do that. And I'm gonna explain to you why. First and foremost, because it's illegal, okay? He said, well, we should do it anyways, right? Well, here's the thing. We can't do it, and I'm gonna tell you why. Because of the fact that, as my pastor friend said, we're already high profile. So in other words, any pastor who comes into the movement now comes already, not just with a couple of listeners, but also with enemies. They come with enemies, and enemies seek an opportunity to take you down, to try to turn you into the authorities, or do whatever it takes to kind of shut you down in the gospel message, and the work there, because they hate God, they hate his work. And so it's not the best idea now to do that, because of the fact that, in a sense, we're well known, okay? Not well known to the world necessarily, but well known to the enemies of God, okay? So it's not the best idea. And I've talked with this to my pastor friends, and they readily agree. They say, yeah, right now would not be a good time to do that, because of the fact that we already come with enemies, and anybody who's associated with us will automatically get enemies, okay? But here, obviously, YouTube doesn't exist at this point, you know, and they don't have the internet, they don't have these means here, so they start the church there, in their house, and obviously, we know that it didn't stay that way, because it's growing, okay? Now I'm gonna read to you from 2 Timothy 4.19, it says, Salute Prisca and Aquila, referring to Priscilla, and the household of Onesiphorus. Look at 1 Timothy chapter one, verse number one, it says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord, as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine. So here Paul is instructing Timothy, stay where you're at. Where is he? He's at Ephesus. At the end of 2 Timothy, he says, make sure you greet Aquila and Priscilla. So what do we see, Aquila and Priscilla are at Ephesus, which would lead me to believe, personally, that that's probably where they live, that's probably where the church is, that's probably where they started at, okay? That's where their house is, their house church, so to speak. Now when we think of house church, by the way, we're not referring to that lame house church that they have out there where it's like, there's no pastor, there's no leader. We're just literally referring to meeting in a building that belongs to someone's house or whatever, someone's home, all right? Go back to Acts chapter 18. There's a great couple here, and look, this isn't just a couple who's a blessing, you know, whether financially or just kind of supporting people, supporting the leader, supporting other new believers, these people know the word of God as well. Because we see at the end of Acts chapter 18, they take Apollo's society and they show them the way of the Lord more perfectly. I mean, these people know doctrine, right? It's just like, hey, Apollo, come here, come here. Let me just show you the way of the Lord a little more perfectly. And look, nowhere does it say that Aquila is a pastor, he's not a missionary, he's not ordained or anything, but he knows the Bible, he knows the word of God, he's used greatly of God with his wife to accomplish this great work. And you know what, I would say this, any couple who is just starting out, you know, you don't have kids as of yet, you know, you're waiting for the Lord to give you kids, you know, serve God like Aquila and Priscilla, why not? Amen. You know, hey, I would say Aquila and Priscilla are serving God full-time, but they're not on a payroll. Yeah, I know, they're tent makers, but they're still serving God full-time. They're consumed with the service of the Lord. And that's how a couple should be, you know. Don't waste your life doing and partaking of vain activities and vain things that just will not matter later on when you grow, when you get older, you're gonna wish you used your vitality and your youthfulness to have served God. I guarantee you, there's couples out there that they're older, the arthritis is setting in, their back's hurting, they don't have the vitality as they used to, and they're just like, man, I wish I had your youth and your age when I was, you know, a young Christian so I could serve God more. It's already too late, right? So you wanna make sure that that's part of your agenda, okay, that you recognize, you know, when I get married, I want my wife and I to just serve the Lord. May that be a core value of yours, amen? Amen. When I got married, I mean, thankfully, my wife was a pastor's daughter. I kinda came with the package, so to speak, but you know, that's something that I wanted to make sure that that's what we were gonna do because, you know, PKs sometimes don't have the best reputation, you know? And so you gotta make sure, right? Wanted to make sure that this, I remember, like, when we were courting, because we called it courting, and I wrote her an email and I said, you know, and I had to send it to her dad first, but I wrote her an email and I said, look, I wanna serve God and, you know, I wanna make sure that we serve God for the rest of our lives, that we train our children in the ways of the Lord. Even if I never become a pastor, you know, I wanna make sure we're preaching the gospel, we're preaching the word of God, that we're serving God. And look, if the end of days comes, and I don't even know if I was, like, poster pre-wrapped at that time, but I said if the end of days comes and they come after us, I wanna be able to die