Speaking Without Fear - 10-04.26 - Tony Bryant

I pray that you'd make us more and more like you today.

We pray this in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

Y'all can be seated.

Well, good morning, Revived Church.

Good morning, church family.

I mean, can I just say how excited I am to come out here?

Because when we're in the seat singing, it sounds different.

But when you're backstage and all I can hear is just the voices singing, oh man.

I'm like, get me out there.

Let me go right now.

Let's just let's get going.

And so I'm so excited that I have the opportunity and the responsibility this morning to bring God's word.

So for any of you who don't know me, my name is Tony Bryant.

I'm one of the elders here at church.

And we're going to be continuing our time in Acts, and particularly we're going to be in Acts 18.

And we're going to be focusing on this idea, this theme of speaking without fear, because God is with us.

And I uh I'm so excited to unpack this because what we get to see a little bit more, and maybe we haven't seen in previous messages, a little bit more about Paul.

We get to see the humanity of Paul and we get to relate to him in a way that maybe we haven't before because it's so easy to look at Paul, who arguably is maybe the second most important person in the New Testament, right?

An author of so many of these books, these letters that we read.

We get to see the fact that Paul, too, is a sinner, saved by grace, right?

On his journey of sanctification with the Lord.

And so to tee this off, I want to actually kind of jump ahead in Paul's timeline a little bit and read from Philippians 4, 11 through 13.

And it's this as follows.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him, God, Jesus, who strengthens me.

Now consider this question for each of us.

Have you experienced a time of self-doubt?

Have you experienced a time of just overwhelming weakness?

Maybe even this morning you feel that weight on you and you've come in looking for refreshment, looking for reassurance.

And we can appreciate that because Paul too has experienced this.

If you look at the phrase in Philippians, it says, I have learned.

Paul didn't just flip a switch on the road to Damascus and become this super Christian.

He didn't all of a sudden put aside the struggles, but God started to care for Paul as only God could care for Paul.

And likewise, he cares for each of us.

And so before we dive in, let's pray and we'll get started.

Lord God, I am so grateful for the opportunity for us to gather as a family, as brothers and sisters in you to hear the word of God, to hear your word, Lord.

And so I ask that as we walk through Acts 18 and these other verses, Lord, that you would do the work that only you can do.

That you would take away distraction, that you would take away the anxiety that maybe we're sitting in, maybe even the thrill of a current success that is ongoing that might distract us from focusing in on you.

And so I pray my words would be your words.

I pray that you would be heard, not me.

And that we would see into Paul's life just the wonderful truth that you are with each of your children, that we need not fear that we can speak.

Amen.

Well, I'll quote Maya Angelo, the poet.

She says, You can't really know where you're going until you know where you've been.

Yeah?

And so, even though we're going to be talking about Acts 18, it's worth going back a little bit and looking at this first portion of Paul's journey.

This is his second missionary journey.

And so we can start actually in Acts 15, 36, which says, Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.

And this was a relatively small region in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey.

And what happened?

Right off the bat, Paul and Barnabas did not actually end up traveling together.

Rather, they had a dispute over John Mark.

And that led them to depart in different journeys.

And I can't help but think that Paul maybe was picking up on something that the Spirit was alluding to in him about what was to come.

Because this journey was going to be different from his expectations.

And so they parted separate ways, and Paul chose Silas, and soon into their journey, Paul enlisted Timothy, this young, promising disciple, well spoken of in his area.

And so this trio starts to journey on, and we can you can see the map, their path moving through Anatolia.

And twice, as we heard from Pastor Tim, God redirected their path, right?

And the fact is that God was leading them farther, much farther west, into the European frontier than they ever expected.

This was not Paul's original plan.

They didn't have a planned route.

In fact, they were required to lean in and trust the Holy Spirit and his prompting.

But God was taking them to where they needed to be.

And there in Macedonia and Acacia, this is where they were tempted.

I was joking with my boys that, you know, how would you guys say it?

And maybe in youth we might say, bruh, no cap.

The situation was spicy.

And that's how it went down.

Okay, I had to throw that in there.

But we see a dynamic of uncertainty in this journey.

This isn't, again, what they expected.

This is a journey in which Paul was stretched and tested.

And so we move into Macedonia and Acacia through a vision, mind I mention for Paul.

I forgot to mention that.

And so along the way down to Corinth, we see a pattern.

