The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Acts 18Primary text for the sermon, Paul at Corinth
1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.
2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
3 and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.
4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks.
5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”
7 He departed there, and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;
10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”
11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you;
15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”
16 So he drove them from the judgment seat.
17 Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
18 Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.
19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
20 When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined;
21 but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch.
23 Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
26 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.
27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Quoted to explain Paul's practice of going to the Jew first, then the Greek, and the power of the gospel unto salvation
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
Referenced as containing Paul's list of sufferings including beatings, shipwreck and snakebite
1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.
5 For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
6 But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge?
8 I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
9 When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
16 I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little.
17 That which I speak, I don’t speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
18 Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.
19 For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise.
20 For you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face.
21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
24 Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;
27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily: anxiety for all the assemblies.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.
32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes’ city, desiring to arrest me.
33 Through a window I was let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came out of Acts 18, Paul's time in Corinth, and it carried an extra weight because the congregation was saying goodbye to Pastor Carl, who was leaving after fifteen years to serve a church near Huntsville, Alabama. The passage gave a frame for talking about what it looks like to faithfully carry the gospel into a place, stay as long as God keeps you there, and trust that He has gone ahead of you.
What was said
Paul arrived in Corinth alone, just as he had been alone in Athens, and he found Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers who had been expelled from Rome under Claudius's edict. He moved in with them and went to work, both at the trade and at the synagogue. Pastor Martin pointed out that Paul's approach in Corinth seems more measured than in other cities, reasoning carefully week after week rather than making a direct declaration right away.
When Silas and Timothy finally arrived from Macedonia, something shifted. With backup in place, Paul moved from reasoning to testifying plainly that Jesus was the Christ. That change in tone is what brought the resistance into the open. The congregation heard a close look at what blasphemy actually means in the original language: not just irreverent speech, but a slow refusal to call good what is genuinely good, or to call evil what is genuinely evil. Rejecting the gospel is, in that sense, calling God's gift of Jesus something other than good news.
When the synagogue resisted, Paul shook out his garments and declared his conscience clear. He moved literally next door, to the house of Titius Justus, a Gentile worshiper of God. That proximity became the point: start where you are and work outward from there. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, watched all of this and believed, along with his whole household, and many other Corinthians followed.
God then spoke to Paul in a vision at night, telling him not to be afraid and not to be silent, because many people in that city already belonged to Him. That word, Pastor Martin said, holds for anyone carrying the gospel into a new place: God has gone ahead. Paul stayed in Corinth a year and a half, the longest stop in his missionary travels to that point, teaching the word among them.
The legal confrontation before the proconsul Gallio ended with Gallio dismissing the charges before Paul could even open his mouth. Sosthenes, who had taken over as leader of the synagogue after Crispus believed, was beaten by the crowd outside the judgment seat. The same Sosthenes appears by name at the opening of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, now a brother in Christ. The observation that Gallio was unconcerned about any of these things was held up as a picture of how the world keeps turning while people suffer, and how the body of Christ is called to be different from that indifference.
Running through the whole message was the thread of what it means to do ministry alongside someone over a long stretch of time. Pastor Martin drew a direct line between Paul's ability to devote himself fully to the word once Silas and Timothy arrived, and what it has meant to have Carl present for thirteen years of shared pastoral work. Carl then spoke briefly, naming God's faithfulness in bringing together a new role at Cave Spring Baptist that matches his gifts exactly, and asking the congregation to stay in touch and to keep praying.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor described blasphemy as being slow to call something good that really is good, or calling wrong right and right wrong. Where do you see that kind of thinking show up in conversations you have about the gospel, and how do you respond to it?
Paul took a slower, more patient approach in Corinth before he came right out and declared that Jesus is the Christ. When you share your faith, how do you decide when to reason gradually with someone and when to speak plainly and directly?
Speaker 1Carefully start thirty four seconds early. Actually, it's probably two minutes late anyway. If you would stand with me, we're gonna sing a peppy one to start off. Love lifted me. And Emily, if you would join me, I'd appreciate it.
The jeep is sort of in your way this morning. Okay. Okay. Well, here we go.
Speaker 2I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I. Love lifted me, love lifted me When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Love lifted me.
Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. All my heart to him I give, ever to him I'll cling. In his blessed presence live, ever his praises sing. Love so mighty and so true merits my soul's best songs.
Faithful loving service to to him belongs. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help. Love lifted me.
Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Souls in danger look above. Jesus completely saves.
He will lift you by his love out of the angry waves. He's the master of the sea. Billows his will obey. He, your savior, wants to be be saved today. Love lifted me.
Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
Amen. Amen. Let's go
Speaker 1on to redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it.
Speaker 2Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed, redeemed his child and forever I am.
Redeemed and so happy in Jesus, no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of his presence with me that continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed redeemed his child and forever I am. I think of my blessed redeemer.
I think of him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed. Redeemed.
Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed redeemed his child and forever I am. I know I shall see in his beauty, the king in whose high delight, who lovingly guarded my footsteps and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed, redeemed his child and forever I am.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat and I have a couple, a few announcements. One of them is the beginning of Vacation Bible Schools tomorrow. There's Road Trip. Road Trip is the theme about the church.
You'll see lots of road and garage related items because that's the theme. Road Trip, on the go with God. It starts tomorrow morning at 09:00, nine to twelve. It's for Rise in Pre k through fifth grade, so that's good. There's registration still available if you want to even in the morning and there are a couple people that have even volunteered today.
But road trip is the theme of this year's Vacation Bible School. God is with you wherever you go and Compass is having their gala event on July 10. July 10 at 5PM, this is the women's care. Here. It was formerly known as Turning Point.
This ladies care facility has been going for forty years, forty years now, and they're celebrating their fortieth gala event. You can go to friendsofcompass.org/fortieth if you wanna register to go to that. First b has a table and I announced it this morning, if there are any spaces available, you're welcome to be one of those spaces at the gala. It's it's gonna be a great time. So Carolyn Wozniak and the ladies at Compass Women's Care, we'd love to see you there.
First, b b q Sundays. The first b b q Sundays are out here on the green space. I'm glad it was not today because it was raining this morning and in betweens, but July 13 is our next one, August 3 and September 7 between services. Those are the Sundays we'll also have children's church downstairs in on those Sundays during the 09:00. This is something that is just starting up.
It's Sunday nights at 06:30. It is going tonight, free entry, and if you look up there, it's for 20, college groups, seeking truth in your twenties, live music and food, games, bonfires, authentic discussions, and learning truth about Jesus. That's happening at the McCooey's place. The McCooey's live out kind of behind the airport in that area, and they are welcome. House is open, as many as show show, they're gonna have fun.
Hopefully, the neighbors won't complain too bad. That's just the way it is. So it is seeking truth in your twenties, Sunday nights, and this is something that has started because there is a groundswell of interest. The in the high school right here, right now in Jackson, there has been a move of the spirit and God is growing his church among high schoolers and among college kids, and we've been praying for this a long time. And this is a few of the college kids says, we need somewhere to get together, and Brian and Casey said, it's at our house.
So 06:30 Sunday night, be praying for it if you don't go. That's it. And today. So it already happened between the services. Carl is still down there, I'm sure.
He'll be in here eventually. But Carl is still down there because Carl and Krista are moving today to Huntsville, near Huntsville, Madison, Alabama, and they're headed off. There was chicken and waffles down the hall, and Krista is around here, and Rachel and Addy were in here. Carl and Krista are moving in there right now. Addy's catching up with them later.
But Blake up in the booth and Renzi who used to be up in the booth and I are all driving them down. So we're heading down in the U Haul in one of their vehicles this afternoon right after this service. So I'm not gonna cry because I'm going with him. I'm trying my best to hold it together. I did so in the first service and we'll see how it goes in this one.
Anything else you can go to our website firstbjackson.org is us. I have accidentally gotten on first b jackson Mississippi several times trying to find us, but first b jackson dot org is us. If you find it, you'll see our little picture there. Anybody have anything I've forgotten? Okay.
Good. Would you stand with us? And we're going to sing this. I say this most every time we sing this song. The greatest thing in all my life and there are three verses and it says something different in each one.
This is the trinity of worship songs right here. Really, to know God is to love him and to love him is to serve him. So here we go. The greatest thing.
Speaker 2The greatest thing in all my knowing you. The greatest thing in all my life life is knowing you. I want to know you more. I want to know you more. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you.
The greatest thing in all my life is loving you. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you. I want to love you more. I want to love you more. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you.
The greatest thing in all my life is serving you. The greatest thing in all my life is serving you. I want to serve you more. I want to serve you more. The greatest thing in all my life is serving you.
Speaker 1Amen. And I do say this every time we sing this song. This is holy holy, not to be confused with holy holy holy. Okay? It's a different song.
They're both true.
Speaker 2Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And we lift our hearts before you as a token of our love. Holy, holy, holy, holy. Gracious father, gracious father, we're so blessed to be your children, gracious father. And we lift our heads before you as a token of our love.
Gracious father, gracious father, precious Jesus, precious Jesus. We're so glad that you've redeemed us precious Jesus. And we lift our hands before you as a token of our love. Precious Jesus. Precious Jesus.
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, come and fill our hearts anew, oh Holy Spirit. And we lift our voice before you as a token of our love. Holy Hallelujah. We lift our hearts before you as a token of our love. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward and I don't see any of them back there. We'll see what happens. Oh, that's good.
I told the several visitors today, I said, hey, it's a little different today. It's a little different. We're saying goodbye to Carl and Krista and so it's a little odd, a little different. This is not one of the differences I expected. It was not having an offer in place but here they come.
