Okay, turn your Bibles to the Book of Acts. Book of Acts, Chapter 18. Like I say, y'all, excuse me, bear with me. After these things, after that travels that we just got through studying, Chapter 17 of Paul, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. Let me say something about Corinth before we go any further. You've heard all kinds of stories about the Corinthians and the city of Corinth. Let me just kind of refresh your mind a little bit. Corinth would be the equivalent of Hollywood and Las Vegas combined in one city. Now, many of you have been to Las Vegas and many of you have been to Hollywood, I've been to both those places numerous times in my lifetime. And you can just imagine if you took those two cities and put them together in one city, what you'd have. This is Corinth. Now, this is what the Apostle Paul is walking into. It goes way back 400 or 500 years B.C. It had been conquered by many different people in many different kinds of administrations. In Paul's day, the Romans had it. It was a city of great commerce, great wealth. It was a Roman province. The Romans had control of it. The biggest thing going in the city was the Temple of Aphrodite. Pastor Johns mentioned it several times, but this was an enormous temple dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, the love goddess. It was so massive and so huge that there were a thousand temple prostitutes that served the temple there and the people in Corinth. They looked upon that as being service to their goddess. So this is the kind of atmosphere, like I say, if you put Las Vegas and Hollywood together, this is what you've got that the Apostle Paul is walking into. about as bad as it can get. So now he leaves Athens and he comes to Corinth. Athens was bad enough. Corinth was a thousand times worse. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately came from Italy with his wife Priscilla. This is Priscilla and Aquila. We know them well from studies because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. Now, Claudius was the emperor at the time. He reigned from 41 to 54 A.D. He didn't reign a long time. He, at around 50 A.D., somewhere in there, he issued a decree that all the Jews would be expelled from Rome. He didn't want them in Rome. He wanted them out of Rome. So he expelled them all. If you want a little history on Claudius, he was kind of a strange guy, but I'll let you study him in history if you want to, to see what he was like. This was a persecution of the Jews. He just ordered them all out of Rome right through the centuries. You know, Spain during one time there. England has ordered all the Jews out of the countries, disbanded them from being there. You say, well, that's horrible. The Jews have been persecuted ever since the crucifixion of Christ. And they said, if you remember when they crucified him, they said, let his blood be on us and our children. Well, it has been. And they've been dispersed for 2,000 years, and they've suffered persecution in every nation. They suffered it in this country. They are suffering it in this country. Let me give an example. Last week, I don't know if y'all saw this on the news or not, there was a reporter who decided to see what kind of reaction he would get. So he got a flag, this is in California, on one of the universities. He got on the campus, in the middle of it, and he took a flag of ISIS. We all know what ISIS is. They're the ones that's cutting people's heads off with a little sheath knife, spending their time doing it, killing babies. executing prisoners, executing all Christians in Mosul where they took it over. There have been Christians in Mosul for 2,000 years. You know how many Christians are left there now? Zero. They're gone or dead. They've either departed or left. This is ISIS. It's been all on the news. Everybody's seen it. So he gets an ISIS flag and he stands in this university campus and he waves it. And some of the people are coming by, some of them ignore him, but some of them are saying, you know, hey, great, charge on. Then he gets an Israeli flag and he stands in the middle of this campus to see what kind of reaction he would get. And these people are coming by and cussing him. And I won't even repeat what they're saying to him about Israel and saying, you know, kill them all, kill the Jews. They hate Israel. This is on our college campuses in America. It's still going on. Claudius here has kicked all the Jews out of Rome. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought for their occupation. They were tent makers, leather workers. They probably did more than just tents, but they were leather workers. And since they did the same thing, it's kind of strange. This is the only place that we're told that Paul had some kind of an occupation like this. He was a wealthy man to start with. He was a very influential religious and politically powerful positioned individual. But it says here he had an occupation of being a tent maker. Strange. And he reasoned, or the better Greek word would be here, he argued in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. He's getting right in the middle and thick of them here in Corinth. There was a lot of Jews there. You know, they're great in finance. The world hates them and says they run the banks. Well, a lot of them do own banks. A lot of them do own financial systems. But they have always had an ability to make money. This is just a knack that God has given the Jewish people. In fact, a number of the empires of Europe during the Middle Ages They didn't want the general populace to know, but the reason they stayed in good financial states is because they got Jews to manage the finances. This is what's happened. This is still going on today. If you watch the news, you'll hear comments about the Jews and the banking system, the Jews run the financial world. The Jews are smart people. They won more Pulitzer Prizes than any other group in the whole world for their science, for their math, for their inventions, for finances. They just are. These are talents God gave them. Now, he's arguing here with the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. What's driving Paul? The Holy Spirit is. Paul's there in Corinth, and the Holy Spirit is driving him to press on with telling the people here, Jesus Christ is God. He came in the