Paul's preference to teach in the synagogue first, navigating resistance from those who would not hear the message, yet witnessing Jews and Greeks accept Christ even in this conflict, but also facing accusation and even attack.

This repetition really could lull us in.

Like if we read through 15 onward to 18, we could get into this lull, right, of this pattern.

And even possibly overlook some of the valuable application embedded in these details.

We see Paul's zeal for Christ and his heart for his brethren, the Jews, as well as the Gentiles.

We see the fruit of the gospel.

Man, the power of the Holy Spirit working.

But we also see this rabid bitterness and dogged aggression from Paul's opposition, don't we?

For example, we see Jason, a fellow believer, dragged from his home because they're looking for Paul, Timothy, and Silas.

Instead, he's dragged out by a mob along with others to be judged in the marketplace.

And I'm compelled to ask because sometimes we could be like, ugh, yeah, that's a different time, a different place.

But have you ever been threatened like that?

Have you been physically seized?

Have you been physically roughed up?

Have you been verbally battered?

I mean, I have to admit that as a kid, I was bullied a lot.

And those bullies, when they would physically overpower me, any kind of tough guy talk that I had inside me, that just evaporated.

And so the reality is the risk was real for Paul and his band, as well as these believers that were coming into the fold and building the church in this new place.

Paul and his fellow believers, they weren't just on a vacation.

No, they were fighting a spiritual battle, weren't they?

And the reality of warfare is it often takes a toll.

I love the fact that when I get to study for these messages, I get to look back on the commentaries of far smarter men than me, for one, but also men and women who have thought deeply and walked with the Lord closely over hundreds of years, and this is one example.

Alexander McLaren, a Scottish minister from the 1900s, put it this way.

Paul had made a plunge and ventured upon altogether a new phase of work.

He had crossed over into Europe.

And from the moment that he landed at the harbor of Philippi up to the time when he took refuge in some quiet little room in Corinth, he had had nothing but trouble and danger and disappointment.

There was the prison at Philippi, there was the riots that hounded him out of Thessalonica, the stealthy, hurried escape from Berea, the almost entire failure of his first attempt to preach the gospel to Greeks in Athens, his loneliness, and the strangeness of his surroundings in the luxurious, wicked, wealthy Greek city of Corinth.

And all of these things weighed on him, according to McLaren.

All these things weighed on Paul.

He's a regular human just like us.

And yet we will see God's enduring presence and care for Paul as a wonderful encouragement to our own walk in Acts 18.

Now, this whole journey leads us to Corinth and why?

Why is Corinth so important?

Well, the reality is at that time Corinth was like any major influential city that we see today.

It was like a New York or a London or a Paris.

The fact is, it was a prize for both the fallen world as well as God's kingdom on earth.

Corinth represented this incredible access point to the Mediterranean world.

Geographically speaking, it was a crossroads for both land and sea travel and commerce, and its Roman administration, its deep Greek heritage, even the Eastern cults and the Jewish synagogue, and this vast broad mix of ethnic population.

Well, this became a metaphoric switchboard, so to speak, of vast cultural connectivity.

With that in mind, a strong congregation in Corinth could radiate truth across shipping routes, trade networks, and social circles well beyond Acacia itself.

But such a cosmopolitan city also could press its social structure and worldly habits into the congregation, couldn't it?

And believers would constantly be forced to think through how to live faithfully.

And we see this in Paul's subsequent letters to the Corinthians.

What he addresses, the worldliness, the challenges, the clarifying the theology that was to be the foundation of their faith and growth and influence in the region.

And yet nothing surprises or hinders the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

This is the truth.

Here in Corinth, we see the vibrant application of God's truth to overcome the flesh and the world.

And so God has led Paul here for a reason.

This isn't happenstance.

This is where he's meant to be.

I'm reminded of a trip I took myself to the Middle East.

For work, I traveled quite a bit in my previous employment.

And gosh, almost two decades ago, there was a presentation shown on a ministry in Israel, and man, I was hooked.

I was ready to go.

But I'm a little bit more of the free gypsy spirit in the family, and my wife is the more realistic logical thinker, if you need to know.

And she graciously reminded me of uh Tony, we have a newborn.

Tony, you have a job.

And so this opportunity to volunteer my time for months on end was not possible for me.

But I had it in my heart to go.

And so I prayed, Lord, would you send me there?