for the Lord, you know? I was trying to show myself like a spiritual, putting my best foot forward, you know? Amen. It worked. But I was serious about that, you know? I wanted to just let her know, like, hey, we're not messing around, I wanna be able to serve God. And obviously, I'm not saying we're gonna live just this crazy, exciting Christian life where we're just constantly in danger, but what I was setting forth for her was this, it's like, hey, we need to make Christ the preeminent one in our life, you know? Not money, not possessions, not traveling, not the newest car, the newest yacht. And I'm not saying those things are necessarily wrong, they just become wrong when they become your primary focus, and then the service of the Lord goes on the back burner, okay? Hey, how about this? How about just coming to church? Amen. Hey, how about coming to church consistently? Amen. Yeah, you know, it should be said that couples, especially if you don't have children, should make time to go to church consistently. Amen. And I know, you know, I know, I know, you're like, well, I go to church once a week. Okay, but you know what, is there something wrong with going to church three times a week? Wouldn't that be better? Isn't that better for your Christian life? Right? So, you know, you should not come into question whether we go to church or not. And look, it's hard, because I'm telling you right now, it gets harder to go to church when you have kids. It's a lot harder, you know, especially when you're trying to get out the door, and you're just like, let's go, Sarah! No, I'm just kidding, you know, it's like, and then, you know, my daughter's like, I'm not blank, she, you know, she needs her blanket, and they need this, and I'm just like, let's go, I'm about to leave you guys. It's harder. Right. It's possible, but it's just harder. So don't give me this, well, you know, we're just caught up in doing other things or whatever. No, you just need to get your priorities straightened out, is what you need, okay? Because it does get more difficult when you have kids, and you know what, you have sleepless nights, sick children, all these issues that come with having children, which is not a bad thing, it's just part of life. You know, take advantage now. Set in some good habits now. You know, when you get married, say, hey, we're going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night, and it, don't ever ask me, hey, are we going to church today? Right? Like, my wife and I, we never ask each other, like, hey, do you think we should go to church? Obviously, I don't have that luxury, obviously, you know? Now, obviously, like, for example, my wife's not even here today, but it's because my son is sick, and I love the kids at our church, so we don't want to get your kids sick, okay? By the way, when your kid gets sick, make sure they stay home, and you stay home with them. Just a little public service announcement, okay? But you know, even prior to me being a pastor, we never questioned. Even when I worked, like, three hours away from my church, it was never a matter of questioning whether we should go to church. It's like, I worked three hours away, okay, well, I just got to make it work, so I can come pick you up, and we go to church. That's just what we do, okay? It's never a question. Go back to Acts, chapter 18. Every once in a while, you got to mention that, amen? Amen. So, he runs into Aquila and Priscilla. A great relationship is established there. They have common ground, which is tent-making. And then, you know, Paul, you know, by the way, why is, is it any surprise that Paul would attract people like that? You often get who you are, right? The people who surround you are often people who are just like you, in a sense. You know, by the way, for good or the bad. It's funny, Brother Huyck was actually telling me about this, and I had to fact check it, so I know that it's not fake news. He was telling me, he's like, pastor, did you know that there is a pile of trash in the ocean the size of Texas? And I had to kind of discern, like, is he talking about people, or, you know, because we often use that equipment, you know? But he was, it's literally trash, and I looked it up, and it's true. Like, in the Pacific Ocean, there is literally a pile of trash the size of Texas, and I think it's even, it's getting bigger than Texas, okay, that's just floating around in the ocean, and it's just all clumped together. But here's the interesting thing, and this is what he was getting across, he was saying this, isn't it interesting that how all the trash in the ocean just kind of finds itself? And they just kind of get together? He said, what were you guys talking about? What do you think we were talking about? Talk about people who are trash, right? They kind of find each other, because you wonder, like, why is Pastor Solon so always hanging around these wicked people? Well, because trash attracts trash. Trash always gets with trash, folks. Why do you think we don't have trash here? Because once the trash comes, we throw the trash out! Amen? And when trash comes here, we don't know that it's trash, the trash shows itself out. It moves away. Good. But the point that I'm getting across here is the fact that Paul, he's not getting trash. He's getting some quality people, because he's quality. He's getting hard labors, because you know why? Because Paul's a hard laborer. He's getting someone who's fervent in the Spirit, why? Because he's fervent in the Spirit. They have the same