Address—R. Boulard
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Just like to open the word of God up to the book of Acts.
Chapter 18.
And just read a few scriptures in connection with Aquila and Priscilla.
We've been speaking a little bit about what takes place in the home and how wonderful it is to have a hymn sing in the home and to have the home devoted to the people of God and to the enjoyment of the things of God in the home. And isn't it wonderful how the word of God points out this couple who use their home for the Lord? And so let's just use just read in Acts chapter 18.
And verse 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. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought.
For by their occupation they were tent makers. And then just a little bit further on.
We'll read about 5 passages here, verse 18.
Chapter 18 verse 18. And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while.
And then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria and with him.
Priscilla and Aquila having shorn his head in Sanchez, for he had a vow, and he came to Ephesus and left them there. But he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Then just down to 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, and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently.
Things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into a care, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive Him, who, when he was come, help them much which had believed through grace, for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly showing by the.
That Jesus was Christ and then Romans chapter 16.
And verse 3.
Romans chapter 16 and verse 3 greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles likewise greet the church that is in their house. And then one last portion in First Corinthians chapter 16.
Verse 19.
1St Corinthians 16 and verse 19 The churches of Asia salute you.
Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you, greet you one another with an holy kiss. Well, we just turned back to Acts chapter 18 and and verse two. There it speaks of the introduction. The Spirit of God introduces us to these two dear ones, Aquila and Priscilla. He came with his wife.
And he had been commanded of Claudius, had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome.
And so he came unto them because he was of the same craft he abode with them. So you know, the first thing I want to point out is here that these dear ones, equivalent Priscilla knew what hardship was. We don't know what they left in Rome. We're not told what they had to leave in Italy. But they had to leave everything, perhaps that they held dear and they had to leave and go to a place that they didn't know and they had to live as strangers and pilgrims. And so their household then became.
Characterized as one that was in the wilderness and as strangers and pilgrims in this scene they sought to use their home for the Lord. You know in I'll just tell you a little story and I some of you have heard this story. Brother Ian Hurlbut told me this winter little story. I asked him how his family ever came to be among those that were gathered to the Lord's name and he said this to me. He said he had a great grandfather, Clinton Hurlbut and Clinton.
Was.
Lived in a little town called Myrtle, Ontario, and in the 1880s, and he was a part of the Methodist Church there. It was a, a religious organization, perhaps the most prominent one in that little town of Myrtle, Ontario. And he was a Shoemaker. He repaired shoes and and he was a cobbler and he went.
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To that Methodist Church. And then you know, as time went on, there were those that came into the community that read the word of God and that were gathered to the Lords name. There was a testimony there of those that were gathered to the Lords name on divine ground. And he went to the Bible reading meetings there and started to attend the meetings. And very soon he went to the Methodist minister and said I'm going to have to withdraw my fellowship from this church system.
Because, you know, I found what I believe to be the truth. And so he withdrew from that organization. And he began, he took his place at the Lord's Table. And very shortly thereafter, the minister stood up in his pulpit and he said, you know, I don't want you to go to Clinton Hurlbut.
Little shop, I don't want you to do any business with Clinton because you know, he's not one of us anymore. He's withdrawn from this establishment and they starved him out of Myrtle, Ontario. They starved him out of town. He had to leave that town. And he went to Toronto, ON and he started from fresh, started, had a home, built a home again and started business. And then, you know, his son Percy was.
Began to grow and his son was.
Percy was gathered to the Lord's name and then Clayton was born and he was gathered to the Lord's name and Ian Hurlbut was Clayton son and on it went. You know. But you know I thought of that Clinton hurl, but paid the price to be gathered to the Lords name. And you and I here today perhaps we paid nothing to sit here in our seats and to sit under the sound of the good news of the grace and kindness of God and what it is to be gathered to the very precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'll help you ever thank the Lord for what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name. It's a precious, precious privilege in this scene. What we find here that what's characteristic of equivalent Priscilla is that they knew what hardship was. They knew what it was to identify with the people of God. And then it says that they were tent makers and they had the very precious privilege of opening up their little home to the apostle Paul. And so he was there.
In their home and it says.
I think a little bit further on that he was there perhaps about a year and a half. I can't find it, but it says that he was there, he stayed with them and about a year and a half and he was there. And perhaps in that very place in Corinth, he wrote those two letters, those two epistles, First and 2nd Thessalonians, perhaps one at the beginning of that stay, and then one at the end of his stay there, about a year and a half.
And what a precious privilege it must have been for Aquila and Priscilla to see that apostle writing to the other Saints. And so their home was a simple home, perhaps. And it was characterized, as I say, of being strangers and pilgrims, and they desired to have the people of God in that home. Well, I just want to encourage one another here. Many of us have homes. Let's use them for the Lord. They may be simple homes and we may not have a lot of extravagance, but we surely can have the Lord's people.
