God's Plan for Priscilla and Aquila - Life of Paul Part 52

Well let's take a Bible and open it together to ask chapter 18 to become, and there just a few moments as we continue in our study of the life of a great man. The apostle Paul.

They know I'm glad to say that I have as a friend of the fellow whose picture you see on screen right now. His name is Morris Rosen is the founder Jews for Jesus and a true story about voice back in the 1950s. He began with the American Board of missions to the Jews as a young Jewish missionary and after a number of years it became fairly obvious that he was the heir apparent to take over the next president of this organization, but as soon as that became a now all suddenly there was a younger member of the staff who was extremely jealous and extremely aggressive, extremely ambitious, and he began working in ways designed to push Rosenau, he began undercutting him with the president telling lies about him and misrepresenting things that he was doing and they were all untrue. But after a while the total weight of them was so great that the president of the American Board of missions of the Jews fired Morris Rosen over completely untrue allegations well left high and dry. He was, he had no job. He had no income instead of being the next president of the American Board. He became an unemployed ex-missionary with a bunch of little kids to raise and there he was stranded high and dry.

All because the stop that somebody else.

Not even you (I believe Morris Rosen is not the first person who's ever had this experience. I believe pretty much everyone of us here can relate to what happened to him.

Every one of us here is had the direction of our life radically changed at some point by the ungodly unrighteous full and fair actions of somebody else.

And so when that happens to us as followers of Jesus Christ. When we do, how do we handle that kind of a brutal treatment coming our way will talk about today use of the incident right out of the life of the apostle Paul. So I want to go with me here to ask chapter 18 and remember now when we left the apostle Paul last week he was in Athens preaching on the top of Mars Hill. So now were to pick up the story.

Chapter 18 verse one and after this Paul left Athens and went to court. The court was a very strategic city in the ancient Roman world, and I want to show you why show your map and you'll understand the time of Paul here score the tears Athens and separating the Peloponnesus were Sparta was in the main part of Greece. Is this little tiny gizmos that you see between Corinth and Athens for 3 1/2 miles wide. Here on the right hand side on the ease we see the Aegean Sea and on the left.

We see the Ionian sea and what would happen if sailors rather than sailing all the way around the South agrees head out into the Mediterranean Sea were there were storms and gales in all kinds of nasty weather. What they would do is they would make use of this little incident, they would sailing from the Easter sailing from the West on these call me in land CDs and then for small ships what they would do is they would take the whole ship and floated out of the water did up on dry land, and taken on a little railroad, they built a 3 1/2 miles across the gizmos and re-floated on the other side or 40 ships that were much larger. They would simply unload the cargo on one side taken across the land, on wagons and and reload it on another ship. Waiting on the other side to what this is mostly tables, like the original. The Panama Canal. Johnson wants her. Interestingly enough, in the 19th century people actually dog a canal right through this gizmos will show you that picture now and this is today you looking towards the Ionian scene here on the west and I'm not talking about little ships were talking about big old shootouts that go through this at shoulder picture. One of those that go through this.

Even to this day. So isn't it interesting to know that even this day people are still navigating the eastern Mediterranean. The same way they did 2000 years ago, when the apostle Paul lived there when we go on our tour of Greece and interestingly enough, one of the things we do is is will open a restaurant to just sit right on the edge of the canal and we need to know. You know most the car whatever and watch these you ships go by. It's really unbelievable what, that's the same way it was in Paul's day in the city of Corinth sat just like this little open-air restaurant right on this canal and I as a result it became a stopping point for all the trade and all the customers that was moving across this gizmos to became a city of enormous wealth and enormous influence. In fact, it's estimated that the time of the apostle Paul, the population of Corinth was 200,000 people that made it a true mega city in the ancient world to show you couple pictures over court look like here's one.

Although we just get a sense of the second one we'll actually see the remains of the temple of Apollo and the this was an enormous city.

In fact, tear up, you look very carefully in the background you can actually see the Aegean Sea. At the base of the mountains here in the background of the city of court.

Well, Paul arrived there verse chapter 18. Look at verse two with me when Paul came to town he met a Jew named acquittal, and recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome now here in Corinth. The apostle Paul met a married couple. They were both Jewish believers.