agenda, they have the same spirit. Okay, verse four. It says, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Samothias were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Now what does that mean, to be pressed in the Spirit? Well, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's pressed in the Holy Spirit, because obviously the Holy Spirit wants to win this all the time, right? When it's referring to, his spirit's referring to like his emotion. He's emotionally stirred to go and preach the gospel to the Jews and the Greeks, that's what he wants to do. And you know, this is a good thing, to be stirred up. We obviously should do the work of the Lord because we're commanded to do it, but it's always good also to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, right? You know, we should love the Lord with our heart, with our emotions, with our mind, and you know what, in like manner, love people, okay? That when you see people, you're stirred and you're moved, you're pressed in your spirit to want to get them saved, which is exactly what we see here. And you know what, that's why it's good to come to church. Because what happens when you come to church, you get stirred up. You know, you hear a sermon on soul winning, or you hear a sermon on holiness, you hear a face-ripping sermon on trash, and what happens, you get stirred up. You know, you get zealous again, you kind of wake up, right? You start waking up, you start getting exhorted to serve the Lord and be fervent in the spirit and be zealous for the things of God. What is that? That's you getting stirred up, pressed in spirit. So that's why it's good to come to church because it's in church that you get pressed in your spirit to serve God, to love doctrine, to love lost people, to hate those who hate the Lord, right? So on and so forth. So we see there, he gets pressed in the spirit, and he's like, I want to go preach the gospel to the Jews and the Greeks. I want to get them saved, okay? So he goes there, and he's pressed in the spirit, testifies to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, verse six. And when they opposed themselves, you know, big surprise there, right? And blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean from henceforth, I will go unto the Gentiles. Now here's what's funny about this, is that later on he goes against the synagogue to go testify to the Jews again. So it's just like, it's like, you know, he's like, I'm done with you Jews, I'm going to the Gentiles. And then he goes to the other Jews. So, you know, as I mentioned earlier in the book of Acts, you know, Paul obviously is still early in his ministry, okay, and so he's still struggling with these things. You know, obviously he loves those who are Israelites and those who are Jews, he wants them to be saved. And we see later on that he's still kind of given into like, you know, being a part of the feast, he's shaving his head because he has a vow. These are things that like Jews do, okay? He's not supposed to be doing those things, but he's still doing it because he's still early in his ministry, he's still a little green, so to speak, okay, immature in the Lord, and therefore he's doing these things. But the principle that we learn here is this, is that he understood when someone opposes themselves, in other words, they're just like, I don't want to hear it. What does he do? He shakes his raiment and he says, all right, well, I'm clean. You know, I've done all I could. Now you think to yourself, well, Paul, why can't you just get the hint that the Jews don't want to hear it? But here's the thing, how do you feel about your family though? Right? You see, we know how to feel like that towards strangers, but if we were to put ourselves in Paul's sandals, you know, then a good equivalent to that would be what? Our family. You know, we have a longing in our hearts to see our family saved, even when they oppose themselves. And you know, there's times when you witness to your family and you're just like, fine, you know, your blood is on your own head, I'm clean, I'm going to someone else. And then you're just, the next week, you're still trying to witness to that individual. So you can kind of understand, so cut Paul some slack. Because he's kind of, he's basically dealing with that. You know? I know in my personal life, I have family members who I've witnessed to multiple times throughout the years since I've been saved and they've rejected it. And I don't believe they're reprobate because it takes a lot for someone to become a reprobate. Ain't that interesting? We're really quick to just label the stranger we don't know a reprobate. Oh yeah, I got a reprobate. But when it comes to our own family, it's like, well, they're not reprobate yet. Yeah, well, neither is a stranger because it takes a lot for a person to become a reprobate. You understand? So, you know, he basically tells them your blood is upon your own heads, I am clean. Now, go to Acts chapter 24. Hold your place there in Acts 18. There's an interesting phrase that he says here. Your blood be upon your own heads. In other words, you know, I'm not responsible anymore. I tried the best that I could to give you the truth. You know, I'm not responsible. I know, I have a clear conscience is basically what he's saying, that I've tried to basically get you saved. Look at Acts 24, verse 14. It says, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust, and herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man, the Bible says. So what do we see