Would you send me to Israel?

Because I want to go there.

And a year later, maybe a little bit more, I was called into a meeting to help with the presentation as I often do.

I'm a graphic designer, that's how I work and make my living is with visual communications.

And so this presentation just so happened to be to USAID, to be delivered in Tel Aviv about our company's work in the West Bank, building infrastructure, water treatment, water conveyance, water storage.

And so by the end of the day, working with the team, they said, Tony, you need to go with us.

We want you to come to Israel with us.

So three days later, I'm on a plane to Israel.

And while I'm there, I worked with the local team.

It was an amazing trip.

I got a couple of days off.

I got to go to Masada, I got to see the Dead Sea, I got to go to the old city and just wander around and just feel the vibrance of that living city.

Muslims and Jews and Christians, everyone piled on top of each other.

But what was most notable was the people I worked with.

There was quite a mixed team.

There was Zahi Gadun, he was a messianic Jew, a believer in Christ.

He and his family had claimed their faith in Jesus for generations living in Jerusalem.

There was Ibrahim, who was from Ramallah, a Muslim, who lived in the West Bank.

And there was even Ivan, I mean, you can't make this stuff up, a Russian immigrant named Ivan, who was the only practicing Jew on the team.

Now there was there were other people, but this was the color that made up the tapestry of this team.

And when Zahi got up to speak because he was the local team lead, he first started with his faith.

Huh.

Wasn't expecting me to get emotional at that.

He first started with his faith.

And then he noted the diversity in the room, and then he told us we have this real opportunity to do something much greater than any one perspective of the team could accomplish.

And so he laid it out there.

He laid it out what he was about, what this project could be about, and how it could be a blessing and a benefit to all involved.

And so a day later at dinner, I got Zahi alone and I expressed to him, man, Zahi, I'm just, I am so excited about the mutual faith we have in Christ.

And without missing a beat, Zahi's face just went stoic, went solemn, and he looked past me and he said, Tony, I want to challenge you not to hide your faith out of some conscientious formality.

And I was struck by that because I was super excited to meet another Christian in another country, but he got right to it, didn't he?

And so Zahi had a heart for Israel, not the just nationality, not ethnicity, but for the region, the people.

He wanted to see that through this project, that in a war-torn region, stability put in place, a better standard of living, just as Christ met the physical needs of others, and to see an opportunity for Christ to be proclaimed in the midst of this.

And so we see, just like Zahi, we see in Paul a heart for the people, an unwavering heart for the people, really.

And in turn, what's amazing is we see in this passage God's heart for Paul, an unwavering heart for Paul.

He knew Paul so well and through his care sustained and strengthened him as only God can.

Just as he proclaimed in Philippians.

Now let's actually get to the meat of 18.

Now Paul arrives in Corinth.

At the previous end of the chapter, we see that Paul was sent away to Berea, while Silas and Timothy remained, and so he's alone.

And those who had even escorted Paul left him alone in Athens.

And so Paul arrives in Corinth very alone, very downtrodden.

And all the commentaries speak to this.

And we can see it in different scripture, the letters that he wrote from Corinth and later to Corinth, describing his state.

And so he has no assurance of his fellow believers, their well-being.

And he's facing this daunting city, this major capital of this region, the city of Corinth.

Now I want to ask you, have you ever arrived at a place already drained, already exhausted?

I remember once I traveled to California, I had three jobs to hit in three days.

I went from San Diego to LA, and then I went north up to the top of the, I think it was Sacramento.

And man, by the time I got to that third job, I was exhausted.

And the work I did was reflective of that.

But it's the truth because the small things become the big things, right?

The simple things become complex, the easy things become really hard.

And this is Paul's kind of state of being.

And yet nothing is wasted, is it?

God is doing a work in Paul.

He hidden very intentionally is drawing his son on this journey.

And just as he does a work in us in such circumstances, maybe you feel that vividly right now.

I'm reminded of this song, and I'm so encouraged by the song, and I that's why I had to mention it, is the lyrics go, even when I don't see it, what?

You're working.

Even when I don't feel it, you're working.

You never stop.

You never stop working.

And that is God's MO, is not?

Praise the Lord for that.

And so what we see, Paul arriving, he immediately seeks out some fellowship.

It says in Acts 18:1, Paul joins Aquila and his wife Priscilla, and they share the trade of tent making.

