Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24475 - 4 Ways God Can Encourage You - Acts 18:1-17

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#24475 - 4 Ways God Can Encourage You - Acts 18:1-17 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Take your Bibles, open them to
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Acts chapter 18. We're going to pick up where we
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left off last time. Brand new chapter, Acts chapter
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18 and I've entitled our Bible study Four Ways God Can
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Encourage you, Four ways God can, and you could even say will
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encourage you as you look to him.
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It's really the summary of the Psalm that we read today in
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Psalm 4 where he starts out very discouraged but ends up very
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encouraged. That's God's will for your life.
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We're following along the life of Paul here in Acts 18.
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It is a season of his life that goes back to really Acts chapter
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13. In Acts chapter 13, you'll
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remember they had a prayer meeting in Afterglow, a
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gathering. And in that gathering God spoke
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and said separate to me, Paul and Barnabas for the work for
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which I've sent them. And since Acts 13, we've been
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following Paul in what's known as his missionary journeys.
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He's been on the move sharing the gospel.
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We didn't meet him as Paul. We actually met him as Saul,
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Saul of Tarsus, the man that hated Christianity.
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We met him as Saul, the man that stood there while Stephen was
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being stoned to death. We met him as Saul, who on in
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Acts chapter nine was headed to Damascus.
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In his mind he was going to single handedly destroy
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Christianity and he was going to do that in his mind for God's
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sake. But God intervened because God
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had a purpose for him. And I want to remind you, I've
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done Bible studies and this in depth.
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So but I want to remind you about the person in your life
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that you might be thinking of right now.
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That's completely unreachable. The person in your life that
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you're thinking about like never, never for him, never for
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her. I, I, I know the real person,
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Ed. It's not the person you know,
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it's not the person that comes to church.
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I know so unreachable. I want to remind you about Saul.
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God can reach anybody. There isn't anybody outside of
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his reach. And so we have to stop being so
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negative about it, so upset about it.
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So we, we have to be praying. We need to be asking God to
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reach them. We need to be asking God to
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breakthrough. We need to be asking,
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interceding on their behalf. Because I mean, if you think
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about Saul, if you were in Damascus and you heard Saul was
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coming, you'd be concerned like you, I don't know that you'd
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call a prayer meeting as much as you would, hey, hide the kids
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and let's get away. Because we heard about this guy.
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I'm sure some were like, I know we heard about him, but we need
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to be praying that God could get him before he even gets here.
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And, and I mean, maybe we'll meet somebody in heaven that
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prayed that very prayer and they experienced the answer to it
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'cause that's exactly what happened.
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God got Saul before Saul could ever get them.
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And that's the work of the Lord on the earth today.
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Don't give up on people. Don't give up on them, on their
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in your hearts, in your minds, with your voice.
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You keep interceding for them because Paul here is still
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traveling. He's still the man.
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He's still traveling and he's still a man that's consumed.
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He's still a man that's passionate.
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And what I found when a man or a woman is born again, God retains
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a lot of your personality. He just changes you a little
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bit. He gives you a little more
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self-control, gives you a different purpose in life.
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But I mean, if you were an extrovert before you got saved,
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you're probably going to be one afterwards.
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If you're more a little bit to yourself, you'll probably still
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be a little bit to yourself, but God will use that now for his
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Kingdom. And Saul went from persecutor to
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preacher, and only Jesus can do that and he's still doing it
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today. We're on this missionary
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journey. Pick up with me in chapter 18
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and verse one it says after these things Paul departed from
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Athens and went to Corinth and he found a certain Jew named
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Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with
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his wife Priscilla. Because Claudius had commanded
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that all the Jews depart from Rome and he came to them.
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So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and
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worked for by occupation. They were tent makers.
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And verse four, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and
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persuaded both Jews and Greeks. So God's using him again.
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But he comes to Corinth. Paul does, I believe a little
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discouraged. I believe a lot discouraged.
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And when you're reading the Bible, it's easy to Passover
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little phrases and words. I want to teach you not to
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Passover them so quickly. The phrase that would be easy to
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miss today is right there in verse one after these things.
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That's an very important phrase that gives us the time and
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framework and the state of mind that Paul might be in.
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So we need to ask the question what things?
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And the immediate context will take us back to the 17th
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chapter. And you'll remember he came, He
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rolled into Thessalonica and God used them greatly.
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Then there was opposition. He rolls into Berea.
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God uses them greatly. He's off in opposition.
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He ends up being sent by himself to Athens, where he's provoked
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in his spirit by all the idolatry.
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They find him. They take him to the side, to
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the Areopagus on the hillside of the Acropolis, where all the
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philosophers would talk about things, and they gave him an
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audience. They're on Mars Hill.
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He shared the gospel with them, but there wasn't much of a
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response. It would be easy for him to
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conclude that he wasn't successful.
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He didn't see the kind of response that he got in
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Thessalonica. He didn't see the kind of
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response that he saw in Berea, it says.
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In verse 34 of chapter 17, it says, However, some men joined
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him and believed, among them Dionysinus the Areopagite and a
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woman named Daenerys and a few others.
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So a few people responded, but not many.
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And he leaves this difficult season and heads into Corinth.
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A little discouragement, little discourage, you know, because
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his powerful Bible study didn't yield a lot of fruit, or at
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least to the eye, at least to the eye.
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But God always sees more than we see.