here? He's basically saying, look, I try my best as possible as a soul winner that my conscience is just void of offense, making sure that I give the gospel to everyone, okay? Now look, I think we should be fervent soul winners, but I don't think you should go over the top either. What do I mean by that? Where you just like, every single individual you see is just like, I gotta witness to this individual. I've gotta, you know, there's gotta be a balance. And the individual who believes that's what you have to do is a hypocrite because I guarantee you they don't do that. Okay, these are these holier than thou's where they have to overly compensate to make themselves seem like there's some spiritual giant who's just witnessing to every single creature that they see, every single person. No, I think the good balance is this, is just making sure you have a conscience void of offense. Like I tried the best that I could. In other words, you know, when I go out there during my soul winning time with my church, I do the best that I could. You know, I try to witness to every individual when the opportunity presents itself and I just wanna make sure I have a conscience void of offense, okay? You know, and here's the thing is that when it comes to their blood being upon their own heads, yeah, that is true. You know, when someone rejects the gospel, okay, then, you know, I tried the best that I could, you're gonna remember me on judgment day. You know, and look, I somewhat to a certain extent take solace in that. When someone is just reproaching me and they just like complete, they mock me or they just reject me, I'm thinking to myself, I tried the best that I could, this person's gonna remember me on judgment day. I promise you they will, I know they will. They're gonna remember that a soul winner came to their door and pleaded with them, tried to give them the gospel to get them saved so they can escape the damnation of hell and they rejected it, okay? Go with me if you would to, let's see, go back to Acts chapter 18. So look, we're supposed to be watchmen, okay? Not just for people who are lost, but to a certain extent we're watchmen even to save people as well, right? You know, we, like for example, myself, I'm to be a soul winner, but you know what? I'm also supposed to save you from false doctrine, right? You're already saved as far as justification is concerned, but I have a responsibility as a pastor to save you from heresy, from doctrines of devils according to 1 Timothy chapter four. So I gotta make sure that I'm constantly preaching against false doctrine, that I'm showing you the right type of doctrine and expounding upon that because I want to save you from some false teaching. So with that being said, let me just give a little plug-in for Sunday, make sure you don't miss Sunday. Sunday morning, Sunday night, okay? Don't miss Sunday morning, but you for sure don't want to miss Sunday night. Because there is a little bit of false doctrine that has been creeping into this church here, hasn't permeated, but I've heard through the grapevine, okay, regarding, so it's not some damnable heresy, but it is false doctrine nonetheless and needs to be preached against. And so, you know, don't miss out, okay? You don't want to miss this, okay? And it's my responsibility as a pastor to do so. You know, you're like, man, are you talking about me? Yes. Folks, when you hear me preach on something, you're like, man, is he preaching about me because I just recently said that? Well, the answer is yes. Why wait? It's like, as soon as I hear it, I got to nip it at the butt, okay? Nip it! And just cut it off and explain to you what the Bible actually says about it, because I'm a watchman. And in fact, let me read to you from Ezekiel chapter three, verse 17. It says, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman into the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth and give them warning for me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul, the Bible says. So pastors are supposed to operate like watchmen who are constantly watching out for the wolves, right? And let me just say this. The Bible tells us that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And you know why that is so prevalent in 2020? Because of the internet, because of YouTube. I mean, false doctrine was being preached during this time, but I guarantee you it wasn't as bad as it is today. Today, you can listen to a ton of people online and listen to women preachers and all this nonsense out there and be influenced by that. And that's why we have to preach on it very frequently to kind of set the record straight and make his path straight. So don't miss Sunday. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Sunday's coming. Okay. And if those on YouTube don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it because I'm talking to my church. My church, amen. Go to verse number seven of first, or excuse me, Acts chapter 18. So he basically tells them, I'm done with you guys. I'm moving on. Verse seven, it says, and he departed thence and entered into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshiped God whose house joined hard to the synagogue. I want to let you know that Justice is actually named Jesus in the book of Acts, but he changes his name to Justice for obvious reason. Okay. He's like, I don't want to be named Jesus. I'm going to, might as well change my name to Justice. By the way, it's good. Hispanics, obviously, this is probably not prevalent here, but Hispanics have