Acts 18 Round Two: Ministry is a Team Sport

What if the most powerful ministry move you could make isn’t louder effort, but stronger friendships? Acts 18 takes us into Corinth’s noise and need, where Paul teams up with Priscilla and Aquila, holds steady through pushback, and plants a church in a city that looks a lot like our own. We unpack why community is not optional, how ordinary work can underwrite sacred work, and what it means to serve with courage when the culture pulls in every other direction.

We walk through the chapter’s turning points: Paul’s tentmaking alongside trusted friends, bold preaching in the synagogue, resistance that doesn’t derail the mission, and a night vision from Jesus that re-centers his courage. Then the scene widens to travel, a Nazarite vow that signals devotion, and the surprising role of a Roman official whose refusal to litigate theology creates space for the gospel to advance. Along the way, we explore Corinth as “sin city,” the strategic choice to stay for eighteen months of steady teaching, and the practical wisdom of balancing work, witness, and rest.

The highlight arrives with Apollos—eloquent, sincere, and not yet complete. Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and sharpen his understanding, modeling private correction and public empowerment. The result is a stronger teacher who helps many believe, refuting objections with Scripture and clarity. That’s the blueprint we champion: gifts refined in community, ministry as a team sport, and a church that grows through humble coaching as much as through bold preaching. If you’ve felt called but alone, this conversation offers next steps: join a group for real friendships and join a team to serve with purpose.