Home and invite one another and encourage one another. You know, it says that in Hebrews chapter 10 that we ought to be encouraging one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching one another. And I like that, you know, that statement because it's not a work to stand up perhaps, or to encourage a multitude as it were. But the work of encouragement is a one-on-one work.
Every one of us needs to encourage one another.
And you young person, you can encourage someone else. You know, I was very encouraged as a young man and I saw my twin brother reading the Bible and he, he read some ministry. He was reading the Pentateuch by CHM. And that was an encouragement to me to read some ministry for myself. Every one of us, I say, need to encourage one another in that way. Well, it says in verse 18 that he sailed.
And in verse 19 he came to Ephesus.
And left them there. And then in verse 24 we find that there was a man.
Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man. He was a gifted man. He had a gift from God. He was exercising his gift and he was mighty in the Scriptures. Not nice. You know, every one of us could be mighty in the Scriptures if we would just read the Scriptures. We read the Word of God and have an appetite for the Word of God to read it for ourselves. And he says that he was mighty in the Scriptures. And he came to Ephesus, and this man was instructed in the way of the Lord.
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It's nice to be instructed, you know, we can be instructed if we go attend the reading meetings and.
We take time to read a little bit of ministry for ourselves, read a little booklet, something that speaks of the Word of God and gives us a little better understanding of the things of God. And this man was instructed, but it says here he was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in his spirit. He taught diligently the things of the Lord. I believe, Mr. Darby says of the Lord Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John, and he began to speak.
In a synagogue, whom, when Quill and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Well, you know, here was a home being used for the Lord, and there was one that really had a gift for God in spiritual things, and perhaps wasn't as acquainted with the truth of God as you ought to have been at that time. But he, he loved the Lord, He desired the things of God, and he desired the people of God to be instructed. And so he.
Into the synagogue and you know there was a very small private work that Aquiline Priscilla did with that man, perhaps that no one else knew, no one ever knew, but the Spirit of God records it here for us in the in the book of Acts, he says, you know equivalent Priscilla love that man. They took them. They took them very quietly into the home, perhaps gave them a meal. They enjoyed something of the Lord together and he became instructed more perfectly in the things of God. And so you know, beloved brethren.
I I take the encouragement as the thought. You know, the Lord Jesus never scolded his brethren, He spoke.
You might say very sternly sometimes, and he spoke faithfully to them, and he quoted the verses of Scripture to them that applied to certain situations, but he never scolded them in that way, you know. And so these dear brethren, they didn't stand up and oppose what he was saying in the synagogue, but they took him home to that lovely home, and they just expounded the way of God more perfectly under them. And then there was a bond of love between them.
And it says then that there was fruit for God in verse 28. He mightily convinced the Jews. And that publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Well, I just like to encourage every one of us here, you know, to have others of the precious faith into the home, whether they're those of us that are gathered to the Lord's name or perhaps those that aren't. You know, we need to have one another in the home and to sometimes just encourage one another.
And correct sometimes those things that are not quite right and to perhaps point out things that might be a little more correct and that would magnify Christ. Well, let's turn to Romans chapter 16 and we'll just read that again, verse 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus.
Who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches.
Of the Gentiles likewise greet the church that is in their house, salute my well beloved Epineus, who is the first fruits of a Cha unto Christ. Well, now we find that Aquila and Priscilla, they had a little home. They had been displaced. They knew what it was to suffer the loss of a home and to leave the country that they loved and lived in perhaps, and and to go to another place. And now they find themselves perhaps.
In Ephesus.
And we find that they're helpers. The Lord has here recorded that they were helpers in Christ Jesus. And we don't know, I don't know that it's recorded in the Word of God, but maybe someone could point it out to us later. We don't know when they laid down their necks.
Unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. And so, you know, they identified with a man, the apostle Paul, who spoke the truth of God and who was harassed and haunted by those that despise the truth and wanted Judaism. They wanted the vineyard, but they didn't want Christ himself. And so these dear ones, they identified themselves with the Apostle Paul. Well, you know, it's a wonderful privilege for us to identify ourselves with Christ.
You know, I, I'm ashamed to say it, but.
When I was a boy, the.
Boys on the school ground used to sometimes say, you know, what church do you go to? And I would hang my head. I'm ashamed to say it. I would hang my head and I say, well, my parents go to a place and they're only gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. There's no sign on the building. They're just gathered to the Lord's name. And I was ashamed of that. And I hung my head and I'm ashamed to say that now. But you know, now I thank God that I'm only associated with that blessed name, the name of.