They Priscilla Tukwila and the Bible tells us that they had been expelled from Rome by edict of Emperor Claudius not Claudius became Emperor of the Roman Empire in 40 A.D. and we are told by the Roman historian Sue Antonius and I quote that in his ninth year Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome because the Jews were in a constant state of chaos at the instigation of a person named Christus. Most historians agree that this crassness that is mentioned here by Sue Antonius is actually a misunderstanding and a mispronunciation of the word Christ and so what really happened here apparently is that in the early 40s. A.D. the message of Jesus arrived in Rome and Jewish people began being told by other Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah, and the entire Jewish population of the city. About 20,000 in Rome at the time erupted erupted with chaos and commotion and riots and beatings and all kinds of towable until eventually Claudius got sick and tired of it and said I thought a whole bunch of you all 20,000 you guys get out a row well included in that number were Priscilla Tukwila and the Bible tells us they migrated to Corinth which is where we meet up with them right here in acts chapter 18 that we have an exact year for all of this. Remember this was in the ninth year of Claudius do we know it was 49 A.D. when he threw all the Jews out of Rome and the apostle Paul arrived in Corinth in the fall of 51 A.D., meaning that Priscilla Tukwila had been in Corinth probably about a year when the apostle Paul got there.

All right, verse two goes on and Paul went to see them because he was a tent maker as they were, and he stayed and worked with them. Remember, the apostle Paul trained under Gamaliel. He tells us about us in acts 22, the famous Rabbi in Jerusalem and Gamaliel required all of his rabbinic pupils to have a marketable skill.

The apostle Paul's marketable skill was to thinking and so maybe they were down in tent maker square.

I don't know where they were, but somehow they ran into each other in Corinth and a Priscilla Tukwila and Paul went into business together, making tents there in the city, and though verse four goes on to say every Sabbath. Paul reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade both Jews and Gentiles, that you get the picture here the apostle Paul, Monday to Friday work for a living. And then on the weekend he preached, and as was his custom, he began his preaching ministry with the synagogue that was there in this town now. Interestingly, archaeology has corroborated what the Bible tells us about the presence of a significant Jewish community in the town of Corinth, for example, we dug up his capital for column and on this capital are three big old menorahs three big old candelabras and Brenda don't get more Jewish than Minoru Jensen. What I'm saying you also. They dug up out of the ground is big old piece of limestone.

I'll show you that and right here is the word Hebrews written right here on the Pisa limestone from Corinth, but I gotta tell you I did not need archaeology to know that there were Jewish people in this town you know why you find commerce you find trade and you find money and you will find Jewish people said I needed is a law of nature in Bible law.

They charting that would Jewish people in the South, that was money going to this town and we were there. All right now the Bible tells us. The apostle Paul went to the synagogue every single week administered and tried to leave these Jewish people to Christ and is working to see in the weeks to come. The Jewish community in Corinth is going to explode the same way the Jewish community in Rome exploded when the message of Christ got there and Paul is going to be right smack day out in the middle of it will get there in a couple weeks. Stars want to go in our passage today. But before we ask our questions. I want to make sure that we don't leave the passage without getting the full impact of something that was said here. Remember, the Bible told us here that Priscilla Tukwila had to move out of Rome. Enter Corinth and it was against their will. Don't forget what happened here. You know Brendan I would weed 1980 when we came to McLean Bible Church. I don't know if you've ever had to move from somewhere. You've lived a long time. I bet a lot of you have some of you been in the military. Some of you been in the industry or business all of your work for the government, you know, we lived in Maryland for 10 years when we decided to come over here and it was really hard. We left all our close friends. We left all our familiar places. We left all our favorite restaurants. We left the house that we loved and thought it was years before we really felt like we had reestablished roots here will you know what we came over here voluntarily. We came over here because we believe God was asking us to. We decided to make that move a Priscilla Tukwila did not decide to make this move. Priscilla Tukwila did not come to Corinth willingly. I want you to make sure you see that they got forced out of town. Forced out of their favorite restaurants, favorite friends and favorite locations without warning, without appeal without mercy and it wasn't even because anything they did it was because of the unrighteous actions of other people that they got thrown out of town.