flesh. He died for you. And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Paul's getting exasperated with these people, and he said, if you Jews won't listen to this message of God, then I'll just go take it to the Gentiles. And it says here he shakes his raiment, and he said, your blood is upon you. How many times have any of you in here witnessed to a person or to individuals, and they absolutely refuse to listen to what you have to say about the Lord? And I always leave people who get real obstinate and don't want to listen, or you know they're rejecting what you're saying, here's what I tell them. I've told you the truth the best I know how, and I've lived this Christian life for many, many years, and I can testify to what I'm telling you. If you reject it, the blood is on you. It's not on me. I've done my task, and I can leave and depart from your presence feeling fine, that I've done the best I know how, but you're the one that has to take what's been told you and carry it with you for the rest of your life. What you do with it is on you. And I'll leave it at that. So many people get so frustrated about somebody not accepting the truth when you tell them. You can't force people to believe the truth. The only thing you're required to do is put it out there and tell it. and live your life and show it. And if people reject it, it's on them. Anybody have any questions or comments on that? I know you encounter these situations. You probably do it in your family. I do. All you can do is put the truth out and say, I'll pray for you. I used to, when I was in the working world, I never will forget, I had a man and I was witnessing to him. I brought him a Bible. spent numbers of hours with him. He came back one night. I was working night shift. He came back one night and he walked in with that Bible and he threw it across my desk at me. And he said, I don't want to hear anything else about this. You know, he said, don't mention this to me. And this is what I told him. I've told you the truth. You asked me the question. I've told you the truth. I've handed you the only truth in the world is in that book. And if you reject it, it's on you. It's not on me. That was it. That's all you can do. Verse 7, And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. It means his house was really close by. The word hard could have been translated close by. So he lived right next door somewhere to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. Now Crispus is the chief ruler of the synagogue. He's a man of great influence. And he's accepted Jesus as his personal Savior in his household. And because of that, he has influenced many people to believe in the Lord. And I want to stop right here, because if you look down to verse 17, there seems to be a contradiction. And I'm going to explain to you why it's not. Look at verse 17. Then all the Greeks took Sothenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue. Well, wait just a minute. Up here in verse 8, it says Crispus was the chief ruler of the synagogue. You can't have two in the same city. What's going on? Here's what probably happened. When Crispus accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, when you did that, they threw you out of the synagogue. You were no longer allowed to worship in the synagogue. Because you are not following Moses. So he probably was excommunicated, if you want to use that term, out of the synagogue, and Sothenes probably took over. Any questions? I don't know how many of you might catch that, but I just want to try to explain it. There's no contradiction in Scripture. For 40-something, almost 50 years, I've had people try to show me contradictions. I've not found one yet. OK, let's go back up. Verse 9. His house now is believed and baptized, probably thrown out of the synagogue for that. Then speak the Lord to Paul in the night by vision. Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. God appears to him in a vision. Paul, hey, don't back up. Don't hold your peace in this city. Man, you're fighting a huge uphill battle, but don't back down. For I am with thee. No man shall set on thee to hurt thee. Oh, first of all, I'm going to protect you physically in this city while you're here. For I have much people in this city. Regardless of how bad the city is, how overtaken to evil that it was, God says, I've got a lot of people in this city. that are going to be saved and I'm going to use you. So don't be afraid to get out there and speak the word. Don't back up and use the gift I've given you. You know, that's a that's an example for us. We take these stories and we read these stories. But what we've got to do when we do this, even in the Old Testament, how does it apply to us? How does it apply to our daily life ourselves? We're Christians 2,000 years beyond this time. What good is it to us? It's an example of how we should behave and how we should act. Regardless of the obstacles, regardless of the things that we're facing that are problems, we should still put forth God's Word. That's our task. And hey, in our day and time, let me tell you right now, the world And even in our country, it's turning against Christianity. It's turning against Christians. We're being persecuted. There are more Christians who have died since 1900 as martyrs than ever died in all the persecutions of Rome. There are more Christians now dying every year for their faith as martyrs than you would even believe. Just get on it and do a little research if you really want to find out. How many Christians are dying in this world right now because of their faith? It's in the thousands. And he continued there a year and six months. Paul remained there another 18 months, a year and a half, teaching the Word of God among them. That was his task. That's what he did for 18 months. Can you imagine? I mean, the ones of you that's been to Hollywood and Las Vegas like I have, can you imagine taking the Word of God, putting those two cities together, and staying in there and preaching for 18 months what that would be like. You talk about a real challenging task, that would be one of them. Now, verse 12, And when Galileo was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul. Now, he is the Roman Proculator there he's the room the head of the government here in the chair the Jews go to him this is my inner insurrection they're causing a riot with one accord against Paul after 18 months of this stuff hey they want something done and brought him to the judgment seat and there's a judgment seat still in in car we don't know that it's exactly the same one but it could possibly be the very same one that's still there today, if you go visit Corinth, and saying, this fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. What law? The law of Moses. Now this is what they're accusing him of. These are the Jews, got together, Paul's making inroads to the population there with his message. So the Jews get together and say, hey, this man's teaching against the law. What law? He's not teaching the law of Moses anymore. He's teaching Jesus Christ. And we want something done about it. So they take him to the political authority of Rome. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews. Paul was getting ready to speak. You know, he never was lost for words. God told him, I'll put the words in your mouth when you're before kings, when you're before judges. I'll tell you what to say. Paul was about ready to defend himself, and Galileo said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, boy, there was plenty of that going on, O you Jews, reason what that I should say with you. But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look you to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. Now, Galileo, in many commentaries, has been put down, has been given a bad rap, and all this kind of stuff. I want to say something in his defense. Gallio did what was right. He did what our country should be doing today. He separated the church and the state right there. What's happening in our country today? Our government is wanting now to dictate through the court systems what we can preach what we can teach in our churches and what you can believe this is exactly what's happening in America today if you follow the news it's happening all over in the states in the cities in the federal government they're now telling you what of this Bible you can preach what you can teach and what you can't galleo had enough sense in his day two thousand years ago as a Roman government official he said well use this is a religious issue this is between what you believe in your religion and pop and I'm a civil governor and I'm not going to get involved in it because I don't know enough about it he's a smart man and a lot of people put him down I'm going to give you my hand OK I like what he did. He set an example. Our government should be looking at what this man did and say, listen, when it comes to something about teaching this Bible to people in this country, you preachers, you take care of that. And if y'all have an issue, you settle it among your own Christian brethren. That's how it should be done. Not a mayor of Houston, Texas, to come out with her counsel and say, you preachers are going to deliver your sermons to me first for approval before I'm going to give it. I don't need her approval. I don't need anybody's approval. But this is what's happening in our country. On and on and on. And it's going to get worse. Your school systems. Look at what's happening. They take it to the ACLU. A whole county in Massachusetts, two weeks ago, decided because somebody, this is the Education Commission in this whole county, decided there will be no more Christian holidays, there'll be no more religious holidays nobody nothing is not going to be mentioned it's not going to be celebrated. So from now there'll be no more because a Muslim complained to the city to the county education commission and it got stopped. This is what's going on in your country today. OK. Any questions or comments. All right. So, Galileo said, no, this is a religious issue. You are going to settle it among yourselves. I'm backing out of it. And he drove them from the judgment seat. Get out of my courtroom. I don't want you around. I don't want to hear any more about it. Then all the Greeks took Sothenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and I will explain to you why Sothenes now is the chief ruler. So, the Greeks now, they take Sothenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, beat him before the judgment seat. and Galileo cared for none of these things. That was a religious issue. They beat him up in front of Galileo and Galileo didn't say a word. Hey, that's your issue. That's y'all's problem. You solve it any way you want to. I'm not getting involved in it. Now, and Paul after this tarried there yet a good while and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence to Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila having shorn his head in Santeria for he had made a vow. Now, this has brought on a lot of issues as well. Why did Paul shave his head? Paul took a vow about something and he shaved his head to show that he was a man walking around. Everybody saw him, that he had his head shaved, that he had taken a vow. A lot of people have persecuted Paul for doing this. Let me say this. Paul was an individual. If he wanted to make a vow to God, that's his business. If any of you want to make a vow to God, that's your business. But it also warns about making vows in Scripture. So be careful to make a vow, OK? Be very careful of that. Paul did it, and he has an outward sign. He shaved his head. and now he was going to fulfill that by going to Jerusalem. That's all you can say about it. It's an issue between he and God. A number of you have come to me and said, well, I made a vow on this or that, and so that's OK if you want to do it. But the Bible says if you make a vow, then you fulfill it. If there's anything you think is going to come up in your way to not fulfill that vow, don't do it, OK? The best thing to do, we're humans. Be careful about making vows. Any questions on that? Okay. Now, and he came to Ephesus, left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. and said, I'm going to go to the Gentiles. Well, here he is back in Ephesus now on his next location, and he's gone back to the Jews again. He kind of goes back and forth. He loved his people. He was a Jew. He loved his people. He just couldn't stay away from trying to help them. If you read the book of Romans, which he wrote, and you read the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of