Acts 18:1

This is a practical trade that Paul would have learned in his education.

And a skill that really provided, at least in part, for his well-being, his welfare.

But the fact is that this connection is way more than just an occupational advantage for Paul.

Aquila and Priscilla were likely fellow believers from the Church of Rome.

As it says in the passage, they were expelled from Rome along with all the other Jews because of this new faith, this new Christianity that had been started to stir up and cause turmoil, and they wanted it out.

And so Aquila and Priscilla had come to Corinth.

And because of that, I can only imagine the reassurance and the comfort Paul received from this fellowship as they worked their trade.

And the passage continues in verse 4 to say that every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

And so Paul is working, and then on the Sabbath, going to the synagogue.

And we see this mere weekly evangelism really does highlight Paul's timidness at this time.

He says it himself in 1 Corinthians 2 3.

He states, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

This missionary journey had taken its toll, no matter how far the gospel had spread, how many converts he had seen, Paul was on his heels.

And we've Been there before, haven't we?

We've all experienced that.

But when Silas and Timothy arrive, Paul's zeal seems renewed, doesn't it?

He seems refreshed by his brothers and mission.

It says in Acts 18, 5, when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

What a difference in phrasing of what he was doing at the synagogue.

From trying to persuade to preaching and testifying, Jesus was the Messiah.

In other translations, it states that Paul was constrained by the word or compelled by the Spirit.

And this was the Spirit working through Paul, even in his downtrodden state.

In these two instances, we see just of the value, there's the practical value of godly relationships.

And like Paul, we need partners in the kingdom mission too.

You should not be trying to go it alone.

You have your church family, just look around and see those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

It's a wonderful thing.

It's a wonderful thing to listen to you all worship together in one voice.

And so it continues.

In verse 6, it states, But when they opposed Paul, those in the synagogue, and became abusive, he shook off his clothes in protest and said to them, Your blood be on your head, I'm innocent of it.

From now on I will go to the Gentiles.

And other translations like the King James, the New King James Version, it reads, But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments.

Notably, they blasphemed.

Because Paul was willing to bear ridicule, wasn't he?

He was willing to step into the conflict.

But his Lord Jesus Christ could not be slandered, and he could not stand God's name being profaned.

Paul's gesture carried some serious symbolism for these Jews as well.

It was a clear indictment of the Jews who opposed him.

He was recalling Old Testament examples like in Nehemiah and Isaiah.

And even Christ's instruction in Luke 9:5 echoes here.

Luke 9:5

If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.

So Paul left the synagogue, and I can only say it in cheeky Paul manner, sets up shop right next door.

Right?

He goes next door and sets up operations.

And again we see the power of the gospel because verse 8 states Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household respond, believed in the Lord.

And many of the Corinthians who had heard Paul believed and were baptized.

Oh man, Paul's like, he's back in old form, isn't he?

He's raring to go.

And it's interesting to see how God worked through this escalating debate to bring about meaningful change in these people's lives.

Sometimes it needs to be an all or nothing.

But did this victory mean Paul's anxiety and weakness have been resolved?

In Acts 18, we encounter verses 9 and 10.

Considering the previous verses, we might think that Paul did return to his old form.

But God knew his heart.

God knew where his spirit was.

He knew Paul so well.

And through his care he sustained and strengthened him as only God can.

And so let's read verses 9 and 10 together.

It says, And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, this is Jesus speaking to him now.

Do not be afraid.

Right off the bat, Paul, don't be afraid.

But go on speaking and do not be silent, as if to put an exclamation on the speaking part.

For I am with you.

Now you would think that Paul would have this lockdown.

He's locked in.

Yeah, I know that Jesus is with me, but he needed this reassurance.

And further, no one will attack you to harm you.

For I have many in the city who are my people.

I mean, really, we shouldn't be surprised.

God knew Paul was still wrestling with self-doubt and the weight of it all, as McLaren stated.

And God knew exactly the words Paul needed to hear, just as he knows the words that you need to hear.

In fact, God echoed a promise he had made long before Paul even was on this earth.

He was echoing verses like from Isaiah 43, 5, where God reaffirmed his promise to his chosen people.

It says, Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.

And when Jeremiah felt overwhelmed as a young prophet, God spoke to him, saying, Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.

Now you remember Paul's education.

He himself said in Galatians 1:14, he says that he was advanced in Judaism beyond many.