Ready to trade solo striving for shared mission? Listen now, subscribe for more daily chapter deep-dives, and leave a review so others can find the Bible Breakdown. Tell us: who’s the friend that pushes you closer to Jesus?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Theme: Team Ministry
• 1:01 Community CTA And Best Friend Prompt
• 1:34 Acts Shift: Peter To Paul
• 2:48 Corinth, Priscilla And Aquila, Tentmaking
• 4:55 Pushback, Vision From Jesus, Staying In Corinth
• 6:09 Legal Challenge And Galileo’s Dismissal
• 7:02 Travel Moves And Nazarite Vow
• 7:51 Apollos Discipled And Strengthened For Ministry
• 9:10 Application: Join A Group And Serve
• 11:47 Prayer And Acts 1:8 Charge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Acts chapter 18. If we give this a title, I would call it Ministry as a Team Sport. One of the things we have to remember is that not only does God have no intention on us doing day in, day out life alone without Him, but we were never intended to be in isolation. We're always intended to do life with others. And therein lies the complexity, right? Because it's not always so easy to do life with others, but yet that's what God's called us to do. And He surrounded us many times with people that, yes, are broken in different places, just like us, but also people that can be great resources and help and friends and brothers and sisters in Christ as well, if we're willing to look and do life with people. We're gonna get to that in just a moment. Before we do that, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe the YouTube channel, the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review. And also, I'd love for you to go to the Bible breakdown discussion and let me know what is the name of your best friend. Now, you might be like my daughters. I've got two teenage girls right now, and they have a list of best friends. I used to tell them I thought best meant exclusive, like at the top, but apparently best friends are like a continuum. You can have five of them. So I want to know what is your bestest, best, best friend? Okay, put that on the Bible breakdown discussion as we jump into this. Now, what we're gonna see is if you remember kind of catching up, back in chapter 12, chapter 12 and 13, we made this shift. The first 12 chapters, the doctor-turned investigative journalist Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, is now chronicling the journey of the young church as it's growing and it's doing all the different things as God is calling them to do, and he's writing it down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. First 12 chapters, it's all about the church in Jerusalem. Peter is one of the main people, and they're just moving forward. Well, 1213, it starts to shift over to Paul. Because Paul, who was once a horrible antagonist and did horrible things to Christians, he's now become a Christian and he is starting to spread the gospel to the Gentile world. And he goes on three different missionary journeys to these different cities, sharing the gospel, and eventually he wants to get to Rome. Well, he's already been on one missionary journey and come home. Now he is in the middle of his second missionary journey, and he is going to encounter some friends along the way. We're going to talk to you about who they are. We're going to talk about the power of Christ honoring friendship as we go along. But first, let's get started. So if you have your NLT Bible open to Acts chapter 18, let's jump into God's word together. It says this in verse 1. Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. By the way, that is where eventually he will write two of the letters, the epistles we have called 1st and 2nd Corinthians, is to this city. Verse 2. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquilla, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy and his with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy with Claudius Caesar and deported all Jews from Rome. Paul, when Claudius did that and deported all Jews from Rome, Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tent makers just as he was. Now pause. Now, Priscilla and Aquila will eventually go on to Rome, and many historians think that it was Priscilla and Aquila who were some of the major ones that started the church in Rome. So they went on to Rome again, and they were eventually starting a church. Now, the second thing is you learn something new about Paul and them, and that is they are tent makers. Now, by that, what that means is the main thing that people would live in when they would travel around would be tents. So these were craftsmen. And so what they would do is they would just be fix-it people, tent workers, just kind of your all-round kind of craftsman, fix it man kind of thing. And so what Paul would do many times, he would go into a new city. He didn't have a job, didn't have a way to do things. So what he would do is, is he would fix tents. He would be a general fix-it guy in order to make money to support himself as he was building a young church. So that's what Paul would do to make money. Ever wonder where these guys get their money from? He had a side gig as a tent maker. Verse 4, each Sabbath he found would find Paul at a synagogue trying to convince the Jews and the Greeks alike. And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from off of his clothes and said, Your blood is on your own hands. I am innocent. From now on, I will go preach to the Gentiles. Verse 7. Then he left and went down to the home of Titus Justus, a Gentile who worshipped God and lived next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in the household, believed in the Lord, and many others in Corinth also heard Paul and became believers and were baptized. Now, one of the interesting things about Corinth was Corinth was a port city that was very, very entertainment driven, right? If you if you live in the United States, and we have people who listen to this from all over the world at this point, but if you live in the United States, you know Las Vegas. You go to Las Vegas, they have this phrase, what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, right? It's a place considered to be with a lot of entertainment, a lot of bad things that you can get into. And so you just just leave it there. That was a city of Corinth for this part of the Roman world. It was whatever happens in Corinth, stays in Corinth. So it was the sin city of its time. And so Paul goes there, he preached the gospel, and he planted a church there in Sin City. Verse 9. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, Don't be afraid, speak out, don't be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you. For many people in this city belong to me. So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half teaching the Word of God. But when Galeo the uh became governor of Achaea, some Jews rose up against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment. They accused Paul of persuading people to worship God in ways that were contrary to our law. Verse 14. But just as Paul had started to make his defense, Galileo turned to Paul's accusers and said, Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or serious crime, I would have a reason to accept your case. But since it is a merely a question of words and names and your Jewish law, take care of it yourself. I refuse to judge such manners. So he threw them out of the courtroom. Praise the Lord for Paul. The crowd then grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right in the courtroom. But Galeo paid no attention. In other words, they just were like, look, we are done with this mess. Verse 18. Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that, then said goodbye to the brothers and sisters and went to nearby Centrea. There he shaved his head according to a Jewish custom, marking the end of a vow. Now, if you have been with us when you're reading Leviticus and Numbers, go back and read where it says a Nazarite vow, and when the vow is over with, you had to shave all the hair off of your head. Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. They stopped at the first port of Ephesus, which is eventually where he'll write the book of Ephesus, or write to them, where Paul left the others behind. While he was there, he went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews. They asked him to stay longer, but he declined. As he left, however, he said, I will come back later, God willing. Then he set sail from Ephesus. The next stop was the port of Cesarea. From there he went up and visited the church in Jerusalem, and then he went back to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back to Galatia and Phigra, visiting and strengthening all the believers. So his second missionary journey is coming to an end. Here's what we'll finish up. Meanwhile, a Jew, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus in Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he only knew about John's baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately. Apollos had been thinking about going to Achaea, and the brothers and sisters in Ephesus encouraged him to go. They wrote to the believers in Achaea, asking them to welcome him. And when he arrived there, he proved to be a great benefit to those who, by God's grace, had believed, because he refuted the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the scriptures, he explained to them that Jesus was the Messiah. So what we see here is that ministry is a team sport. And here's the thing you need to know everybody has a ministry. Everybody has been called to do something. Now, I know if you go to church on Sundays, you see people on stage singing and you see people on stage preaching, and we think that that's ministry. But can I tell you that is a very small portion of what ministry is. Ministry is anything you do as an act of worship to God. When you serve somebody and you do it as an act of worship, man, it's a form of ministry. When you sing a song, when you do preach a message, when you serve a table, when you share something with somebody and you do it as an act of worship to God, you are doing ministry for God to people. So everyone's called to do ministry. And one of the ways you know what you're called to do is what has God gifted you to do? What is he giving you the gifts, talents, abilities, and opportunities to do? That is a ministry that you can do. But we were never intended to do ministry alone. We're always intended to do ministry as a team sport. And you see, as Paul is going through, he meets this wonderful family of Aquila and Priscilla, who eventually become church planners in Rome. But man, they're also going in there meeting people. They go and they meet this guy, Apollos, who later becomes an amazing man of God, an amazing teacher. So we continue to gain friendships so that we can continue to just thrive in the goodness of God and continue to do ministry together. I want to ask you this question. Have you been trying to do life alone? Or have you been surrounding yourself with friends but not Christian friends? People that will encourage you to pursue the ministry that God has given you. Do you need to take a course correction on that? Have you been trying to do life alone? Maybe it's time to join a life group. Maybe it's time to plug in somewhere where you can meet people and make friends. We or how about this one? Have you got friends, but do you have God-honoring Christian friends who will help believe in you and push you forward? One of the things we say at our church all the time is the two things you need to do at our church is you need to join a life group and you need to join a team and serve somebody. The reason why you need to join a life group is because you need relationships. The reason why you join a team is that you need to do ministry. Everybody's called to do ministry. And so I want to ask you this question. Are you doing ministry? And have you surrounded yourself with good, God-honoring friends? If not, we all have a next step we need to take. Let's pray together. We'll be done for today. Father, thank you so much for your goodness, your kindness, your faithfulness. Thank you that you are for us in every way. And that, Lord, sometimes it can be difficult to find God-honoring friends. But I believe, God, that you want them so much for us that you surround us in ways that we don't even know, and you prepare us so that we can have those friends so that we can walk in fullness together. Thank you for that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget God's word that says this in Acts 1, verse 8. What did Jesus say? Say it with me. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. My prayer for you is that you'll receive the power of the Holy Spirit and you'll be his witnesses in everything you do today. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Acts chapter 19.