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Remember in Isaiah 55, His ways are not our ways.
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His thoughts are not our thoughts.
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He can always see more than we see.
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Because the measurement for success is not always outward.
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Most of the time it's not outward at all.
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The measurement of success is singular, and it's always the
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same. And God measures our success
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through faithfulness. Did you do what He called you to
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do? Let's just say in that scenario
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that we spoke of earlier where you're there ready to pay for
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your goods at Safeway or Walmart and you respond to the prompting
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of the Holy Spirit to ask this person if you can pray for them,
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you can help them, how can you help them?
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And they say, no, leave me alone.
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Don't ever come in my don't ever come in my line anymore.
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I don't like you. I don't like Christians.
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I don't even like the way you ask that question.
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And it would be easy for you to leave going.
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What a failure I am. I mean, here I am.
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I was trying and I just won. I'll never do that again.
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No, no, no, no, no, no. You weren't a failure at all.
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You were completely obedient and faithful.
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You and I, we are not responsible for the outcome.
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We're responsible for our obedience.
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Paul would say as much to the Corinthians later on when he
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writes him a letter, when he tells them, hey, I planted,
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Paulus watered or Apollo's watered, I planted.
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But God gives the increase. And Paul is learning that
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himself, perhaps even writing that later to the Corinthians as
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they were looking to Apollo's or looking to him.
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He goes, no, it's not even about us at all.
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Only God gives the increase. He comes verse one to Corinth,
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which was almost the exact opposite of Athens.
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Athens, remember, was a highly intellectual city, a
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philosophical city that all they did was talk about new ideas and
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such, and secondarily very sexually immoral, perverse and
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twisted. First, intellect.
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Second, sexual perversion. When you come to Corinth, flip
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that Corinth was extremely sexually perverse and
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occasionally dealing with philosophy.
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They were a very corrupt city given over to sin, much larger
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than Athens. 700,000 People called Corinth their home and
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they're just living out idolatry and morality, the filthiness of
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lust and sin. And and Corinth, that was one of
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the bigger cities of the day. It was a province, which means
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there were a lot of Romans there, but it was also a city
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that was given over to wickedness, drunkenness.
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I mean, if you haven't learned by now how much trouble
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drunkenness brings you, you need to learn it today.
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You need to learn that drunkenness always makes sin
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worse. And that's what the problem was
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with Corinth. When they had the Greek plays,
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when they wanted to portray someone as a drunk or a vile
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person, they would always refer to that person as a Corinthian
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because that was the reputation of the city.
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That's the city that Paul's comes to.
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He's a little discouraged. And then notice what happens in
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verse two. He found a ministry couple,
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which is a great blessing. The 1st way that God encourages
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Paul is by giving him other people to encourage him.
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That's actually the bookends of our study today, Priscilla and
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Aquila, this Bible teaching team, husband and wife, which by
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the way, husbands and wives, you should serve together.
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This is the model. Priscilla and Aquila was a team.
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They were a team serving the Lord.
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They taught together, they served together, and now they're
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going to be used by God to encourage Paul together.
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This is the call of God upon their lives.
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And God gives Paul this gift of people, which is ironic, is it
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not? It's ironic to me that one of
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the ways God will encourage you is by giving you people because
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most of the time the way that we're discouraged is by people.
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And yet God knows what he's doing because in discouragement
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there is this temptation to isolate yourself.
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And it's like, I just need to get away from people.
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And that might be the truth for a season, but people will also
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be a tool that God uses to encourage you.
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You want to be around people. In the era he gave this special
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couple was like picked for him personally because not only did
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they love the Bible and not only were they believers, but it says
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in verse three, they were tent makers.
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That was their job. And you Bible students, you know
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that Paul's profession was a tent maker.
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Literally. They made tents with their
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hands. Today we might call them a home
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builder. That's what they were doing.
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They were making tents and they worked together.
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They got to spend a lot of time together and speak to each other
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about the things of God while they're physically doing
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something with their hands. And you guys know, you know,
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it's always good to have a believer at work.
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Amen. Just to have somebody with you
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you can share together in the tough times, in the difficult
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times, maybe have a little prayer session when you need it.
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It's always good to work with other believers.
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It helps to get you through the day and get you the strength.
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Well that's what God gave Paul right away.
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He gave them, he gave him a couple that he could work with
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while he was doing the work of the ministry.
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They made tents by day and they served the Lord at night, which
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before we go into the next section, you may hear this
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phrase used especially in this church about tent making.
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You might hear that it, it is a, it is a phrase that's used to
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describe something. It's we don't use the phrase
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like, you know, if you come and say, Hey, I want to get into the
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ministry and we might say, well, you know, you need to do it as a
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tent maker. We're not telling you to go
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physically make a tent. We're using a metaphor here that
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we get from this scripture and that's this we were taught.
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And this is the methodology I used when I moved here.
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This is what we were taught. We were taught that if you're
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going to be used of God, you're going to serve in the church,
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you're going to plant to church, that you have to have a job to
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do that so that you could provide for the needs of your
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family while you're doing the work of the ministry.
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If you step back for a moment, you might even see it, anybody
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serving in the church. Here you are tent making, you
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are working so that you can provide the extra time that God
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would give to you, that you can serve the Lord.
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And that way, you know, when I moved here, I worked in the
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corporate world. I was doing very, very well.