It was the unbelieving Jewish community that couldn't have a civil conversation about Jesus that had to resort to beatings and riots into molten commotion and everything else so therefore kick the ball out of town and we got Priscilla Tukwila's life being radically scrambled up and change because of the unrighteous actions of a bunch of other people about see that that's important because that's configuring what we want to talk about now that it's time to ask our most important question you all know what that is. So here we go.

You ready 123 right is a lot so what the geographies great and I really gotta get me one of them really important things you got.

But what difference is any of this make them while I did not make any difference to me. All I believe it does. Folks listen. I believe every one of us here can relate to what happened, Priscilla Tukwila everyone of us here can relate to what happened in which Rosen everyone of us here at been in situations in our life we been going to Longmont in our own business just want to serve God in the best of our ability and all of a sudden somebody else does something ungodly unrighteous unfair that suddenly alters the total direction of our life and it's not for the good, maybe was a father who walked out on our family.

Or maybe it was a spell to walk out in our marriage. Or maybe it was a boss and put little pink slip on our desk. One Friday when we were expecting your baby was a neighbor who lied about us and ruined our reputation maybe was a coworker who stabbed us in the back and stole our best account maybe was a fellow student at school try to cheat off our paper and we got in trouble. We didn't even know it maybe was a relative who cheated us out of our inheritance or broker who mis-invested our funds in decimated all of our assets or maybe it was a business partner who did something criminal and sunk the whole business, but you know what friends everyone of us knows what it feels like to be accepting bad stuff that we didn't even do because it somebody else to do because it now.

When that happens, as followers of Jesus Christ.

How do we maintain spiritual equilibrium. How do we maintain spiritual perspective. How do we keep our joy when we are suffering because of the ungodly behavior of somebody else forget kicked around like Priscilla Tukwila did forget kicked around like Morris Rosen got kicked around will be answer to this is to have a godly view of circumstances, you say what were those that want to explain it to God and your circumstances friends is a way of looking at the events and circumstances of life. It's a way of looking at the things that people do to us and it's perfectly sound off in the words and the experience of a God in the Bible but you know his name is Joseph.

Joseph just like Priscilla Tukwila just like Morris Rosen go to Joseph's life was radically altered by the unrighteous behavior of other people go back and remind ourselves what happened to our friend Joseph. Remember, first of all his brothers, 11 brothers were so jealous of them so resentful of him. They hated him so much that one day they bushwhacked and tied him up and sold him as a slave to bond to strangers going to the desert.

Remember that all he committed any crime and you talk about radically altering your life.

They sold him into slavery away. He went on some caravan. All because of the unrighteous actions of his brothers taking to Egypt and excelling to Potter for bodyguard to the Pharaoh and the plot offers wife got what we used to call in the cell hankering for Joseph. You know what hankering is don't you will yeah she got a hankering for Joseph and tried to convince you to have an affair with her and he said no I won't do it. I won't sin against God like this and you know what that woman did that woman flip this whole thing around and went and told her husband. It was all that he was the one trying to have the affair with her. That is not true, but who do you think the bully would leave his wife through Joseph in general.

The jail in Egypt 4000 years ago. Not like jail in America they didn't have TV sets without light, and you know in NFL Sunday ticket. They didn't have nice rooms with a wash to close up hold the ball up for you. They didn't have workout rooms and weight rooms and and basketball courts to go outside and play on. This is jail in Egypt 4000 years ago and Joseph got thrown in there and spent teen years in jail. From age 17 to age 30. He never saw the outside of an Egyptian jail and it wasn't even for anything didn't do a thing wrong. It was the unrighteous acts of other people that ended him up in jail. Well, the story has a happy ending friends because one day, the Pharaoh had some dreams and nobody could interpret them a call. Joseph out. He didn't and the Pharaoh turns to him and says what you think about being Prime Minister of Egypt. Joseph said think I'll take and hopefully this and he became prime minister of all Egypt and you know, seven years later it's been 20 years now since they sold him his brothers come to town looking to buy food and guess who they have to go interview with old Joseph they did know we was at first when he told him it was him. They were scared that what he says to them that hear here's a godly, new circumstances ready.

All this is happened to them. Listen to what he says to his brothers. He says Genesis 52 not fear. I know that in selling me you minute harm you presented me you hated me.

