Priscilla and Aquila

Text:  Romans 16:1-4

Proposition:  What are some characteristics of Priscilla and Aquila?

Introduction  

Priscilla and Aquila were good soldiers of Jesus Christ.  They were willing to endure hardship.  They were willing to risk their lives for Paul, Romans 6:3-4.  They were stable people you could count on.  They were good examples to others in the church.  

I. They were a good married couple.

II. They were pillars in the church.

III. They were good examples.

I. They were a good married couple.  (How do we know they were a good married couple?)

A. They worked together.

1. Acts 18:1-3, 23-25

2. Some husbands and wives can’t stand one another.

3. One couple I knew, he was an over-the-road truckdriver and was away from home a lot.  She said one time, that she was ready for him to be back on the road because they were getting tired of one another.  That is not a healthy relationship between husband and wife.

B. They were always together.

1. Whenever we read about them they are always together.

2. Acts 18:18 and II Timothy 4:19.

II. They were pillars in the church.  (How were they stabilizers in the church?)

A. They sacrificed their time and energy for the church.

1. They traveled with Paul. (Acts 18:18)

2. They risked their necks for Paul.

3. Christianity wasn’t as easy as then as it is now.

4. We live fairly secure as Christians.  It is against the law to kill us, but someday that may change.

B. The church met in their house.

1. Romans 16:5 and I Corinthians 16:19

2. They were a hospitable people.

3. Having the church at your house would be work.

4. Kids make a mess in your house. Toys and other things get broken.  Sometimes people stay a long time, and you want them to go home.

5. We are to be hospitable without complaint.

6. They were willing to give of themselves to other people.

7. It wasn’t convenient for them to have church in their house every week, but the church was important to them.

III. They were great Christian examples.  (In what way were they great examples?)

A. They were genuine Christians.  They were not hypocrites.

1. Fake Christians cause infidels, atheists and Satanists.  (Anton Levay illustration)

2. Wayne Homan as a sheriff deputy saw the way men acted on Friday and Saturday nights and then sat in church Sunday morning.

3. We have little respect for other religions that are not genuine.

4. A Mormon man next to me on the plane was drinking coffee and I asked him a few questions.  Embarrassingly he said, “I am not a very good Mormon.  You will have to ask someone who is a good Mormon.”

5. God despises hypocrites and so do men.  Even when they are one themselves like Anton Levay.  He wrote the Satanic Bible.  On Saturday nights he played the organ for the carnival and saw men watching half naked women dance and then saw the same men on Sunday morning when he played the organ for church.

6. Matthew 23:28

a. Many want to appear righteous to others, but they are hypocrites.

b. What do you do?  Luke 17:1-4

c. Are you a stumbling block?

d. Are you entertained with naked or half –naked women?

e. How do you act when no one is checking up on you?

B. They were soul winners.

1. They traveled with Paul. (Acts 18:18)

2. They taught Apollos.  (Paul left them is Ephesus.)

a. Acts 18:24-28

b. They didn’t get up and argue with him.  They explained to him the way of God more accurately.

c. They weren’t preachers (as in professional preachers), but they knew God’s word.

d. Matthew 28:18-20

e. Jesus commanded that we teach others it is not an option.

f. Look for opportunities to speak to others.

C. They helped those in need.

1. Paul had just left Athens.  He was not received well there.  They sneered at his message.

2. He came to Corinth with fear and trembling.

3. I Corinthians 2:1-4 and Acts 18:9-10.

a. Paul had just come form the great center of learning and people who were full of the wisdom of the world.

b. When he came to Corinth he was scared and needed money.  Paul didn’t hold up a sign “will work for food” in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but he went to work.  He found Priscilla and Aquila. They took Paul in.  Life wasn’t easy for them either.  They had been forced to leave their home in Rome.  They were a help to Paul.  They encouraged him.  We should do the same. 

Conclusion

Proposition:  What are some characteristics of Priscilla and Aquila?

I. They were a good married couple.

A. They worked together

B. They were always together

II. They were pillars in the church

A. They sacrificed their time and energy for the church.

B. The church met in their house.

III. They were great Christian examples.

A. They were genuine Christians.

B. They were soul winners

C. They helped those in need.