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I was going to stay there. As a matter of fact, in my mind,
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I made a commitment that I was going to work for at least seven
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years. I thought after seven years, the
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number of completion, I've put enough money away and save and
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get prepared that maybe the church will be large enough,
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maybe we'll have a few people that I could take a small
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salary. My family could live on it and
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that would be fine. But the Lord had other plans.
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He had other plans. You come with the right heart.
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And then in this church, it took off pretty quickly and I ended
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up quitting that job in nine months because the Lord wanted
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something else to be done in my life.
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But it's the heart of the matter.
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The heart of the matter. When it comes to work church,
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you need to understand that you need to work.
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It is from the Lord. God will use Paul later to write
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his letter to the Thessalonians, and he'll put it even this way.
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He'll say this, if you don't work, you don't eat.
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That's how important it is. But then you know you're here
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and go. You don't understand how hard it
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is, how hard it is to work. How hard it's so hard that it's
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part of the curse. Haven't you read the Bible, Ed?
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In Genesis it says work is a part of the curse.
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Actually, that's not what Genesis says at all.
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Work is not the curse. Adam and Eve, they were working
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before the curse. Adam was tending the garden,
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naming the animals, enjoying the place.
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The part of the curse as it relates to work is now it's
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going to be hard. And we can get an Amen to that.
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Now it's going to be hard. It's going to be the sweat of
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your brow. That's the fall.
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That's what sin has done to work.
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But work is something that gives you an outlet.
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Listen, it gives you an outlet to be in the highways and the
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byways of life to bring to gospel to other people, not just
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in a church setting, but God takes the church and he spreads
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us throughout our community so that we could use our education,
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our gifts, and our talents to impact people's lives with the
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gospel. And that's what he says here.
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He worked. Paul the apostle worked.
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We know Jesus was a Carpenter. He worked.
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And so too, that's the word of the Lord to many today,
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polarized in Corinth, very discouraged.
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And God gives him a couple things that are going to
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encourage him right away. Friends and work.
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You can sweat it out and be faithful and see something
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tangible while he's ministering the gospel in Corinth because
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we're going to find out in a moment that it's going to get
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worse. And here's one of the questions
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that comes up in a Bible study like this is like, well, wait a
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minute, Ed, how do you know he's discouraged?
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It doesn't say he is. It doesn't say he's discouraged
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at all so far. What you've read, Pastor, it
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doesn't say anything about is I've read the chapter.
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I don't see this discouragement anywhere.
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And if you're, you know when you're teaching the Bible, you
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just know if those are listening or engaging with the text.
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You ask questions like that and you should, you can ask them
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now. You can ask them later.
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You can e-mail later. It's a good question to ask
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because the answer you come up with a question like that, the
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answer is right there in the text.
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You'll see in a moment in verses 9 and 10 that God comes to Paul
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directly and encourages him. And so you can infer from that
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that you encourage people that are discouraged.
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And so we know Paul is dealing with something We sometimes, and
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we must learn to stop doing this.
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Reread the Bible without the emotion that's there.
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Paul is just a guy. He's not any different than you
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and me. Yeah, maybe personality wise, or
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there are some differences, but he's a regular guy, as are the
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men and women of the Bible. They're regular people like you
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and me. And I think the discouragement
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actually started much earlier than this text, or even from
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what happened in Athens. I think he started to get hit
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pretty hard. Well, first of all, when he was
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saved, because there's a great indication that his family
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turned on him, he also lost his status as a Pharisee.
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Like his whole identity was being dealt with by being a born
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again believer. And then as he's serving, what
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happens in Acts 13, they're having that prayer meeting.
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God says I'm going to partner this guy up with Barnabas, the
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son of encouragement, send him out.
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And then you remember what happened.
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They had a little disagreement. Should we take John Mark or not
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take John Mark? Barnabas said we are.
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Paul said we won't and they had that disagreement that was so
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bad that now Paul lost his best friend in the ministry.
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That had to hurt in some way. They were doing such great work.
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I bet you they had conversations, planning the
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future, what it could be. They, they battled together,
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they were victorious together. That had to hurt.
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And then there's opposition. Now he's got people dogging him,
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dogging him, dogging him, wanting to kill him.
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Want Then he was beat up and thrown in jail.
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I mean, literally beat up and thrown in jail and on and on the
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list goes. By the time he comes to Corinth,
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he's a little weak, wrestling with the emotions that I think
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any of us would wrestle with. So much so that he's ready to
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throw in the towel to some degree, as we'll see in the
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moment. And what does God do?
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He gives them friends and he gives them work, something to
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do. God does the same thing in the
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body of Christ today, gives us friends and gives us something
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to do that would honor him. Notice now verse five.
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When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was
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constrained by the Holy Spirit and testified to the Jews the
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Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him, mark
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that when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his
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garments and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads.
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I'm clean. From now on, I'm going to go to
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the Gentiles. We've learned about Paul.
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He's not the kind of man that's going to sit around, wait around
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and do nothing. He's not the kind of person
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that's going to be sitting on his hands.
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So even before the team arrives, he starts preaching, goes to the
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synagogue. He sees some, you know, he feels
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like the Holy Spirit wants him there.
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But now he's met with opposition.
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And more frustration on top of more on top of more.
