Welcome to the Cary Baptist Church radio broadcast. Cary Baptist is in Athens, Alabama. I'm Pastor Donahue, and this radio broadcast is entitled, Thy Word is Settled in Heaven. Today we're preaching out of Acts chapter 18, and we're going to see the Apostle Paul at Corinth, And he faces some discouragement, but God gives him encouragement to continue the task that he's given him. So we're going to see some discouragement, then some encouragement. Paul is going to Corinth, Greece, and he's going to be preaching there, and he's going to meet some folks there. Let's begin reading in Acts chapter 18, verse 1. 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 he came unto them, and because he was of the same craft, Paul abode with them, and wrought, for by occupation they were tent makers. And Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded 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. And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his clothing and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean. From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered to a certain man's house, named Justice, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all of his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. And when Galileo was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. And if it be a question of words, and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. And he draved them from the judgment seat. And Paul, after he tarried there yet a good while, took his leave of the brethren, Brethren, we're going to stop reading there in verse 16. We read perhaps the first half of Acts chapter 18. We're talking about Paul the missionary in Corinth. He is a bit discouraged. What might be some of the causes of Paul being a bit discouraged when he arrives in Corinth? Well, first of all, he finds himself laboring alone. He was waiting, but did not have Silas and Timothy. They were going to come, but they were going to come later. So he was laboring alone and perhaps was lonely without them. He also felt his lack of funds not being properly supported financially. He had to go to work as a tent maker. And so he kept himself busy during the week as a tent maker, and he was able to preach on the Sabbath days in the synagogues. And next, he was discouraged because he had the antagonism of the Jewish people that lived among the heathen in that city. These were the people that said they were the people of the Lord God Almighty, yet they were the people that opposed Paul's preaching to the Gentiles in Corinth. It would be these people that would deny Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and they gave Paul much trouble as he spoke the gospel. these Jews opposed him. These were all discouraging things. Another reason he might have been discouraged is Corinth, the capital of the province of Achaia. It was a, compared to other cities, rich, prosperous city, but it was full of moral corruption. This moral corruption of this city was so deep and universal It was a proverbial saying throughout the Roman world that the city of Corinth had no morals, and their morals shocked even the pagan sense of decency. That was Corinth, a seaport city. This was much to discourage Paul, because sin hardens the heart against the grace of God. So Paul, much discouraged, is going to find himself encouraged, because the Lord Jesus is going to provide what he needs to do the work he's called to do. The work he's called to do is to bear witness to the truth, and he's been commissioned and set apart for that purpose. Paul's been given miracle working power. He obviously has the gift of preaching. But Jesus had commissioned his servant, and he provides for Paul by giving him new friendships. This is critical. There were some folks there, the Lord's servants already, Aquila and Priscilla, a great husband and wife team. And they quickly befriended Paul, took him into their life. They were also tent makers, so the three of them worked together. and they would come to hold a large place in his life from henceforward. He'd meet some friends that he would keep the rest of his life, and God gave him Aquila and Priscilla so he wouldn't be there alone, so they would have some great companionship. And this husband and wife team, Aquila and Priscilla, were as fine as Christians as you could find anywhere. And so Paul got into a daily routine of tent making. He was busy, he had a physical activity, and that does us good as well. He would preach on the Sabbath days in the synagogue. He's fulfilling his calling. And then along comes Silas and Timothy, finally, and now he's really encouraged. He went from being alone to having Aquila, Priscilla, Timothy, and Silas. All these are helping him. Now he's preaching boldly. He's where he needs to be because God has provided these things for him. But brethren, the supreme cause of encouragement is found in verse 9 and 10, and that is when the Lord Jesus appeared to him at night and spoke to him. He had a vision of Christ. Christ spoke to him. He was assured that God would protect him, that the Lord would give him fruit for his label, the Lord would sustain him, give him grace so he could accomplish the work he had to do. He was sent to make disciples of all nations. He was sent to preach the gospel, and that he did. with the power, protection of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is ever concerned about his ministers, and this man Paul was in a lonely place when he first arrived in Corinth. But God gave him the best of friends, brought in two exceptionally good preachers to help him. Timothy and Silas were exceptionally good collaborators with