a tendency to name their children Jesus. I don't know if you know that. And so what they'll do, it's so weird because they'll name their child Jesus, but then, you know, it's like sacrilegious to them. So there's like, well, let's not call him Jesus. We'll call him Chewy. I'm serious. So if you know a Hispanic named Jesus, just know this, they call him Chewy. It's weird. It's just like, well, why don't you just not call him Jesus to begin with? You don't have to do all these weird things, you know, nicknames or whatnot. So anyways, Justice is one that worshiped God. I like what it says here, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And what does that mean? In other words, him and his household, they went to that synagogue hard, okay, with a lot of effort is what it's stating there, okay? Now, obviously we know that a synagogue is not, you know, established by God. It's not sanctioned by God at this point, right? But here's the thing is that the synagogue, they are reading the word of God. And we'll see that although many of the religious leaders rejected the word of God, we're gonna see here that some of them got saved. And look, not only did they get saved, they got on fire for God. And the proof of that is that they're getting beat up for being Christians. We're talking about the leaders of the synagogues. They're getting saved, they're getting beat up. I mean, they're doing the work of the Lord. So obviously they're suffering reproach for Christ's sake, right? But what we see here is that justice is his house is joining hard to the synagogue. So in other words, they've already established the habit of going to church. Maybe instead of us, oh man, the house of Mejia, you know, his house joined hard to the church. When they go to church, they're always in church. You know, it kind of goes along with my point prior of making church as part of your life, part of your culture, right? His house joined hard to the synagogue. Verse eight, and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, look what it says, believed on the Lord with all his house and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. So Crispus is a chief ruler of the synagogue. He's a Jew, he's a ruler there, he's a leader, but he gets saved, amen? Which is great. It's not very common, but it's great. Now go to First Corinthians chapter one, if you would, First Corinthians chapter one. You know what's pretty neat is that when you read the New Testament, aside from the book of Acts, you read First and Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, you run into these names within these books, and what the book of Acts does is it fills in the gaps. So it kind of basically expands and it tells you the story of these people, okay? Look at First Corinthians one verse 11, it says, for it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, I am of Paulos, and I have Cephas, and I have Christ, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius. So what we see in Acts chapter 18, that when Crispus gets saved and he gets baptized, the one who baptized him was the apostle Paul. He baptized him and Gaius, it says, lest any should say that I had baptized in my no name, and I baptized also the house of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. Now by the way, First Corinthians one is a great chapter to debunk the church of Christ's rejectors, okay? Because they believe that, you know, in baptismal regeneration. Well here he says that, you know, Christ sent them not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, because to the church of Christ's rejectors, they think the gospel is baptism. Well you have to get baptized in order to be saved. Well that's funny because Christ sent Paul not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, making the distinction that baptism and the gospel are two separate things. Go back to Acts. So Crispus, he gets saved, he gets baptized, and then you can see basically the inception up at the church of Corinth, right? People are getting saved, and look, you know, churches, when they get started, it starts off great, but sometimes they don't always finish great though, you know, because here we see a great story of the church of Corinth being started, Crispus getting saved, people being beat for their faith, I mean people are believing, but then we get First Corinthians. They're just like, what in the world happened to you guys? Like what's going on here? This is just reality, folks, it's just reality. You know, some churches, Lord willing, our church will remain the same until the second coming of Christ, amen. That's my prayer, that's my hope, that it would never take a left turn doctrinally or some wicked individual would ever try to take over if God forbid something were to happen to me. You know, my hope is that the church continues forward, but you know what, we have seven examples in the book of Revelation of churches that no longer exist. The seven churches which are in Asia, which many of them were solid churches, doctrinally sound, they preach the word of God, they love people, they love souls, I mean they did a great work. I mean, think about this, they were commended by Jesus Christ himself. Jesus Christ spoke highly of these churches, no longer exists. It's just kind of the way of things, way of Christianity, the church, and that's okay though, you know, why? Because when churches, you know, they die, which we don't want that to happen, God is still God. Jesus Christ is still Jesus Christ, other churches can be