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And I love this. Paul, it says, was constrained
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by the Spirit. This is something God was doing
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in his heart. He, Paul, was sensitive to the
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Holy Spirit. We learned that before and
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unfortunately, the Holy Spirit. When we refer to the leading of
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the Holy Spirit, sometimes the closed doors get more attention
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than the open doors. Sometimes the closed doors get
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way more attention than the than the open doors.
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And remember this, if God is closing a door today, that means
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he's opening something up for you.
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It's the same, it's two sides of the same coin.
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So if God's closing a door today, that means there's going
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to be something coming up for you.
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He's going to open a way for you.
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I, I think of maybe someone listening to me right now that
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just lost their job. It's very devastating, very
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hard, closed door, very difficult.
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And if you're not careful, you will camp on how hard it is, how
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difficult it is. I can't believe God did this.
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I can't believe he loved this. What was he thinking?
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Instead of understanding that when God is closing the door,
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he's going to open, You're going to get another job.
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God is going to provide, you're going to be in another place.
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And one of the ways to look at a closed door is to be expectant
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of what he wants to do. What does he want to do in your
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life? I mean, let's just think, you
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know, if you get all into the place where you're all upset,
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you're mad at your boss, you're mad at the company, you're mad
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at the world, then you may also miss what God's trying to do in
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your life. I mean, maybe, just maybe it's a
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possibility that you don't have your job today because of
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something you did or you said. Maybe it's something you can
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improve on. Maybe you have a personality
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problem and you were harsh with people.
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Maybe, maybe it's that maybe you weren't on time.
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Maybe you weren't faithful. There's a lot of other maybes
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where you just present yourself and say, OK, God, what are you
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trying to do in my life? You can fight it as long as you
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want. You're going to have a miserable
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life. It will be miserable.
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You keep fighting the will of God for your life.
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Paul here he was moved by the Spirit.
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This is remember he had a closed door before God forbid him to go
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to Asia, forbid him to go twice. But here God says go ahead, you
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can go, you don't need away from him, just go ahead and he felt
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like the Lord was leading him and he obeyed it.
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But then he faced notice in verse 6, opposition, which can
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make a person doubt that they made the right decision anyway.
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And ultimately we got to come to the place with open doors and
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closed doors just to embrace the moment and stop trying to figure
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out whether it was right or wrong and just embrace where you
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are today. Just embrace it for where you
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are. We made some mistakes.
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The Lord will show us. If God's leading us, Lord will
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show us. But here it is.
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I'm here now, so God use me. I want to be used and teach me
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the lessons I want to learn. And here it would be easy
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because I get there and it's so much opposition, OK?
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But the Holy Spirit had him do this, listen, so that he could
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experience the opposition. God's constrained him, knowing
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full well what was going to happen there.
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God knows full well what's happening with you too.
23:36
He knows exactly what you need. He understands you better than
23:40
you understand yourself. And here, this opposition, it's
23:46
important that we're reminded that you never forget this.
23:53
If you're being used by God in any way, you will experience
23:58
opposition. It is normal.
24:02
It is a regular part of any true Christian's life.
24:07
Any true born again Christian today will experience external
24:12
opposition from people situations.
24:16
Often times we'll refer to that as spiritual warfare.
24:22
Spiritual warfare. If you're making a lot of
24:25
progress then you're going to be facing a lot of opposition.
24:30
And of course there's always folks that go, but pastor, I've
24:33
been born again believer for years and I've never experienced
24:36
any opposition. Then what you need to do is go
24:39
home and look in the mirror and ask yourself, have you ever done
24:42
anything from the Lord? Because if you've ever done
24:45
anything for the Lord, you're going to experience opposition
24:48
and spiritual warfare. There will be challenges.
24:51
There will be difficulties. In Second Corinthians chapter 2
24:55
and verse 11, it talks about the devil wanting to take advantage
24:59
of us. He wants to take advantage of
25:01
weaknesses we have. He wants to use our past against
25:04
us. He wants us to live in regret.
25:08
He wants us to be discouraged. Whatever it may be, He's always
25:11
working to take advantage of us. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse
25:16
10, Paul would tell the church in Ephesus.
25:19
He would teach us about spiritual warfare.
25:22
He would teach us how to stand strong in the Lord and the power
25:26
of His might to put on the whole armour of God and no matter the
25:31
cost. You and I are constrained as
25:34
believers by the Holy Spirit to share the message of love and
25:37
hope in other people's lives. You don't need to wait for that.
25:41
You don't walk away here and go, well, you know, I don't feel
25:43
that same constraint. Well then you're not in tune
25:45
with the Holy Spirit because this is the same thing that He
25:48
gives to every believer, a burden for the lost, a burden
25:52
for the lost. Will it mean opposition?
25:54
Sure. But God has given us this city
25:57
and he's given us this state and he's given us this country and
26:00
he's given us the world to go into it and reach it with the
26:05
gospel and to be open to be used.
26:07
It's ours for the take. Remember in Jesus, John, jot it
26:11
down. John chapter 4, Jesus was
26:13
looking out on the crowds and he tells them, lift up your eyes.
26:19
It's like open up your eyes and look.
26:21
They're already white for harvest.
26:25
The darker things get, the less light, even the less light
26:28
that's needed. But think about the faithfulness
26:30
of your life and my life together.
26:33
It's amazing how God would want to use us.
26:35
So notice now in verse seven, it says he departed from there and
26:40
entered the House of a certain man named Justice.