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Lord Jesus, it's a wonderful thing to be gathered to the Lord's name. It's a normal thing in Christianity. God desired all of us to be gathered to the Lords name and it just in very simple way to remember him in the circumstances of his death. He said this do in remembrance of me and he just wanted us to associate with him in his rejection while we wait for his coming. And so these dear ones, they did that and they laid down there who have for my my life laid down their own necks and.
Told when or exactly how, perhaps, but the Spirit of God records it, and God will record everything that's done for himself. And if you and faithfulness identify with the Lord Jesus in rejection, in this scene of his rejection, he's going to take note of it and there's going to be a thankful remembrance in the coming day. He's going to come very soon for his own. We sang that to him as we begun this meeting. He's going to come.
And when you have identified with the Lord Jesus and you've identified with him as a rejected Savior, scorned his own, not a popular Christ, one that was crucified, cast outside the city of Jerusalem, dragged from place to place, place in scorn and disowned and shamefully treated and crucified, you identify yourself with that person, that one who loved you and gave himself for you. Why? In the coming day, he's going to thank you for identifying.
With himself. Well, it says here that they had a little assembly in their home. And what a precious thing it is. I know that there are many here and the home is open and there's a little assembly in the home. A place set aside for the Lord's people, a temporary dwelling place, as it were, in the presence in the wilderness, in the presence of God, just for the people of God to enjoy Christ in the wilderness scene just while we wait for his coming. And so equivalent. And Priscilla.
That record is given that the assembly was in their house and then in First First Corinthians chapter 16.
And verse 19.
The.
It says there the churches of Asia salute you, Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you, greet you one another with an holy kiss.
Well, I think of how the people of God were on the hearts of this man, this husband, and this wife, and they love the people of God. They didn't just say that they loved the people of God. There was an act of love and kindness in their home to have the assembly there. They had the apostle Paul there. They would take Apollos in and just minister the things of God to them very quietly, in a very quiet way. And.
None of it was publicized, but God records it in His Word here.
And then it says that Aquilin and Priscilla saluted you much in the Lord. Well, isn't it nice, isn't it encouraging to just salute one another? You know, I want to just say this, that Brother Hammer is at home in Hammer Bay, in the apartment there, 89 years old, and he can't get out much anymore. And he longs for those visits on the phone. He rejoices when he goes to the gets a ride.
Goes to the mailbox and there's a card in the mailbox and one of the brethren is saluting him as it were and encouraging him, giving him strength just for the last little step in this pathway of in this scene of the Lords rejection. He he longs for that.
And we ought to just encourage one another. It's a lonely day. Sometimes there's small assemblies and we need to greet one another fervently and express our love and affection for one another. I'll just give you one last little example of that as an enclosed. You know, in days gone by, there used to be a little assembly in San Antonio, TX, and Eva Chris was there.
And there was one other sister. But often times when I had business in San Antonio, I would go there.
And there just be Eva Chris and myself at the breaking of bread. And, you know, I went there one day. I think it was the first time that I went there. And dear sister Eva Chris, she was in her 90s. And I sat down and we remembered the Lord together. And then at the end of the meeting, you know, she very solemnly went over to the end table at the end of the sofa that I was sitting in. She opened the drawer very, very carefully and she very.
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Took out a big book. It was probably as as large as this podium, maybe half the size. And she opened up the book very carefully and she flipped to the page that was open and I said, what, what book is this? She says. It's my book of remembrance.
And she said, I want you to put your name in my book of remembrance. And I tell you that book, it wasn't all full, but there were so many names in that book. I was I was stunned. And then, you know, I looked, I went to sign my name in that book and the name on the top said Philip St. Vincent and gave the date. And I said, dear Eva, I said I was in Phil Saint Vincent home at that very weekend. He.
Being here at the same time, oh, she says, oh, he wasn't here. But after you left, he phoned me and we had a nice visit on the phone. Oh, I enjoyed that visit so much on the phone. I wrote his name down in my book of remembrance. You know what's going to be like that, brethren, if we just encourage one another, if you know, it says, I'll just read in closing, Malachi Chapter 3.
There it says in verse 16.
They that feared the Lord spake often one to another.
And the Lord hearkened and heard it in a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name. You know, the book was written for them because they were going to forget that they ever spoke one to another. They were going to forget. And in the coming day, the Lord is going to open that book. He's going to show those dear ones that it was such a precious thing in His sight that they spoke one to another and their purpose of their.
Wants to encourage one another and he's going to say I appreciated that and I wrote it down in my book of remembrance. Well, I just trust these words spoken in this example of this household of equivalent. And Priscilla might be an encouragement to us to use our homes for the Lord, for the Lord's people and in these very last days that there might be fruit for himself and the strengthening of the things that remain and that we might just long to just be together and just strengthen one another.