TENTMAKER: Goodbook 11-30-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Thursday, and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 18:1-3

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.

Application:

Paul made tents.  This was likely a family trade he learned.  It might have been his sole occupation had he not become a missionary.  But now it was an important part of his ministry.  Making tents allowed Paul to develop relationships with other tentmakers.  Through these relationships, he was able to share the Good News and lead people to Christ.

Aquila and his wife Priscilla became partners with Paul in ministry.  When Paul left Corinth, they went with him.  They stayed in Ephesus to carry on ministry there.  Pricilla heard a man named Apollos who was preaching inaccurately.  They invited him to their home where they explained to him the way of God more accurately.  In Paul's letter to the church in Rome, Paul tells them to greet Priscilla and Aquila whom he calls, "fellow workers in Christ Jesus."

The jobs we have offer us incredible opportunities to develop relationships with people outside the community of faith and share the Good News of Jesus with them.  As you work side by side with them, you naturally talk about what's going on in your life.  Very naturally, you can mention what's going on in your church or how God is working in your life.  As you love them like Jesus would love them, they should start asking, "Why do you do the things you do?"  That can provide a natural lead in to how much God has loved you and how you want to share that love with others.  Who knows, your co-workers could become fellow workers in Christ Jesus.  If you are retired or work from home, you could apply this to the people you connect with through hobbies or organizations or community events...

1) View co-workers as potential fellow workers in Christ
2) Build relationships with people who do not have a relationship with God
3) Talk openly about what's going on in your church, what you are learning about God, how God is moving in your life, etc.
4) Love on people like Jesus has loved on you

Share your comments and application ideas...