26:43
Some people believe this justice is actually mentioned in Romans
26:47
chapter 16 and verse 23. Deus Justice, That's a
26:52
possibility. He's somebody that worshipped
26:54
God whose house was next door to the synagogue.
26:58
And so he's watching this whole thing go down.
27:00
He's watching Paul getting up oppressed.
27:02
There's always people watching us.
27:04
We're an example one way or another, good or bad.
27:07
Then Christmas verse 8, the ruler of the synagogue believed
27:10
on the Lord with all this household and many of the
27:13
Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized.
27:16
That's super encouraging. Then notice verse nine.
27:21
Now the Lord spoke to Paul on the night by a vision.
27:25
Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent, for I am
27:29
with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you.
27:32
For I have many people in this city.
27:34
And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the
27:38
word of God among them. This is a powerful moment.
27:42
Now God gives him an immediate boost of energy, seeing so much
27:47
response among the Corinthians, and then in verse nine comes to
27:52
him with personal encouragement. This is why some commentators
27:58
believe that there's a gap of time of some sort between verse
28:02
8:00 and 9:00. It's a possibility.
28:06
It doesn't say, or it could just be an attack of the enemy when
28:10
things are going good. We don't know.
28:14
But we can infer from this that Paul's discouragement was
28:20
deeper, so deep that it was bigger than friends could help,
28:25
and it was bigger than working could help, and it was even
28:28
bigger than seeing God work in his life.
28:30
Again, among the Corinthians that Paul needed personal
28:36
encouragement from God himself, which we certainly can be in
28:40
that place from time to time. He needed a personal word from
28:44
the Lord. It was more than what anybody
28:47
could provide. And I want you to notice that
28:50
what Paul needed God provided and what's true for him is true
28:55
for you. What you need God will provide.
29:02
As you're thinking about quitting, throwing in the towel,
29:06
you're just in a deep down discouragement.
29:08
This is the thing, you know, talking about opposition.
29:10
Let me put some words to it. The devil loves to wear
29:16
Christians out. That's really one of the work
29:19
that he has to wear you down and to wear you out.
29:23
I mean, going back to that work analogy, you know, it's just so
29:26
hard at work. It's so difficult to work.
29:28
I got no believers there. It's just such a hard time.
29:30
I mean, even if you step back for a second and you can answer
29:33
this yes or Amen if you agree, but hasn't it been a few long
29:38
hard years since COVID, Yes or no?
29:41
OK, This side is really hard, you guys.
29:43
Congratulations. It's been really good.
29:45
Like it's been hard. And you add to that the economy
29:48
and you add to that your family, and you add to that your own
29:51
personal struggles and you add to that like life and
29:55
difficulties and neighbors and where am I going to live and all
29:58
just life. It's been hard.
30:01
You add to that the, the way that the world is getting darker
30:05
and we're seeing things we've never seen before.
30:07
You add to that the, the fact that we're learning this.
30:09
We're learning this on Wednesdays that the entire
30:13
nation of Egypt is paying the price for bad leadership.
30:17
Well, folks, I want to let you in on something. the United
30:19
States of America is also paying for bad leadership.
30:23
It has been that way for a long time, but it's going to get
30:26
worse. It's going to get worse.
30:28
You think it's bad now, it's going to get worse.
30:30
That's the will of the Lord. That's his desire.
30:33
And they go. But Ed, we want it to be better.
30:35
I know. And that's why it's wearing you
30:38
out. That's why you're getting worn
30:41
down. You know, when you think of
30:43
being worn out, you think of being tired.
30:46
You think of being weary, you think of.
30:49
And there's even that in Galatians chapter 6.
30:51
Remember, let me add another one to you.
30:54
You and I, we've also respond, man, I just want to be the best
30:57
believer. I want to serve the Lord.
30:58
I want to step into people's lives.
31:00
And then what does Galatians 6 say?
31:02
Let us not grow weary in, well, doing so.
31:06
It seems like no matter which way we turn, this world is going
31:10
to wear us down. And you're right.
31:13
But when you're serving the Lord, you're just like, OK,
31:14
Gotham, this is for you. I don't control a lot of things,
31:17
but the things I do control, I want to follow you.
31:20
This is the work of the devil. And you think back to work.
31:22
You know, you think back to your job.
31:24
You think back to what you're going to go back to in the
31:26
morning. And if you're not careful,
31:29
you're just going to walk into work with a bad attitude.
31:31
You're just going to walk into work just like, so upset about
31:34
it that you're going to make things worse for yourself.
31:37
It's not just the job and it's not just the boss and it's not
31:41
just all these things. There is a spiritual war
31:45
happening around your life. And you and I are unable.
31:49
We are not allowed. Listen, you are not allowed to
31:53
fight this war with human effort and human tools, you know, or
31:59
weapons. The Bible says we wrestle not
32:02
against flesh and blood. So what does that mean?
32:04
Well, you know what, if somebody yells at you, you can't yell at
32:08
them back. It will not work.
32:11
It will only make things worse. Haven't you learned that by now?
32:15
I mean, think back to the Old Testament.
32:17
There was this sense of equity and justice.
32:19
And So what God would say, He would say it's an eye for an
32:22
eye. Do you know today you cannot
32:25
have eye for an eye? You can't have it.
32:28
It's not possible because Jesus Christ took the pain and the
32:33
penalty for what has happened to you, the injustice upon himself.