Paul. And he felt encouraged, especially when Jesus spoke to it. I've got much people in this city, he says. So you go about your business of preaching. And Paul did that. And so Paul achieved the task of founding at Corinth what would become a strong Christian church. You can read about that church, obviously, in the two epistles that Paul wrote. Both of them are long epistles, the epistles to the Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It became a big church. It was not without its flaws. But nevertheless, the Lord used Paul to start a fine church in Corinth. People were called out among these people, Jews and Gentiles, and there was a church for the praise and honor of Jesus Christ. That word church, as we mentioned, in the Greek is ekklesia, it means the called out assembly. started by Paul and Silas and Timothy in their preaching, assisted by Aquila and Priscilla. That was the nucleus of the church, and God grew that church. And from there, Korah, Paul would write his two letters to the Thessalonian church. His very first epistles he would write from there. This is an important junction in Paul's life. He's not only the great missionary, he's also writing portions of our New Testament. So the place of initial discouragement for Paul gave way to a place of victory, usefulness, and blessing. His first letters, as we mentioned, were written in about A.D. 50. And so we have the Lord Jesus Christ lifting his servant up so that the job that he's called to do can be done. God does that for us as well. As we mentioned earlier in Matthew 6.33, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." We see Paul an example of that. Seeking the Lord's will and his righteousness and these other good things being added to him. In this case it was friendships, it was two co-laborers, Because of the founding of the church, he finally had some financial support, not that he had to have it. And matter of fact, Paul said to the Corinthians that he chose to take no salary lest anyone blame him for being there for the wrong reasons. Now, we have the episode that we read there in Acts chapter 18. The Jews were opposed to Paul, especially when he was having success. And so they united in verse 12 and 16 to drag Paul before the Roman governor in the place, Galileo. the governor of that portion of Achaia, headquartered in Corinth, hoping that they, through the legal system, could have this apostle, Paul, expelled from the city. But Galileo refused to enter into their charge, and he drove these Jews from the judgment seat. Brethren, when you stop here, notice that this is extremely important. This is no small matter. Notice Galileo's wisdom. He was a Roman governor. He wasn't for or against Paul. He wasn't for or against the Jews. But he insisted in his city, in his area where he was the ruler, he insisted that no man should be tried as a criminal because of his religious beliefs. Galileo just put his foot down and said, you will not bring this man to my court if the only charge you have is what he preaches or what he believes. That is not something that's going to be punished by the court system. And so he drove these Jews away from the court system. You cannot bring a man forward for a religious crime. In other words, Galileo is teaching us religious tolerance. In certain parts of the Roman world, there was religious tolerance. Didn't care if Paul was a Christian. Didn't care if the Jews were Jews. You cannot charge a man with a crime based on what he believes or what he says about religion. And here's a great example. Paul was protected by the legal system that was there in Corinth. Now, we've said some things about Corinth. It had a low moral standard. It was full of sin. But at least there was a wise governor there who knew to distinguish between a true crime and some religious bigotry. And that's Galileo. And here's an example. And God used that governor to protect Paul. Remember, Jesus had appeared to Paul and said, I'm going to protect you. And sometimes the Lord uses secondary means to do his will. And I believe this man, Galileo, was a secondary mean that the Lord used. He used the wisdom of this man to prevent the stoning or a beating of Paul in Corinth. And because of that, he could stay there for a good long time, and he did stay for a long time. A church was built, no doubt strengthened by the additional ministry of Silas and Timothy and Aquila and Priscilla. Paul would thenceforth travel with Aquila and Priscilla. They became ready friends, and they stuck together as a mission team for a while. Yes, that was God's doing. The path of duty leads to the road of opportunity. Brethren, it looks like we're about out of time, and we're going to go ahead and close it up here. Remind you, you've been listening to the Cary Baptist Church radio broadcast. Cary is in Athens, Alabama. I'm Pastor Ben Donohue. Let me thank you for listening. We hope you join us again the next time, and until then, we'll say goodbye. a bulwark never failing. Our helper He amid the flood of mortals prevailing, For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe His craft and power are great And armed with cruel hate On earth is not his equal ♪ In our own strength confide ♪ ♪ Our striving would be losing ♪ ♪ We're not the right man on our side ♪ ♪ The man of God's own choosing ♪ ♪ Just ask who that may be ♪ Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabbath is His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle. ♪ And though this world with devils filled ♪ ♪ Through threatened to undo us ♪ ♪ We will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us ♪ The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him.