As far as you were concerned octagon you could care less, but God meant it for good. God was bigger than your own righteousness God was able to take your unrighteousness and turn it into this present result today, but on the Prime Minister of all of Egypt. In fact, he said to them earlier. Genesis 45 so that it was not you who sent me here to Egypt yet was. Not going.

Joseph thought it was not you who sent me here to Egypt.

It was God.

God was bigger than your unrighteousness. God was in control all the time and friends. Joseph saw God over and above and behind every unrighteous thing these people are going to hear him working out God's perfect plan for Joseph light even to the unrighteousness of all these people and he understood that even though his brothers were Potter.

Further, poppers, wife, nor Pharaoh himself realized that they were all being used by God to get Joseph exactly were God wanted it because Joseph saw this because Joseph believed this. That's why he could forgive his brothers, and forgive everybody else and informed him that's why he could go through this with the peace of God in his life instead of bitterness and resentment in his life. This is a godly view of circumstances. It means seeing Almighty God in absolute control of every detail of life. It means seeing that God is working out his perfect plan for our life, even through the hatred the mistreatment and the ungodly actions of other people. It means that we see God as being bigger than even the meanest coolness, nastiest things that people do to us. It means believing that God is working out a righteous plan for us even though he may be using the unrighteous behavior of other people to make that plan come true cannot repeat that God is working out a righteous plan for us even though he may be using the unrighteous behavior of other people to get that plan to happen. That's a godly view of circumstances to civilize great great where you get one of these things from. I mean, is there some psychobabble seminar you can go to and learn how to do this is there, you know, is a some book in our bookstore that teaches you how to do this I mean can you order it off the Internet where you get one of these godly views of circumstances friends. It's real simple, godly dual circumstances, is a result of believing what God tells us in the Bible. It is the result of believing what God tells us in the Bible and what is God tells in the Bible.

Romans 828 that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love it and post all things means all things.

It means didn't pick the robot Emperor boy Priscilla Cuomo were it means getting sold into slavery by Your Brothers Way, Joseph was. It means being fired because of his scheming of some coworker like Morse. Rosen was all things, means all things. This is where godly view of circumstances comes from. It comes believing God's promise, pure and simple.

Not here today and you never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way. May I say to you that something you already know and that is there aren't very many certainties in our world on the weather to stock options, mutual funds are your job, your retirement funds relationships good help paste up go real quick little sure things in this world except except the promises of God brings the promises of God are culturalist. They are timeless and they are nonnegotiable and I don't care where the stock market goes the promises of God's people. They never move a bit and Jesus said that a person will build his life on the promises of God is like a person who builds his life on a rock and the wind is calm in the storm blows and the rainfall and the house is fine, because it's built on a rock that you know what, if you're here, you never trusted Jesus in your Tartar building your house on the sand. God has a much better way for you to build your life but you know what you can activate the promises of God.

You can't make them your personal property into you give your life to Jesus Christ. That's where it all starts with you here today and you want to start building on the rock God would love nothing better than to help you befriend you got start by coming into personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Think about with a lot before you finish today because I sense we get done here. I want you to bring this thing full-circle here on the needed what I mean by that his lawn this whole thing with with Priscilla Tukwila having dinner there didn't pick out a role did that really worked out for their good will, absolutely, you know friends Priscilla Tukwila became the most significant married couple anywhere in the New Testament how they became Paul's lifelong friends. They became his lifelong teammates in the ministry community scroll you through their life a little bit pulsate 18 months in Corinth. Priscilla Tukwila stayed there with him being his partners in ministry. When he left to go to Ephesus Priscilla Tukwila went with him to Ephesus when he left Ephesus, he said to Priscilla Tukwila you guys stay behind and you guys nurture this young church or that we started which all by the way the Bible tells us in first Corinthians 16 actually met in their home a little bit later in Romans 16 we find out the Priscilla Tukwila had gone back to Rome and for a while they were back there leading the church in Rome and finally in second Timothy four. We find that there back in Ephesus again at the end of Paul's life in charge of not only the church but in charge of the whole work of God in the western part of Asia minor, Paul says about them. Romans 16 33 Priscilla Tukwila my coworkers in Jesus Christ who risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles over them a great debt of gratitude. That's a pretty good accolade have written about you and the Bible. And here's the point is that God had a fabulous plan for Priscilla Tukwila's life a plan to use them spiritually beyond their wildest dreams. But in order to get this plan to happen. Listen carefully friends, God had to get him out of Rome in 49 A.D. and had to get them into the path of the apostle Paul. How did he do that very simply had the Emperor so every Jew out a role that Bible overkill but every Jew out a row and Priscilla Tukwila got thrown out to and got thrown right into the path of the apostle Paul, so that their destiny in life could be fulfilled now question when Claudius threw Priscilla Tukwila Alvaro, do you really think Priscilla and acquittal understood that it was so they could go meet Billy apostle Paul and fulfill the destiny for their life, no way. Of course they didn't know that.