32:37
You can't have it back. You can't get justice, you can't
32:41
get revenge. It's not yours anymore.
32:45
And that wears you down. This is the familiar tactic of
32:49
the enemy. We get deceived.
32:53
We start believing the lie because the devil can't defeat
32:58
you. He can't wear you down to the
33:01
end because you have Jesus Christ in you.
33:05
He's your victor. You're more than conquerors
33:08
through Christ who strengthens you.
33:11
No temptation is overtaking you except such as common to man.
33:14
But with every temptation there's always a way of escape.
33:17
The devil can't wear you down like that.
33:20
He can't take you to the end because right there God knows.
33:25
And it could be that you're at a place where only God can
33:27
encourage you. And let me give you now the four
33:30
ways that he will. There are at least four ways God
33:32
will encourage you, just like with Paul, because it seems like
33:37
with Paul, he is ready and done. I don't know if he's going to
33:41
take a break or he's just going to leave completely.
33:43
But from the answer and the encouragement that God gives to
33:46
him, it sounds like he's ready to be done.
33:49
And it reminded me of a season of my life where I was done.
33:52
It was very close to after my son passed away.
33:55
We're already grieving. It's already difficult.
33:58
I have a son in California. I got a daughter here.
34:01
I got all kinds of drama that's outside of my family coming
34:04
against us and just doing the worst of the worst against.
34:07
It was just unbelievable. And so I finally got to the
34:09
place, like, you know what, I'm done with ministry.
34:11
I'm not going back. And I started looking at, you
34:14
know, college education because I don't have a degree.
34:17
So I'm like, I'm going back to the corporate world.
34:19
I mean, it was bad then, but it's not this bad.
34:21
And I'll just go and be a good Christian in the corporate
34:24
world, make a lot of money and give to the church.
34:26
And I'm done with this pastoring thing because it's too much.
34:30
I can't take it, I can't handle it, I don't want to do it
34:33
anymore. All of that and more.
34:35
It was a very dark season. And you know, doing all those
34:40
knocking on doors and stuff, it's obvious that that's not the
34:43
road, the route that I took. But God sent encouragement into
34:47
my life this very same way. And I wonder, I wonder if Paul's
34:52
in a similar place, and I'll explain why in a minute.
34:55
Notice #1 the encouragement Paul gets is the encouragement we get
35:00
#1 he's encouraged by God's purpose for his life.
35:04
God reminds him, Notice what it says in verse nine.
35:07
Don't be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent.
35:11
It's like God says, Paul, This is why you're on the planet
35:14
earth. So go do it.
35:17
Do what I made you to do. Like I wonder sometimes, you
35:20
know, you're right now, maybe maybe you're an engineer and
35:23
you're just tired of engineering.
35:24
I quit. I'm going to go do something
35:26
else. But you know what?
35:27
God made you that engineer. So do it is under the Lord.
35:32
He made you. Do you know how few people think
35:35
like you do? You're so smart and God made you
35:38
that way. Well, Ed, are you ever saying
35:40
that I can't have a career changed?
35:41
I'm not saying that at all. What I am saying is don't let
35:44
discouragement move you like that.
35:46
Let the Lord encourage you that he's made you an engineer, He's
35:50
made you a police officer, He's made you a stay at home mom,
35:53
He's made you. So do it because that's God's
35:56
purpose for your life. Do it.
35:59
Do it as unto the Lord #2 Notice it says God reminds him of his
36:04
presence. So I used P words here so you
36:06
can remember them. God's purpose, God's presence.
36:09
Notice in verse 10 this had to bless him.
36:12
I am with you. And isn't that enough?
36:16
Shouldn't that be enough? I mean, God, I'm not.
36:18
I'm with you. I'm Hebrews chapter 13.
36:20
I'll never leave you or forsake you.
36:21
I'm with you, Paul. We're in this together.
36:25
We are in this together. You are not alone.
36:27
I'm with you. I'm more than Priscilla, more
36:30
than Aquila, more than these salvations.
36:33
I, the creator of the universe, am with you.
36:38
It's like, yes, Lord, He's promised to not leave us.
36:43
Turn over to Exodus chapter 10 with me, would you?
36:45
We are studying Exodus in our midweek Bible study.
36:48
I wish you'd be here, man. There's so much that God is
36:51
doing and teaching us in this different book of the Bible.
36:55
And we were in chapter 10 not too long ago.
36:57
And this is what I shared with those that were there that
37:00
evening. It's so powerful.
37:02
It's just one of those little Nuggets that you got to dig a
37:04
little deeper for, but when you get it, it's like a gold nugget.
37:07
You're going to hold on to it the rest of your life.
37:09
Notice here we've got Moses, the reluctant servant of God.
37:14
He really doesn't want to do what God called him to do.
37:17
He comes with all these excuses to the point where he finally
37:20
tells God, just send somebody else.
37:23
And God said, I'm not sending anyone else now I'm going to
37:26
send you. I'm going to send your brother
37:27
with you and you're going to do this.
37:29
And he obeyed. By the time we come to chapter
37:32
10, now seven times he has gone to the leader of the known
37:37
world, Pharaoh, and told him the message of God, let my people
37:41
go. If you don't let my people go,
37:43
judgment will come seven times. And how hard it must have been
37:47
because now it's not just you would think somebody would do it
37:49
after one or two times, but now seven times he's had to see
37:54
resistance 7 times. He's had to watch plagues come
37:59
throughout Egypt, people suffering because of Pharaoh, 7
38:04
times. And I would think by the time he
38:06
gets to chapter 10, there's a good possibility he's like, I'm
38:08
done, like I don't want to do this anymore.