Romans, you understand how much he loved his people. And what he said about, God says about the Roman people, I mean the Jewish people, how much he loved them. I had a man who wrote a book that thick, I told you about it, and sent it to me, about God had replaced the Jews with the church. It's called Replacement Theology. There's no such thing. And I wrote him back, and he has spent years and thousands of dollars, he's told me, in writing this book. And I wrote him back and I said, all you need to do is read the book of Romans and you would have saved you a lot of time and money in writing this book because it's false. It's totally wrong and you are misleading anybody who reads this book. I keep it in my library here up in my office and I've got on written in big bold letters. This is an error. Do not read. So if I kick the bucket, And somebody's going through my library, and you get that book in case it's being distributed among my Sunday school class. Bonnie does it. Barnett. OK? All right. Verse 20. When they desired him to tarry a longer time with them, he consented not. He said, hey, guys, I've made a vow. I've got to move on. But bid them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast. that cometh in Jerusalem. He was headed down to Jerusalem to the feast, and he wanted to go there because he knew there would be a lot of Jews there. He could witness to them. But I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. When he had landed at Caesarea and had gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. He's on his way there, but he's making stops. After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia. I'm working on these things. Believe me on these words. Phrygia is how you pronounce that. Strengthening all the disciples. A certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexander, an eloquent man. Notice how I describe it. Eloquent. He was dignified. He was serious. He was a man who spoke eloquently. People listened to him when he spoke. You know, there are people that have different tones of voices and everything, and you listen to them, and you say, man, that is pleasant to listen to. Then there's others that it's hard to listen to, just the way people are made different. This man, you enjoyed listening to him, kind of like Erwin Lutzer. How many of you in here know who Erwin Lutzer is? Raise your hand. Erwin Luther is one of the greatest Bible teachers living today. If you get a chance, listen to him on the radio or get his books. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest outstanding authors and teachers of our time on Scripture. Get a hold of his material. It's tops. He was an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. Now, he knew the Old Testament. The New Testament's not written, but he knew that Old Testament. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord in being fervent in the Spirit. He loved God. He was out teaching what he knew. He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. Now, he didn't know anything about the New Testament. None of it was written. And he taught that Old Testament, but he knew it. That's what he was teaching. 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. Now, notice this. Something really important here has happened. Here's a man who loves God. He's teaching the Word of God the best he knows. And he is not backing up from anybody. He's in that synagogue talking to the Jews. But he doesn't understand the New Testament doctrine. He had been exposed to it. Now, Quill and Priscilla are there, and they understand the New Testament doctrine that Christ brought. They understand it. Here's what they don't do, first of all. They don't stand up in the open discussion and say, hey, you're wrong. and make an issue of it publicly. They know he has a love for God. They know he has a love for God's Word. So what do they do? They wait until after the meeting is over, and they bring him aside, and they say, Brother, let me expound something to you that you don't know. And since you don't know, we want to show you the greater part of this so that you'll understand. But they didn't do it publicly to him. We all must be careful how we confront somebody about an issue, publicly especially. If they're doing what they think is all right and everything, and it's nothing against God or wrong where they're misleading people. He wasn't misleading people. He just didn't have all the story, okay? Now, they take him aside and they say, let me enlighten you some. This is the way we should treat people. I hear people a lot of times in discussions and situations of where they don't have all of it correctly. And so what I do is privately, I go to them and I say, let me help you with something here. I don't say you're wrong. You did that wrong. You're teaching it wrong. Here's what I say. Let me help you with this situation in this. Let me show you what the Bible has to say. a little bit further about this. Help them along. Guide them. Don't berate them. Okay? That's an example for us. Aquila and Priscilla did this correctly. Any questions on that? You know, it's very important how we approach people with issues. It really is. Verse 27. And when he was disposed to pass into a Chia, The brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who, when he was come, helped them much which they had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly showing by the scriptures, that Jesus was Christ." Again, Paul used the scriptures to teach the Jews about Jesus. Isaiah 53, it doesn't get any better than that in the Old Testament. to teach the Jewish people about Jesus Christ. That's why they do not read Isaiah 53 in the synagogues today, because the rabbis do not have an answer for that. So any Jews that are listening to this lesson, go read Isaiah 53. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for each and every person that's here. Thank you for the Apostle Paul being so brave in the face of such opposition, Lord. He didn't back up. He gave the truth in love and care and concern for his fellow man. Help each one of us to use this example, Lord, and to do the same as he did, to put your Word out in this darkening, lost, dying world. In Jesus' name we ask these things for your glory. Amen. Y'all have a great week. And call me if you need me.