Galatians 1:14

And simply put, Paul knew the scripture.

He knew this reference.

He knew it well enough to recognize God's unbroken thread throughout the Word.

And what was wonderful is God was raising up an Ebenezer inside of Paul to encourage him.

Remember these promises.

Nothing is wasted.

All those years spent studying under Galileo prepared Paul to understand deeply God's unwavering pursuit of a people set apart for him.

From the garden to Jesus and on to eternity.

And don't you know that you are a part of that pursuit?

Man, that's good.

Now consider Christ's words in Matthew 28, 20, because it continues.

He says, And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Like all of us today, Paul needed reassurance that he was not alone.

He did not need to strive by his own power.

No, he did not.

Rather, throughout the ages, God has walked with his faithful and at times even carried them.

And God was caring for Paul in this moment.

Now previously we touched on the value of partners in kingdom missions with Aquila and Priscilla and Timothy and Silas.

Those brothers and sisters laboring alongside us, carrying the load.

Again, God knew what Paul needed to hear.

He says, I have many people in the city.

And in that moment, God was quietly preparing many more people, unbeknownst to Paul, to receive the gospel and believe.

Paul was in fact in the right place at the right time for the right purpose.

Keep on speaking.

Do not be silent.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

So what happens next?

I feel like I need to be cue the movie montage.

And like we see like a you know a collage of children running and couples laughing together, and Paul just mmm.

Yeah.

Because we see in the following verse, verse 11, what does it say?

It says that he stayed a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them.

Man, just a year and six months of just blessed, peaceful growth in the church where Paul could just teach and encourage.

Man, this is amazing.

I mean, this really is kind of like the pinnacle of this the climax of what we've been talking about.

Paul's been going through all this conflict, and we get to this point in this sweet reprise, right?

Of a time of ministry.

And after all, these these verses are, nine and ten, are keystone verses for this lesson.

But like a keystone, there is an arch on either side of it.

And so we've gotten up to here, let's go down the other side.

It benefits for us to consider what follows.

Paul continues.

What follows next, though, is a coordinated attack.

Verse 12 says, The Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.

Man, this was meant to be a checkmate.

They had been stewing for a year and a half, ready to get at Paul, and this was what they were going to do.

They were going to take him before Galio.

And by approaching Galio, the regional ruler, the proconsul, the Jews of Corinth were seeking to halt Paul's ministry, not just in Corinth, but set a precedent and to stop this ministry, stop Christianity throughout the entire province.

But Galio skillfully responded even before Paul could respond in his own defense to the accusations against him.

And by doing so, as one commentary said, Gallio's refusal to act in the manner was really tantamount to the recognition of Christianity as an approved religion.

Now, this was not in fact a formal edict, but what it did was pave the way for the church to continue to grow and to experience a season of peace.

And so we might consider Gallio kind of the good guy here, right?

But what follows suggests that he was less for Paul than just more against the Jews.

Verse 17 says, then the crowd there turned on Sothenes, the synagogue leader, because remember Crispus had accepted Christ, and beat him in front of the pro-council, and Galio showed no concern whatever.

Wow.

I guess the silver lining to this is that Sothenes later on is mentioned as a fellow believer in Christ.

Wow.

So in verse 18 it states, Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time.

I mean, that just flows, doesn't it?

He just stayed on for some time.

There's not conflict and more.

The promise that God had provided in this vision was fulfilled.

There was an attack.

But they didn't hurt him, did they?

No.

Rather, we see a shift.

Whereas Paul came to Corinth downtrodden and beleaguered, he now taught the word of God with assurance and a markedly deeper peace.

And Paul is not forced to leave Corinth, but he departed in confidence, getting to realize the promise, as I said, of the protection Jesus had promised in the vision.

And now so Paul is getting ready to leave.

This season in Corinth is over for this time.

He's drawn back to Antioch, his home church.

But then he took a vow and Sankria, it says.

And this is another one of these moments we're like, wait, what, huh?

But this vow is important to consider because it's almost certainly the voluntary vow of a Nazarite.

And Paul was voluntarily committing for a period of time to dedicate himself at a deeper, more meaningful level to the Lord.

And so some suggest it stemmed from his gratitude for what God had done in Corinth, while others suggest it expressed a deeper dedication to God.

But from Paul's vow, we can celebrate the fact that God's enduring presence in his life was on display.