But the important thing is God didn't know it. Is that what about Morse Rosen.

Can you bring him full-circle before you quit that his getting fired because some fabulous plan that God had for his life to get worked out what you bet your yarmulke didn't listen to what happened to him.

Rosen was living out in LA when he got fired and he began to go up to San Francisco and hangout as a volunteer and handout tracks with a bunch of Jewish hippies up there in San Francisco would become believers in Jesus and they would go into the street and on the college campuses and in 1972. They were on the campus of San Francisco State University.

When somebody sitting there watching him in a derisive way in a negative way said the student said there calm those Jews for Jesus Rosen Hardeman said that is the best name I ever heard in my life. Anything want to take that name and start an organization by that name. And so in 1973. Rosen, for bunch of Jewish hippies out there started Jews for Jesus stealing the name from the student sit in on campus and Jews for Jesus today is gone on to become the largest and most influential Jewish mission in the world with branches in Canada, France, England, Germany, Russia, Israel, South Africa, Australia, here in the United States now. When Morse Rosen got fired by the American Board of missions of the Jews. You think he knew it so he could go start Jews for Jesus. A few years later you know the name but the God known sure and friends. That's the point. That's the point here here in your follower of Jesus Christ today. Listen, God has a fabulous plan for your life you really does and God's gonna work. That plan out to every circumstance that comes into your life and when God lets people mistreat us when God let somebody else's ungodly actions alter the direction of our lives, just like with Morse Rosen and just like with Joseph and just like with Priscilla Tukwila.

We probably won't understand at that moment exactly why God's doing what he's doing, but that doesn't matter. The important thing is that God understands why he's doing what he's doing and some of us are right in the middle of that, situation right here today. We had somebody do something that is just scrambled our life and I'm here to tell you that what we need friends is a godly view of circumstances. What we need is to believe that God is in absolute control of every detail of our lives.

What we need is to believe that God is able to work out a righteous plan for our life, even through the unrighteous behavior of other people. What we need is to be confident that God is bigger than even the meanest colas, nastiest stuff the people due to us and that God will cause all things to work together for good will just trust the menus along. What assurance do I have about friends you have the assurance that God said and that you can take to the bank as the best assurance you can have our heads together, showing just before we close up in prayer. I want some of you who are here who I know are dealing with tough situations in your life because what somebody else is done that's unrighteous and ungodly and unfair. I want you to take a moment and talk to God about bringing a godly view of circumstances, to bear on that situation in your life. Take a moment you speak to God or Jesus you know we live in a world where people do a lot of rotten stuff to one another and being a follower of Jesus doesn't make us impervious to Lord many of us here today are dealing with negative consequences in our lives because of somebody else's ungodly behavior. My prayer today is that you would give us a strategy for dealing with the a biblical strategy we call it a godly view of circumstances. Lord enable us to see our circumstances the way the Bible tells us we should see them and help us choose the experience of voice. Rosen Priscilla Tukwila and Joseph to corroborate that you tell us the truth that our job is not to try to figure it all out and our job is certainly not to try and go pay people back.

Our job is to trust you when it's all done, you promise us that you will cause all things to work together for good in our lives to Lord help us rise above our human emotion.

When this happens to us and help us to look at all of this through the lens of biblical truth. Give us a godly view of our circumstances so that we can have the peace of God going through them.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, and we pray these things in Jesus name God's people said that