38:11
And notice this in verse one. Now the Lord said to Moses, go
38:15
into Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his
38:19
servants that I might show these signs of mine before him, which
38:24
when you're reading it at face value, you got, what kind of
38:26
encouragement is that? You're going to go to Pharaoh
38:28
again. He's not going to listen to you.
38:30
And another plague is coming. But there's an interesting word
38:34
that I happened to click on my Bible program, just kind of
38:37
looking at it to see what it means and you might want to mark
38:40
it. It's the Hebrew word translated
38:42
in verse one go. It's actually the Hebrew word Bo
38:46
Bo. And here it's translated go.
38:50
However, that word is also translated in different places
38:55
as come, like come with me. So if the translators chose to
39:00
use that translation in this season of Moses life, I want you
39:04
to consider it reads really differently.
39:06
Doesn't now the Lord said to Moses, come with me, let's go to
39:10
Pharaoh because in reality God was with Moses every single time
39:15
he went to Pharaoh. In reality, he was with him
39:18
every step of the way. In reality, while it was Moses
39:21
mouth, it was God's presence. Every single time you've gone
39:25
Moses, you've not been alone every single time you stood
39:28
there, I've strengthened you, I've been with you.
39:31
Now you come to the book of Acts, and Paul's getting almost
39:34
the exact same encouragement. I'm with you.
39:37
You are not alone. Not only am I with you, but I
39:41
will be with you. And this assurance is ours by
39:45
faith. God never sends us alone into
39:48
this world. Ever.
39:50
He is always with us #3 #3 back in Acts.
39:54
Not only does God remind him of His purpose and His presence,
39:57
but thirdly, he reminds him of his protection.
40:01
God's protection, he says. And no one will attack you to
40:05
hurt you. To which you Bible students go,
40:10
What protection? Well, where were you, God, when
40:15
I was stoned in Lystra? And where were you God, when
40:18
they beat me and threw me into jail in Philippi?
40:21
And where with where were you when you and when I experienced
40:25
this, Paul could have easily said all those things.
40:26
Protection, protection. Some of you, you've been praying
40:30
for protection, but hard things are still happening.
40:32
And this is where you need to be reminded, Church.
40:35
This is where we must be reminded.
40:37
We often interpret protection as having something prevented from
40:41
coming from us or like in the middle of a trial, being pulled
40:44
out of it right away. And sometimes God indeed does
40:48
that work. But most of the time, you and I
40:51
experience the protection of God, not out of something, but
40:55
listen through something. His protection by his abiding
41:00
presence. You know, you turn to Daniel and
41:03
you talk to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
41:06
They were thrown into a fiery furnace to be left for dead.
41:09
When Nebuchadnezzar came to check on them, what did he see?
41:12
Oh, there was a fourth one in the fire.
41:14
You want to know why there's always a fourth one in the fire?
41:18
Jesus is always with us and through, you know, even before
41:22
we were saved, most of us were familiar with Psalm 23, maybe
41:25
even memorized it like before. Before I even read the Bible,
41:29
the only Bible in the house I grew up in was the big Bible
41:32
that was under the TV. It's where my mom pressed
41:35
flowers and our birth certificates were.
41:36
That was the Bible. So before I even knew the Bible,
41:39
my mom had a little plaque on the wall of the 23rd Psalm.
41:45
And I remember seeing the plaque.
41:48
And now, many years later, I know of which it speaks, where
41:53
the Bible speaks of the shepherd being with me, even if and even
42:00
when I'm going through the valley of the shadow of death.
42:05
The psalmist doesn't promise a deliverance out of the valley,
42:09
just that you'll get through it. And that's the truth for you.
42:12
You know what you're going through right now, as hard as it
42:15
is and as dark it is, is, maybe you're not even in church today
42:18
because you can't handle it. It's too much.
42:21
You're in a dark room. Like I was trying to figure out
42:23
what my future might be because anything's better than this.
42:26
Listen, one day you're going to look back on it and you're going
42:31
to see the testing that turned into a testimony of God's
42:35
faithfulness because even God's faithful right now, right in the
42:39
middle of it, Paul needed to know that.
42:41
And he also needed to know the fourth thing, and that is God's
42:45
people. He's going to remind them.
42:47
He says nobody's going to attack to hurt you, for I have many
42:51
people in this city. And he continued there a year
42:55
and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
42:58
So God's promise is people, you're not alone.
43:00
I've got a lot more people here. This is not the first time God
43:02
said this. I got a lot more people here you
43:04
don't even know yet. They're not even saved.
43:06
Like there's so much going on, Paul, that you don't see right
43:09
now. Get your eyes back on me because
43:12
I'm with you and I'm your power, I'm your protection.
43:15
I, I have people here. And whatever, whatever Paul was
43:20
going through, it encouraged him because he stayed there 18
43:22
months. To me, that would be a great
43:24
encouragement. Sometimes I get encouragement,
43:26
helps me go another 18 minutes, helps me go another 18 hours.
43:30
But Paul, he gave 18 months a year and 1/2.
