Apples of Gold
Radio Script for May 22, 2008
“When Life Delivers the Unexpected”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
What do you do when life delivers the unexpected?
That’s exactly what happened to one married couple, Priscilla and her husband Aquila.
They were Jews living in Rome. Caligula, the Roman emperor, was assassinated on January 24th in the year 41. Immediately the Praetorian Guard declared that Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, would take his place.
Before the decade was up, Claudius decided to banish all the Jews from Rome. That meant Priscilla and Aquila had to pack up and move. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. But you know what? Sometimes life delivers the unexpected.
Where should they go? Well they ended up across the sea from Italy, over in a town named Corinth in Southern Greece. I wish I knew how they made that decision. I don’t know, but I can speculate that, as God-fearing people, they prayed and asked the Lord to lead them. And something happened that pointed their way to Corinth.
So there they were, far away from home, and they set up shop as tentmakers in the bustling port city of Corinth.
Meanwhile, the Apostle Paul was also in Greece, over in Athens. After preaching there, he decided his next stop would be…Corinth.
So Paul was in Corinth, and somehow he met Aquila, and they had something in common. They were both tentmakers. Something must have clicked, because Aquila introduced Paul to his wife Priscilla, and they invited Paul to join them in business, and to live with them.
I imagine Paul was an amazing houseguest. I am sure he regaled them with incredible stories: his conversion on the road to Damascus, the riot in Thessalonica, his miraculous escape from the Philippian jail, and on and on.
Every Sabbath Paul went to the synagogue and spoke about Jesus as the Messiah, and I’m sure he spent plenty of time teaching Priscilla and Aquila back at home. Imagine having such daily access to this great man of God!
Then Silas and Timothy showed up in Corinth. Paul spent more time preaching and teaching, and many Corinthians believed in the Lord, including Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household.
For a year and a half great things happened in Corinth. Imagine all of this activity swirling around Paul! And Priscilla and Aquila were right there in the middle of it.
Eventually Paul decided it was time to pack up and move on from Corinth. And who went with him? Priscilla and Aquila!
They ended up all the way over in Ephesus. Paul did some preaching there, but before long he was off to his next destination. Meanwhile, Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus.
While there, they encountered a powerful speaker, a Jew named Apollos. He was a native of Alexandria, but was teaching in the synagogue in Ephesus. He taught about Jesus, but was lacking a few details. Enter Priscilla and Aquila, who were loaded with details having spent all that time with Paul. They invited Apollos to their home and taught him more thoroughly about Christ.
When Apollos left, he went on to become a powerful and persuasive preacher of the Gospel.
Priscilla and Aquila must have had the gift of hospitality. When their names show up in the Bible, so does their home. It seems like they were always inviting people over. In both Romans and First Corinthians, Paul mentions the “church that meets at their house.” Imagine having people in your home like Paul and Silas and Timothy and Apollos.
Isn’t it interesting what happened to them after life delivered the unexpected?
It looks like Priscilla and Aquila eventually returned to Corinth. In the year 54, the emperor Claudius died, and Jews were allowed back into Rome – and some think Priscilla and Aquila returned to Italy.
Turning to church tradition, Priscilla and Aquila are said to have journeyed to Asia where they spread the Gospel with great zeal. They discipled new believers, started churches, and destroyed idols.
In the end it is said that they were martyred as the pagans had finally had enough of this evangelistic couple. Tradition says they were killed together.
What a life! So much joy and excitement. So much action. So many lives influenced and changed. So many saved.
And look when it all started. It all started when they got that terrible news that they were being kicked out of their home.
Sometimes life delivers the unexpected. Sometimes things look bleak. Bad things happen, not what we planned at all.
But the great news is, God is always up to something. We often don’t see it, but He is pulling things together. And the end result can be a life far better than anything we would have planned on our own.
So has your life taken a sudden turn? Remember Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
It may be hard to see, but you can put your faith in the fact that, when life delivers the unexpected, God is right there, somehow and some way, working all things together for good!
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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