WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:19.760 Yeah. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:20.480 Yeah. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:22.800 Before I pray, just stay standing for a second. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:33.039 Let me just remind you: when we say my sins are forgiven and my future is heaven, we don't just mean the sins that you committed yesterday or this morning on the way to church as you had to beat your kids to subdue them. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.079 Here's the great thing about Christianity. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:43.359 I stand before you as a Christian, not as a pastor, but as a Christian, when I say, when I sing my sins are forgiven, that means all of them. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:44.880 Past, present, and future. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:48.320 It means I'm not just forgiven, but I am free from the power of sin. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:51.840 Sin I don't just get up and make bad choices because I can't help myself. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.119 It's in my DNA. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.799 I come from a dysfunctional family, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.320 You see, when you come to faith, your nature, your heart changes. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:13.439 The Bible says it like this that God takes out your heart of stone and he puts it, your cold heart, and he puts in you a heart of flesh, and he puts his spirit inside of you, and he moves you to follow his decrees, things that he says in the Bible. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:21.519 So if you're here and you're not a believer, you may be an atheist or an agnostic, and you're thinking, dude, there is no way I can live out what the Bible says. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:22.560 You're exactly right. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.439 Neither could I until God changed my heart. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:26.000 Okay? 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.079 And so here's what I'm saying: God's still in the heart-changing business. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:30.799 All right? 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:37.439 And so you're gonna hear God's word taught today, and God's spirit is here, and you have the capacity to have your heart changed. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.120 That is not a religious experience, that is a relational experience. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.439 Uh, and so that's what Christianity is. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:51.680 Some of you may have had bad bad experiences with churches or preachers or or religion or whatever, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm also not responsible for it. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:57.120 I want you just before I pray, just to open your heart and just say, Hey, my sins are forgiven, my future is heaven. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.319 How could you live if you if that was true of you? 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.120 How at peace could you be on the inside? 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:04.719 Let's pray together. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.799 Lord, thank you that only you can do that. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:10.719 And so, uh, our hope today is not in a man or a place or even a people. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:16.639 Our hope is in God because you're the only one that can do that, that has the power to change us that way. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.639 And so, Lord, for all of us who have been changed, we want to model the gospel. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.240 We don't want to just talk about the gospel, we don't want to just learn more about the gospel. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:30.960 We want to model the gospel so with a fragrant aroma of Christ uh uh to those who don't know what he's like. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:36.479 And so, Lord, let people get a whiff of what Jesus is like and the kingdom is like because they're around us. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:38.639 So, Holy Spirit, illuminate your word today. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:41.199 It's not just words on a paper written by a bunch of men. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:44.560 No, it is life-giving truth, and that's what we need today. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:48.400 Set us free from your word and by your spirit, we pray in Christ's name. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:50.159 And everyone said, Amen. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:50.560 Amen. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:51.840 You could have a C if you got a Bible. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.000 I invite you to take and open up to Acts chapter 18. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.599 If you're a guest, let me introduce myself. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:56.400 My name is Neil. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:59.840 Uh, I'm the lead pastor here at Grand Parkway, and we're teaching through the book of Acts. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:01.680 We're typically teaching through a book of the Bible. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.039 It's not like license to bore people with some religious lecture. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:06.639 And we're in Acts chapter 18. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.680 Verse 18, if you're like, hey, dude, I don't even own a Bible, that's okay. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:11.280 It'll come on the screen right up here. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.599 Uh now, if you don't own a Bible and you'd like one, come see me after the service and I'll get you one. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:21.360 Uh, but Acts chapter 18, I'll start reading verse 18 and I'll read to the to the verse 28. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:24.319 And I want to talk this morning about gospel modeling behaviors. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.000 Gospel modeling behaviors. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.080 Like, oh, okay, that wait time out. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:29.520 I don't know what that means right there. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:34.080 That means that we engage, we do certain things that model the gospel to people around us. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:39.520 That doesn't mean you take a Bible to school, uh, students, and put it on your desk in the fall and go, I want everybody to know. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.319 Uh, no, it's just in the everyday warp and move of life. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:46.000 And here, the things that I'm gonna talk about this morning, any Christian can do these things. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.599 It's not for the super mature or the super godly or the super willing. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:54.080 But before I jump into the text, I just want to say a couple things uh up from the top. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:08.560 Uh, the first is simply this one of the major differences, hopefully you've picked up on this, and as we're getting in this recent section of the book of Acts, one of the major differences in Christians in the Bible and Christians in America is that they thought in terms of cities. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:13.680 Uh, they thought in terms of cities like Corinth and Ephesus and Antioch and Jerusalem. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.120 Uh, and that's how they thought about it. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:17.040 We want the gospel to penetrate this city. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.319 We think in terms of families, namely ours. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.839 And once our family comes to faith, we're kind of like, okay, I'm good. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:30.800 Uh uh, but the reason Christianity was so expansive and so consequential was they thought in terms of cities. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:38.879 Second thing, all we ever do is talk about the gospel and come to church and learn more about the gospel, then eventually we're doing a disservice to the gospel. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:48.240 It's almost an offense to the gospel, um, which is why it's important that we understand and learn some practical, simple ways we can engage in what I call gospel modeling behaviors. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:55.199 We demonstrate outwardly that God has changed us inwardly, just by the not just the things we say, but how we do the things we do. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:56.639 And uh, there's three of them in the text. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.720 I just want to read the text and point to them this morning. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:00.879 Acts chapter 18, starting verse 18. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.079 The Bible says this. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:09.199 After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then he took leave of the brothers, and he set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.720 At Centuria, he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.680 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.879 But he himself went into the synagogue and he reasoned with the Jews. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.519 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.360 But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.040 And he set sail for Ephesus. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:31.680 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and he went down to Antioch. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:39.199 After spending some time there, he departed, and he went from one place to the next, to the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.519 Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.399 He was an eloquent man, competent in scriptures. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:55.680 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and the and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.000 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:03.439 But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.800 And when he wished to cross to Achai, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:18.319 When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:20.079 Now, let me just acknowledge something. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:25.920 This is a section of the Bible that it's easy to read and kind of go, Okay, what are you going to do with this? 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:26.399 Okay? 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.279 This is what I mean by some of you are like, mm-hmm. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:30.480 I'm just curious. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.560 This is what I mean by gospel modeling behaviors. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:33.120 There's three of them. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:34.160 The first one is vows. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:35.360 It's in verse 18. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.160 It's subtle, it kind of snuck by you that even see it. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:39.120 So let me back up. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:40.879 Uh uh, and you say, What do you mean? 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:46.720 It says that at Centurion he had cut his hair, Paul, for he is under a vow, okay? 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:48.000 He was under a vow. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:49.600 Now, what do you mean he's under a vow? 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:51.519 Let me give you a definition for a vow first. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:59.519 A vow is an informed expression of understanding that one submits themselves to in order to express gratitude, need, or understanding. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:00.800 Let me say it again. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:08.399 A vow is an informed expression of understanding that one submits himself to in order to express gratitude, need, or understanding. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.040 Here's the vow that our culture is kind of taking on. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.040 It's called sober November. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.879 This would be in the need category. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.759 Some of you are like, I'm not biting on that. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:22.079 And so, what do you mean by a vow? 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:26.000 For Paul, remember back last week we talked about in verse 10 of chapter 18? 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.519 God came to him in a vision and said, Hey, keep doing what you're doing. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:31.839 No one's going to attack you to harm you. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.199 And so what happens is that Paul cuts his hair as a vow. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.120 Basically, it's a vow of gratitude. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.160 He is saying to God, hey, thank you for protecting me. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:42.720 No harm, just like you said, no harm came of me. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:48.319 Now, again, a vow is an informed expression of understanding that one submits themselves to in order to express gratitude. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.279 That's the case here, or need or understanding. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:57.279 I have a friend, when he's got something he's praying for, he won't shave until he gets an answer. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:01.199 And so I can tell how it's going based on his beard. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.199 And so I'm kind of neurotic and curious and nosy rosy. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:12.240 And so when I see him and I know he's like in it in this battle, he doesn't make a big thing and he'll just say, Hey, I'm waiting on some things from the Lord. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:18.319 And when I see him, he's got kind of like the Fred Flenson beard, and about five days later, he's got like, you know, grizzly atoms going on. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.480 I'm like, dude, and then whenever I see him and he's clean shaven, I'm like, he got an answer. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:23.279 And he's honest. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.639 He's like, dude, it's not always the answer I want, but it is answer. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:27.680 God makes it very clear. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:31.519 And so don't get hung up on the word vow, like, oh, this is a big thing, and it's kind of cumbersome. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:34.240 Uh again, for Paul, it was a it was a vow of gratitude. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:36.240 I met a guy once and he was always on the phone. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:37.200 He's at a youth camp. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:38.960 I spoke at, he was like, sorry, I gotta take this. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:39.919 Sorry, I gotta take this. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.399 For the first two and a half days of the camp, the guy was on the phone probably two and a half, three hours a day. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:48.159 And then he said, Finally, hey, I'm sorry, I'm closing a big deal. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:50.879 I volunteered to come to camp, but this thing's coming to a head. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:56.080 And and he said, Finally, on like the third day, he said, We closed the deal last night. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:57.919 I won't be on my phone that much anymore. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.600 And I just said, just out because I'm curious, I just said, Hey, how do you celebrate uh uh you know when you close a deal? 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:06.480 He said, actually, I fast for a couple of days. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:10.240 And I was like, nothing, not the answer I was expecting. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:11.039 I said, What do you mean? 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:18.240 He goes, I just I just made a lot of bread and I fast because I don't want God to think that I'm I want to live on bread alone. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:20.639 Yeah, that was my response. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:25.519 I was like, see, I I think I would be like, oh, you got a lot of bread? 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.360 It's time for a new truck, amen? 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:31.919 Uh and he said, I just take a couple days, and he said, My wife's the only person that knows. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:33.759 He said, but I just I got a lot of bread. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.879 It was a big deal, and my my commission off that was huge. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.240 And then I'm because I'm a sinner, I was like, Well, how huge was it? 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.919 But I didn't ask that question because I'm a man of the cloth, okay? 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:45.840 Uh, but let me just bring it down to you. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:47.360 That's a form of a vow, okay? 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:55.759 He's just like, hey, I want again, a vow is an informed expression of understanding that one submits to in order to express gratitude, need, or understanding. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:02.080 Ask yourself tonight before you go to bed, how do you express how do you express express gratitude to God? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.639 How do you express need? 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.279 How do you express understanding? 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:12.320 And if you really want to get more personal, ask yourself which one of those is hardest for you to express? 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:16.000 Gratitude, need, or understanding? 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.840 Now, before you think about it, because here's what I'll just put my cards on the table. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.080 I want to ask you this question is there a vow you need to make or want to make for the next month? 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.399 By the way, today's the last day of June. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.480 Tomorrow is July. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.279 It's only five weeks until school starts back, parents. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:32.159 So pace yourself. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.200 You can make it. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.159 Now, you tomorrow's a new month. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:37.440 You got 31 days. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:38.399 Is there a vow? 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:39.200 I'm being serious. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:40.159 Is there a vow? 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.200 Again, this is not obligation, this is understanding. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.200 It's an informed expression of understanding. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:47.360 Is there a vow that you think of it like this? 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.120 It's like a goal that you set in the in the context of God, just to say, hey, this is how serious I take this. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:00.480 Is there a vow that you need to make or want to make that would help you better express your gratitude, your need, or your understanding? 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:04.960 Now, before you answer that, let me just read to you what the Bible says about this whole making vows. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.600 This is from Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 1. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:10.320 He says, Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.679 Draw near to listen. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:17.919 Is better, it is better uh to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.879 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.279 For God is in heaven and you are on earth. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.120 Therefore, let your words be few. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:32.639 For a dream comes with much busyness or business, and a fool's voice with many words. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:37.360 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.720 Pay what you vow. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:43.840 It is better that you should not vow than you should not vow, then you should vow and not pay. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.960 Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:52.559 Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:56.639 For when dreams increase and words are many, there is vanity. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:59.759 But God is the one you must fear. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:05.120 See, the motivation for a vow is not to distinguish yourself, it's to discipline yourself. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.639 Like someone asked me a while back, they said, Do you read a lot of books over in my office? 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.519 And I have a lot of books everywhere, and I love books. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:16.559 And Kim, our ministry coordinator, when I get an Amazon package, he's like, Let me guess, some more books. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:18.399 Like, watch your mouth, Kim. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.720 But someone said to me very practically, they said, Hey, do you read all these books? 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.840 And I said, Yeah, I've read most of them a chapter at a time. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:27.759 And he said, Doesn't everybody? 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:31.440 And I said, I don't sit out to read books, I sit out to read chapters. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:41.759 Like, for example, if you made a vow starting tomorrow that you're gonna read one chapter in a book every day in July, you could read probably two and a half good Christian books in one month. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.879 It's just simple and systematic. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:49.120 I don't sit out to read books, I just sit out to say, I'm gonna read a chapter every day. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.840 Now, if you want to take it a whole nother like way beyond where I am, I have a friend named Ronnie. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.000 Ronnie reads a book a week. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:59.840 And has since he was in college. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.320 Now, Ronnie's the guy you want to sit next to at a dinner party because he can talk about anything. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:09.919 He's read books, uh uh biographies about presidents, about preachers, about missionaries. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:17.600 He reads about intellectual engineering, he reads about chicken farming, he and his wife have chickens, he's all in, he just reads about everything. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.360 He can tell you every YouTube tutorial you need to build a house. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:28.000 He's just an intriguing, simple guy, Ronnie Brock, the dude reads a book a week and has since he was in college. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:29.919 How do you get that way? 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:31.360 He said, A vow. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.720 He said, God, I want to. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:37.279 This is I I want to be a man that's always that's a lifelong learner. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:38.480 And it's a lifelong learner. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:39.440 And I said, What does that mean? 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:45.360 He said, if I read 40 pages a day in a week and you do that, he said, most books aren't that long. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:46.879 So it's not really hard. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:54.480 And so the first thing you see, this the gospel modeling behaviors, because here's how this uh vow models uh the gospel to those around you. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.159 People see that you're living for something bigger and better and beyond yourself. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:13:59.120 Does that make sense? 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.159 Say amen. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:05.360 They see now, by the way, here's a real practical down-to-earth where the rubber meets the road. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:10.559 If you want to see uh gospel modeling behavior, just take serious your wedding vows. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:14.799 Just say, hey, this is my wife. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.080 I don't need other women. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.080 I don't need to look at other women on the screen. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.480 I don't need to talk to other women inappropriately. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.159 I have a wife, okay? 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.759 This is a vow I made. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:24.879 I stood before God. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:29.120 I was, uh did my father-in-law's funeral on Wednesday back in Pensacola, Florida. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.159 And it's old school there. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:31.360 You have a receiving line. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.519 If you know what a receiving line is, say amen. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:34.639 So we had to line up. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:37.200 My kids were lined up beside me, going, This is awkward. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:41.440 Uh, women were coming to the line going, I taught Marcy seventh grade Sunday school. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.159 Uh one lady came through and said, I rocked Marcy as a baby. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:46.320 And I'm in my mind, like, my wife's 57. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.799 You've been in this church a long time, lady. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:53.600 Uh and so just one after the other after the other came through. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:57.360 And it was just like, wow, this is this, whoo, man. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:01.440 One couple came through, and I just, because I'm busy, I just said, How long have y'all been married? 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:03.360 He said, 71 years. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:11.039 And I start doing the math, like, either you got married when you were five, or you're about ready to go see Jesus, sir. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:12.720 71 years. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.879 Hey, that's what a vow is. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:19.840 Now, if you're here in the room and you're like, uh, well, I didn't really keep my vows, I'm on my second time. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.840 I ain't mad at you, I ain't hating out on you. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:27.279 I'm just saying, what if you want to model the gospel, take every vow in your life seriously? 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:27.840 Okay? 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.480 Here's the second gospel modeling behavior. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.879 It's in verse 21, it's the phrase, if God wills. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.080 He says in verse 19, and they came to Ephesus and he left them there. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.679 That's Priscilla and Aquila, this couple, this man and woman, husband and wife. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.720 But he himself went into the synagogue and he reasoned with the Jews. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.840 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:49.120 They were like, dude, we're digging this, we're down with this, keep talking. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.320 He goes, I can't. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.120 Verse 21. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:57.759 But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail from from from uh from Ephesus. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.720 Now, it's that little phrase, if God wills. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.840 It's probably the easiest of all the gospel modeling behaviors. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.240 Uh, the difference in God's will and our will is dependence versus declaration. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:12.240 You should ask yourself today, does your life communicate dependence on God? 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:17.440 Or does your life declare, hey, I got this, I'm a self-made man? 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.960 Because it's a little phrase like this, it just it really tips you into one of two camps. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:28.720 Like, don't answer this, but when's the last time someone said, Hey, all right, we're gonna go bay fishing on next Saturday, okay? 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:30.639 Your response was great, I can't wait. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:32.480 If God wills, I'll be there. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:39.679 Now it is kind of awkward because your friends will be like, what'd you just say? 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.159 Yeah, I just I just I want to take seriously. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:45.120 I don't want to live in assumption, I want to live in authority. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.360 And and and and though I'm I'm planning on being there and I'm looking forward to it, I'll bring the bay. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.960 All right, I I got everything. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:52.960 I don't know what tomorrow holds. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.440 And I don't want to I don't want to act in assumption. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:08.559 See, if God wills, it's like I said, it's probably the easiest of the gospel modeling behaviors, but it's also probably one of the more awkward because we as a culture do not live with this consistent sense of dependence upon God. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:14.240 Most people declare their intentions or their plans, whereas the gospel calls us to express this dependence upon God. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:21.920 It sounds like semantics, I know, but it it's if you're ever uh it's uh arresting to be around somebody who lives out of dependence on God. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.599 Like I have a friend Chad Carger. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:30.160 Chad's a counselor in Nashville, and when Chad was a young man, he read in the Bible uh that it says, Hey, you shouldn't just boast. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.279 The Bible calls it boasting, but hey, tomorrow I'm gonna do this tomorrow. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.079 And so he just started saying, If if God wills. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:38.000 Like, Chad, we're good for lunch tomorrow? 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.319 If God wills, says it so much, it's a little almost annoying. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.880 And you're like, dude, it's okay, I get it if God wills. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:45.839 He goes, No, you don't get it. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:46.640 How do you know I don't get it? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:47.920 Because you don't say it. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:51.680 So I have to say it to, yeah. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:55.200 Well, I I think again, gospel modeling behaviors. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:02.799 What does the way you talk about your intentions and your plans, what does it express to people about who you believe is in charge of your life? 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:05.920 This is why it's called the gospel modeling behavior. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:07.440 I referenced about in James. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:08.160 Let me just read to you. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:18.319 James chapter 4, verse 13 says this come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we'll go into such and such town and spend a year and there and trade and make profit, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:19.200 What is your life? 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.480 Or you're a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:26.720 Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.119 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.200 All such boasting is evil. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:35.920 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.079 And here's all I'm asking today. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:45.119 I'm asking us just to walk away from this morning and begin modeling gospel behaviors by injecting this simple phrase into our vocabulary. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.640 Not a phrase, but an understanding. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.720 And it's this if the Lord wills. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:50.559 If the Lord wills. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.000 Hey, if the Lord wills, absolutely. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:58.160 Can you imagine being a teenager hearing another teenager say, if the Lord wills? 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:01.519 You old people in here, if you're over 50, say amen. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:06.720 Uh, do you remember when you were 16 and you thought you were 10 feet tall and bulletproof? 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:09.759 You never said if the Lord wills. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:15.279 Now that you're over 50, especially if you're over 60, you're like, I say if the Lord wills a lot. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:16.480 Yeah. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.359 Yeah, it's just, hey, it's a gospel modeling behavior. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.720 It's a simple thing that you do, not to be to distinguish yourself, uh, but just to kind of express, hey, my life is one of dependence. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:28.079 I'm not a self-made man. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.960 I'm not here just to declare, hey, this is the way it's gonna be. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.799 Uh, that my life is a byproduct of God's goodness and God's faithfulness. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.519 Here's the last, uh, uh, and probably the hardest. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.720 The last one was the easiest. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.519 This is the hardest uh gospel modeling behavior. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.599 It's called the teachable spirit. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.319 Ladies, get your elbow out of your man's ribs. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:47.839 Uh look at verse 24. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.680 Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:54.640 He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:00.960 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:05.680 Though he knew only the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:11.119 But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.720 Now, let me stop right there. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:17.759 Now, what ought to jump off the page to you is that little phrase right there in about verse 25. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.799 At the end of it, he said, He knew only the baptism of John. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:25.279 What are you what is the Bible talking about when it says he knew only the baptism of John? 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:29.440 Uh simply put, it's a reference to water baptism, like you just saw with Ethan over here. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:32.720 John the Baptist was the guy who was a forerunner that came before Jesus. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:35.200 He tried to get people ready for Jesus' coming. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.519 He's like, You guys think you're ready, but you're not ready. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:38.640 You think I'm something. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.799 I baptize you with water, but he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit with fire. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:45.440 I'm not even worthy to tie his shoes, okay? 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.880 I mean, you guys think you're ready. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:52.319 The acts is laid at the root of the trees, his fan is in his hand, and people are like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right, right. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:54.480 We're ready for the Messiah, and they were not ready. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.240 So when he says he knew only the baptism of John, basically he didn't know the whole gospel. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.200 You say, What do you mean? 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:03.920 If you've got a Bible, and I don't think I put it in my notes. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.680 Let me just uh let me just read it to you. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:20.079 If you skip down to the next chapter, uh, chapter 19, I think Apollos is one of these guys, this eloquent, great, young preacher, so much so that later on in the New Testament, some people were like, I follow Apollos, and some were like, I follow Paul. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:24.400 It was like a contest between preachers about who had their favorite preachers, okay? 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:26.480 Uh here's a here's a problem. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:30.400 You've begun to take Christianity for granted when you have a favorite preacher. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.519 You've lost sight of the wonder of the gospel. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.200 But Apollos was that popular. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.960 So and so that Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians, hey, I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the increase. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.799 Don't lose sight of who does what here, people. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:47.200 But Apollos, at this point, he's zealous, but his zeal is not based on knowledge. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.200 Acts chapter 19, verse 1 says this. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:54.319 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:58.880 There he found some disciples, and he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? 00:21:59.039 --> 00:21:59.759 And they said, No. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.799 We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:05.200 And he said, Into what then were you baptized? 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.440 And they said, into John's baptism. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:09.359 That's water baptism. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.640 Now, look at me, listen very carefully, okay? 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.240 This is early Christianity. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.160 The gospel is just starting to spread. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.279 These people just didn't know what there's a Holy Spirit. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:31.039 So what we believe, what most conservative theologians believe, that Priscilla and Aquilus sat down with Apollos, this guy we're talking about, who, by the way, had a teachable spirit because he receives instruction from a man and a woman. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:35.200 Pregnant pause. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.480 Now, I'm not saying, oh, women are going to be pastors. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:39.759 No, we don't see that in the Bible. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:40.799 Women are going to be elderly. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:41.920 No, we don't see that in the Bible. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:46.640 What I do want you to see is that God used women in the early formative stages of the church. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.160 And this woman, Aquila, was one of them because she taught Apollos. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.920 And most people believe that he, it's like these people down in the next chapter right there. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.079 He had been baptized, but he didn't even know that. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:56.799 Look at what they said. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.000 They said, no, we'd have not even heard there's a Holy Spirit. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.960 Um it's very popular now. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.880 But years ago, it wasn't even here in Texas. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:16.079 Uh my wife and I, we said to her her mom and dad, hey, is there anywhere you guys, y'all are getting a little bit older, is anywhere y'all wanted to go, you haven't gone yet, that it'd be meaningful to you? 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:19.039 And and my they said, you know what, we want to go to the Grand Canyon. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.559 I was like, oh, really? 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.279 It's a big hole in the ground. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:24.799