started, and the work continues forward. But we wanna make sure that doesn't happen, man. We wanna make sure that our church continues to go forward no matter what. Look at verse number nine. It says, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, this is awesome. He says, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall sit on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. Now, what I believe he's referring to here is basically tell him, okay, you got these people saved, now it's time to let it rip. It's time to pipe up and preach the word of God. Look, folks, the work of God is not just the gospel. It's teaching the entire Bible, the whole counsel of God. And this is why God tells Paul, hey, don't be afraid. Speak, hold not thy peace. He's like, I'm with you, and guess what? I got a bunch of people who wanna hear what you have to say. It's great. Now, why does he have to tell Paul that? Well, because he's just got finished being persecuted by a bunch of people who don't wanna hear. He's just got being persecuted and ousted, and he's telling him, don't worry, my people are right here, kind of thing, right? Now, look, I mean, when God tells Paul something like this, it's just like, nice, go to Romans chapter number one. Go to Leviticus 20, 13, and just lets it fly. Why? Because he's preaching to God's people. Now, what's the equivalent to this? Well, in my opinion, it's like a church, basically, right? Like a pastor should be very comfortable preaching whatever he wants at his church, no matter how controversial it is. Because it's his church, right? But today you have pastors who are not like that at all. They're very afraid to preach the truth at their own church. I mean, they're just like, yeah, I don't wanna say bastard, but, you know, or ass, or, you know, I don't wanna use these biblical words. It's just like, why are you scared? These are God's people. Well, I might offend someone, but then let them get offended. They need to get right with God, amen? If it's the truth, pipe up, let it fly. Who cares what anybody thinks? And look, I'm thankful that when I come here, I could just let it fly, let it rip. And by the way, if no one liked it here, I'd still do it. Because at least I know my family, they have to put up with what I have to say, you know? But I know it's not like that. I know the vast majority of the people here love the truth, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much I spit, no matter how offensive the message gets, people wanna hear it. No matter how controversial it is. I'm not afraid to preach. And look, no pastor should be afraid to preach at their church. You know, the old IBD, they used to say this thing, it's just like, oh man, I just, I know, I feel like I was restrained, you know? I couldn't say everything I wanted to say. Well, you know what? It's because you're not a spirit-filled person. Because a spirit-filled person just lets it fly no matter what. Now, I can understand that maybe your church members are not mature enough, or maybe they're a little weak, a little lukewarm, but this is what you do. You just light them on fire. If your church members are a little cold, if you step on their toes, then what you need to do is grab the toenail clipper of God's word, trim those toenails so you don't step on their toes, right? You know, if someone steps on your foot and it hurts a lot, probably because you need to clip your toenails. Right? You know, if I preach a sermon, it's just like, ah, that hurts. Well, it's probably because you need to get right in that area or something. Because the individual who's right in that area, they're like, amen, it's good. You know, when I preach about short hair on women, people will be like, yeah, man, it's good. The woman with short hair is just like, just hoping the locks of hair just start growing out of them or something. Hey, when I start preaching on effeminate men, you know, the manly man, they're just like, yeah, get those little sissy boys, get them. Get those little soy boys, they need it. The soy boy is just like, ah, you know, they get a little offended, they get a little nervous, they get a little, you know, they start twitching or something, you know? When I preach on particular subjects, the people, and by the way, even if you're not right in that area, because you love the truth, you're like, yeah, give it to me straight. The pastor should not be afraid to speak the truth. And you know what? I take this, what God said to Paul, as it's for me as well. And it's for every pastor. No pastor should be afraid to speak the truth. And let me just tell you something, because this just came to mind right now. You know, you have this guy, Patrick Boyle, right? From Revival Baptist Church. He like, he's making fun of all these pastors because they closed down, because they're scared. They're so scared of what the government's gonna do. They're so scared. How about we talk about when he was a pastor at his old church, and he was too scared to change the doctrinal statement on his website. Oops, are your toenails too long? You know, he's too scared to tell his church that he's post-trib pre-wrath while he's preaching through the book of Revelation. How about that? How in the world can you be scared to change the doctrinal statement of your church? Your church. Folks, that's hypocritical right there. But then he wants to turn around a year later and try to get on us because we supposedly closed down. We're scared of the government. You're scared of your church? You're scared