God knew Paul well and made a way for him as only he can.

And so we close Paul's missionary journey through familiar locations, from Ephesus, where Paul leaves Aquila and Priscilla to continue the work, on to Caesarea, then to Jerusalem, and finally to Antioch.

But there's this little section at the end of chapter 18, and it may seem sort of distinct or set apart, but the truth is what we're seeing is the outfall, the multiplication of this promise from Jesus, and Paul leaning in and growing and becoming a man who was not afraid, who spoke and was not silent, and believed that God was with him.

Because after that he spent another year and a half, almost two years, teaching the Word of God.

And so what do we see coming out of this?

But the multiplying effect of Paul's faithfulness and his trust in our Lord.

Let's read verses 24 through 28.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, and he was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.

Though he knew only the baptism of John, I mean this guy was just geared for it.

Don't you know?

Apollos was he was he was made by God for this.

And so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Acacia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.

For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ was Jesus.

Man, just think about this fact that Paul, downtrodden, enters into Corinth, and he he is still about the mission, but man, his tank is running low.

And the Lord comes to him and encourages him, and he leans in even more.

He is encouraged.

And for almost two years, he grows this church, including Aquila and Priscilla.

And what happens?

This multiplication.

That they then go out and they're in Ephesus, and they see this man who's just raw and ready to serve the Lord.

And they teach him and they grow him.

And Apollos then goes to Corinth and continues the mission, and he too starts to teach and grow the believers.

There is an unbroken thread from those events to today.

We see God working through people to encourage others, to build others up, and we are the wonderful result of that.

And we need to be doing the same.

We need to be going out without fear.

We need to be speaking, not being silent, trusting that God is with us.

Now let's land this plane.

Let's talk about this verse, verses 9 and 10, a little more specifically in application to us.

Do not be afraid.

What does that mean for us?

It means bringing your fear to Christ rather than letting it dictate your agenda.

Do not limit what God can do in you.

It also says, go on and speak and do not be silent.

As believers in Christ, we have assurance for eternity.

But that is not the end goal.

We are to be in relationship with Christ, and an expression of that relationship with Christ is our witness to his glory, his grace, his prominence.

Hallelujah! And so we need to keep bearing witness to the gospel.

And as a side, our faithfulness is not measured on the results.

Don't measure against someone else, but measure on your obedience, your surrender to the Lord.

And it says, For I am with you in the verse, draw courage from Christ's presence.

This really is the linchpin right here.

That Christ is with you.

The Holy Spirit, as a believer, indwells your soul.

You need not fear.

Not from your circumstances or from your strength do you need to draw courage, but from Christ's presence.

And so the next phrase: no one will attack you to harm you.

This was a specific promise for Paul in that place in Corinth.

Later in his life, we will see other attempts on him, attacks, difficulties.

But what we can draw from this is that we are to trust God's sovereignty in our life.

That anything that comes into our life that is difficult is not outside his hand.

He is caring for you even now in the difficulties that you might be experiencing.

And last, I have many in the city who are my people.

Share the gospel with expectancy because God is already at work among people who haven't believed.

The person in your life that you have known forever, and they seem like the hardest heart you've ever encountered, God is preparing them right now.

And the person that you have never met, and you meet maybe in the locker room.

I'm referring to my own example.

Where I ended up praying with a man because he had just lost a job and he was gathering his stuff up for the last day.

You never know, but be expectant that you can speak into someone's life.

And so we're gonna, I'm gonna leave you with this last question.

This last question to consider and to chew on as you think about this passage for this week.

What is your Corinth?

The place where speaking feels costly.

Consider that because God is going to lead you there, but He is going to be with you.

And you need not be afraid.

Let's pray.

Lord God, I am so grateful that it is under your power, through your power, that all things are accomplished.

Lord, that we can rest in you.

We don't have to be afraid.

No, rather we can come with joy.

We can come with expectance.

We can come excited to see how what you're going to do in the lives of others around us.

Not because we are polished or that we are stronger or that we have some special skill, but Lord, you are sovereign over all of your creation.

Hallelujah.

And so, Lord, I pray that those who are at the top of the mountain right now, that they are, they are encouraged to continue and to go, but to go with you.

And for those who are in the valley and the darkest place, Lord, that they would know that you are with them, that your presence is there, that you are comforting and caring for them and preparing for them.

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for today, and we pray this all in your name, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.