43:32
He stayed in Corinth with this little word of encouragement,
43:35
which reminds me to remind you, would you please encourage
43:39
somebody because it helps them? It might give them the next 18
43:44
minutes, the night 8. It may be, but a lot of times
43:47
the encouragement from God comes through the mouth of his people.
43:51
So notice now as we close in verse 12.
43:54
Let's see this lived out in his life so quickly.
43:57
Now when Gallio was pro counsel of a Ki, the Jews with one
44:01
accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment
44:06
seat, saying this fellow persuades men to worship God
44:10
contrary to the law. Pause there for a second.
44:13
Didn't God just tell Paul that nobody's going to hurt him, yes
44:17
or no? And now what's happening?
44:20
Wouldn't this make you second guess?
44:22
You heard from God? OK, maybe I didn't hear right.
44:26
I'm a little messed up. Like, OK, God, I get your
44:30
presence and I know you're like the enemy would love to make you
44:34
doubt the promises of God because you have your own
44:39
expectation with God and you need to let go.
44:42
You need to just let go. You're going to keep fighting
44:45
and be miserable your whole life, and your life will pass
44:48
you by quickly. What's happening here is
44:50
actually a fulfillment of what God promised.
44:54
It's not the opposite. So they bring him.
44:56
They by force, they bring him here.
44:58
And then notice when Paul was about to open his mouth, he
45:02
didn't need to. You know why?
45:04
Because God had other people. Isn't that what he said?
45:09
Didn't he say, hey, there's other people in this city?
45:11
Didn't he say that? He said it.
45:13
He didn't have to say anything to defend himself.
45:15
Galio interrupts, and he says, hey, if it's a matter of
45:19
wrongdoing or wicked crimes, there'd be reason why I should
45:22
bear with you. But it's a question of words and
45:24
names and your own law. Look to it yourselves.
45:27
I want to be a judge of such matters.
45:29
And he drove them from the judgement seat.
45:31
Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the
45:35
synagogue. They beat him before the
45:38
judgement seat. But Galio took no notice of
45:41
these things. Poor Sosthenes.
45:45
He took one for the team here. There are times when we do that.
45:49
There are times where something's going on in your
45:51
life. You don't know what it is, but
45:53
God is using it even to help someone else to.
45:56
There's so much to unpack on this.
45:57
I mean, there's so many little Bible studies we could do here,
46:00
but sometimes you're taking the hit for the team.
46:02
Sosthenes was just minding his his own business till Paul came
46:06
to town. I could even see an opportunity
46:10
for Sosthenes to be very mad at Paul.
46:13
You know, before you came, everything was fine.
46:15
And sometimes you have these separations with people are all
46:18
upset, but upset with you for all the wrong reasons.
46:20
You just got to keep your eyes on the Lord.
46:22
That's the key. Here's the bottom line of our
46:27
time today. Do not look at your
46:31
circumstances through natural eyes because there's a very good
46:36
chance you're going to come to the wrong conclusion.
46:39
You're not going to be able to figure out the ways of God.
46:42
You're not going to be able to figure out what's happening.
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It's your natural eyes that are actually getting you in trouble.
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It's your natural eyes that are making things harder for
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yourself. The, the warfare, the spiritual
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warfare you're in. Don't look at it.
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And natural eyes, the circumstance, even the
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opposition is a thing that people are resisting you.
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And, and you, you know, you're only, you're up in your own head
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and you're, you're just all you know, it's the natural that gets
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you in trouble. Listen, we need to take a step
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back and start to look things from a spiritual point of view.
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You, you need to get back into the Bible.
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Separating and doubting the Bible is not helping you.
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Just bring your doubts with you. Just bring them with you.
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Your worries, just bring them with you, your concerns, take
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them with you and let the Lord sort it out in your life where
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you go like you're just open up today.
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Here you are today in this church listening to me on the
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radio, and you're like, Oh my goodness, that's my life.
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You want to know why? Because God loves you enough to
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show you your life in the Bible and to show you His presence, to
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give you His assurance, to reveal to you His faithfulness.
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You're not going to see it with your natural eyes.
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You're not going to see it trying to figure things out.
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I'm going to let you know you can't figure it out.
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That's a place of weakness. A place of weakness is where you
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can move forward. When I figure this out.
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No, you move forward by faith, trusting God at his word, even
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like, well, God said, God said right here, nobody's going to
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hurt me, and here I am being hurt.
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You don't understand. Jesus taught us.
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What can man do to you? Nothing.
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They could kill the body and they can't do anything with the
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Spirit. No, your life is secure with me.
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God says your eternity is set. Just be faithful, Paul, be
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faithful, Calvary. Be faithful.
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Sister, brother, young, old, let the Lord use you because God
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will reveal to you things as you look to him that you can't see
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with your natural eyes. They're only spiritually
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discerned. And when they are spiritually
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discerned, it's just so encouraging because then God
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gives us direction for our lives, and for that we're
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grateful. Amen.
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Lord, thank you for your Word. It's encouraging to us.
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And it's one of those things, God, we just need to dig a
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little deeper, come a little sooner, walk a little lighter,
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that you might lead us and guide us, that we might be once again
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constrained by your spirit and not by our emotions.
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Constrained by your spirit, not because we figured it out or we
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got it. All known.
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Constrained by your spirit, even in the opposition, even in the
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pain, even in the loneliness, even in the hurt, all of it.
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Lord, we we yield it to you today, asking you to do the work
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in our lives that only you can do in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.