of the five people at your church, the deacon board at your church. Nonsense, folks. I'm pressed in the spirit right now, okay? You know, that's nonsensical. We ought to be able to preach, let it fly no matter where we're at. Yeah, but if I did that, I might offend them, and they might go, yeah, amen. Preaching is supposed to offend people who are not right in that area. And if they leave your church, then good riddance. Good riddance. Hey, when I preach against the flat earth, if there's people in our church who are flat earth and they get offended, the door's right there. You can open up that door and show your way out. Don't let the door hit you where the Lord split you. That's the point of it, amen? So I like what he says. So he continues there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. So he's just preaching the word of God. He's teaching them all these things. He's giving them principles. He's giving the whole counsel of God. And he's just letting it fly, letting it rip. He's just telling it like it is, and it's great. Okay, have to do that. Go to 1 Corinthians 14. Now obviously, look, not every sermon is gonna be bombastic, is gonna be just extremely lively. Sometimes it's gonna have some teaching that will exhort you, amen? It's just you need to learn some things. You need to be taught what they would consider systematic doctrine. You need to be taught specific topics and doctrines in the Bible. And you know what? Maybe I'm not gonna be slobbering all over the place preaching and yelling and screaming, but you're gonna learn something. At least you should be, amen? Look at 1 Corinthians 14, verse one. It says, follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesyeth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he that prophesyeth edifyeth the church. So we see here that preaching or prophesying, as the Bible also puts it, is meant to edify. What does it mean to edify? It means to build up, okay? And look, this doesn't mean that I have to go through a 30-week series on grace, obviously, right? I can explain that in five minutes or something, you know? What does it mean to edify someone? It means to build you up in your knowledge of God's word. Increase your faith, your knowledge, right? It means preaching through Leviticus chapter 20, verse 13. You know, because you got pastors out there saying, you shouldn't, you know, we don't need to preach that, and you know, that doesn't edify anyone. It edifies me every single time I hear a preacher preaching that. And listen to that statement, though. Shouldn't preach on that because, you know, we already know that. We already know Leviticus 20, 13. Yeah, but what that means is this, you're not reaching anybody new. Because guess what? New people don't know Leviticus 20, 13. Right? So you know why we keep preaching the same doctrines over and over again? Because we keep reaching new people. And yet it reinforces that doctrine to the individual who's been here since the beginning, but you know what, there's new people who come who don't know that doctrine, who need to hear Leviticus 20, 13. Look, we got a problem if, I'm like, well, everyone knows Leviticus 20, 13 here. That's a problem. Why? Because we're not reaching anybody new. We're not reaching anybody new. But you know, when you're constantly reaching new people, you have to constantly reinforce those fundamentals, those basic doctrines. Yeah, even the deep things have got. Because it edifies them, okay? Go back to Acts chapter 18. We're gonna finish up verse 12 of Acts chapter 18. It says that when Galil was deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. Gee, I wonder why. They're making insurrection against Paul. You think it has something to do with the year and six months that he's been preaching? Maybe he's preaching against some people, you know? This insurrection just didn't come out of nowhere. They're like, man, this guy's always preaching against us. He's always saying stuff about the Jews. He's saying we're children of the devil and all these things. So they made an insurrection against Paul and they bring him to the judgment seat, saying this fellow persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law, liars. And when Paul was not about to open, excuse me, when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galil said unto the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, oh you Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. In other words, it's like, why are you bringing this to my attention? If they're like breaking the law of the land, then obviously I need to hear about that. He says in verse 15, but if it be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. In other words, it's like, if it has to do with the word of God and the things that you guys believe, you guys should deal with that. By the way, that's a biblical principle. First Corinthians chapter five and six, or excuse me, First Corinthians six, yeah, five, two, teaches that, right? That we should not go to law against the brother. We shouldn't go to the unbelieving world to solve issues within the church, right? We resolve it amongst brethren. If there's conflict amongst brethren, we resolve it. Hey, Sunday was my birthday, amen. And that was real, we were solving all kinds of conflict that day. I'm not ashamed to admit that. You know why? Because it was resolved. We solved it, we finished it, we moved on. Why? Because we are a church where God has sanctioned and deputized us to be able to do that. Wouldn't it be dumb if I had some conflict with the hike? And I'm like, I'm going to go to the mayor. I'm going to go to the mayor of Omani and I'm going to tell him to help us fix this issue. I'm going to ask him to help me help the couples in our church just resolve their conflict. I mean, they should be like, they're going to say, what is this? Look you to that. This is for words and your beliefs and all that, you should see to that. And amen, he's right. The Jews, they didn't understand that, obviously. Says in verse 16, he drained them from the judgment seat. And it was like, get out of my face. I was like, get out of here, I don't want to hear this. Verse 17, then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue. Now it's a new ruler, possibly because Crispus, after he got saved, he's like, I'm not going to be a ruler anymore. I'm a Christian now. He was an amazing Jew, okay. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Galil cared for none of those things. So, you know, Galil, he's kind of like, it's kind of good and bad because he's just like, I don't want to get involved, but he's so off hands, hands off that like, even when they're beating them, when they're not supposed to be doing it, he's like, I don't really care. Whatever you guys, if that's what you guys do, then that's what you guys do. Obviously, they're beating them unjustly, okay. I'm pretty much out of time. Paul goes back to his old ways. We see in verse 18, and Paul, after this, tarried yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren in Seltans to Syria, and with them a Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in Cintria, for he had a vow. He came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews, there he goes again. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not, but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you if God will, and he selved from Ephesus. And when he had landed in Caesarea and gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch, and after he had spent some time there, he departed and went over all the country of Galatian Fergia, in order strengthening the disciples. So what we see here is that he still has his old ways. He's like, yeah, I gotta keep the feast. I still, you know, he had a vow, and it's like, you kinda wonder, like, Paul, what are you doing? Of course, he learns later on that he's wrong about that. Now, here's the last thing I wanna mention here. Look at verse 24, 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, being fervent in the Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. So was this man saved or not? Yeah, he was, because if you look at Acts 19, it says in verse number four, then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him, which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. So if he only knows the baptism of John, that means he only knew John's message, which is to believe on the Lord. Now, what is it that they're showing him? Well, in my opinion, they're showing him that the Lord is who? Jesus Christ. Because remember, we're in this transitional period when there's believers still all around this world, all around the known world at this time, who have believed in the Lord for salvation, they just don't know his name is Jesus. So part of Paul's ministry is to go out and tell those people that Jesus is the Christ. That's why you constantly see that in the Book of Acts, showing them from house to house that Jesus is the Christ. Christ is not his last name. Christ means Messiah, and he's basically saying, Jesus is his name, he is the Christ, is what he's telling them there. He says in verse number 26, and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expanded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass in Achaea, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come, helped them, much which had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, look what it says, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Now, people will ask this, well, what if they just never found out the name of Jesus? But they believe in the Lord, they're still saved. Because this is a transitional period. He said, well, what about now? If people believe in the Lord, but they don't believe in Jesus, then they're not saved. Because the name of Jesus has already gone out throughout all nations, you know, throughout the world. His name has already been proclaimed throughout the entire world. This is a specific time, a transitional period when Jesus Christ came, he ascended, and his apostles are there preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified as being the Messiah, okay? That has not happened today, all right? Anybody who knows of the Lord has to believe on Jesus Christ in order to be saved. They have to believe on that name, all right? And that's what I believe happened to Apollos. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for Acts chapter 18, and thank you for always giving us the liberty to preach the word of God no matter where we're at. Help us always remember the words that you told unto Paul, Lord, that we may not cut the message or trim it down, but we preach the word of God in its entirety no matter where we're at. Of course, we wanna use discernment, Lord, but at the same time, we know that if it's in the Bible, it should be preached no matter what. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to do so, help us to always be bold in our gospel presentation, but also in the presentation of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.