Lord God almighty, we do lift our hearts before you as a token of our love, lord and we want to say thank you for all that you've given and we want to be doing your will and your way, lord. I ask you to correct us. Make course corrections as we go. As we are walking this path, the good old gospel way, we might we might run off in a ditch to one side or the other lord. Would you correct us?
Would you keep us on the road with you? Would you keep us on the the straight and the narrow path? Lord, would you do your will in your way among us through us this morning, lord, among us. So, we just we're here to praise you. We've been doing it already.
We're here to listen to your word and we're gonna do that lord. But I pray that it would pursue us and that as we go forward in the steps that you have prepared for us, doing your will in your way. Lord, that you would bring increase, that you would bring people into contact with the gospel and hence, contact with the father and the Holy Spirit by the blood of the son. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen.
Amen. Good luck trying not to cry. The song got me, Judy. Here we are. Acts 18.
This is where we're gonna be today. Acts 18 is Paul at Corinth and I'm from Georgia. So, some of y'all say Corinth. I heard a pastor say Corinth a bunch of times this week, but I know it's Corinth, Mississippi, so I'm gonna say it's Corinth wherever this is, alright? It's in Greece, Corinth.
Corinth, the Corinthians, Paul writes two letters to the Corinthians you all know but Acts 18 is his first encounter with him as far as we know and I'm just going start right there. So, here we are. Last week, we saw him in Athens and he was in Athens after having left Berea and you can see on this map right here. You know, coming across Neapolis, Philippi. He was in Thessalonica and then he was at Berea where they were nobler in mind.
It says, and they received the word of God and they studied with him daily and then, it came that the Thessalonians came over to Berea and Paul had to get out of town. So, he scooted down to Athens but he was by himself. Timothy and Silas stayed on behind up in Macedonia and Paul was there by himself and he engaged the philosophers on their turf, the Areopagus, Mars Hill in Athens and when it became evident that he needed to move on in Athens and it does not sound like he spent very long there. He was there, he was presenting Christ and then, he presented to Epicureans and to stoics on Mars Hill and some of them accepted it and some of it rejected it out of hand and some of them said, I'll hear you further on this matter later. That's the way it's going to be every time you present the gospel.
Every time you present either, someone's going be absolutely no or absolutely yes or they're going say, I'll listen to this guy later. I think that what it says is we ought to be winsome. We ought not turn them off just because we can because we can. Pretty easy to be a jerk. Sorry.
It just slipped out. So Paul is here. He left Athens and he went over to Corinth and here is the map here and I've kind of covered it up with the star but from Athens over to Corinth, he probably it says he went down by the sea so he probably went by boat and Corinth as a town was very very wealthy. Y'all know any place like that? Very wealthy.
They had an obsession with sports. Some of the Olympic games were held at Corinth. They had an obsession with nice things and they had wherewithal to dig a trench across this isthmus and it was kind of like the Panama Canal. So it's covered up by my star but they dug a trench across the landmass so that they could connect the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea and then they taxed everything that went through their straight. Very very financially sound place.
So, it's different than Athens. Athens was all about philosophy. They did nothing more than sit and listen to new things and Corinth is all about the money. When we get to Corinthians, I'll go into greater detail but that's kind of gives you a sense of where they were and who they were. After these events, Paul left Athens.
He went to Corinth and there he found a Jew, one of his countrymen, one of his fellow guys named Aquila. Aquila was a native of Pontus. I left out the map on Pontus. I'll get it for you some other time. Having recently come over from Italy with his wife, Priscilla.
So this is our first introduction to Aquila and Priscilla in the book of Acts. Now, will see them quite a bit and usually when we see them, Priscilla's name is first because she knew her stuff. She really really knew her stuff. Some people think she wrote the book of Hebrews. I actually think she might have.
She knew her stuff and it says that later on when when we talk about Apollos in first Corinthians, you know, there are factions that were rising and it says that Aquila and Priscilla or Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos the way of God more accurately. So they really knew their stuff, they're paying attention. Having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. This is historical fact, you can look it up in extra biblical sources and see that Claudius had an edict to get the Jews out of Rome. They were causing trouble and they don't, you know, the Roman Empire, they don't like trouble.
So they keep it down and they keep it down by edict or by persecution we call it sometimes, but Claudius saw the Jews as being problematic. Now, this was still in a time where Christianity was just seen as followers of the way within Judaism. So, it's very likely that the rub that was causing the commotion that caused Claudius to get them all kicked out was because the hardline traditionalist Jews that insisted on their old interpretation did not like the new interpretation of Christ being the Messiah, that he was not a military victor, that he was not a political guy, that he was actually the suffering servant himself. And so that's that's likely that that was the rub and Claudia says, get out of here. We don't need this in Rome and so they were sent out a diaspora.
Now, he, that is Paul. He came to them the Corinthians, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them. He stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, and they worked together for they were all tent makers by trade. This is the first time we hear of Paul's trade in Acts. Now, we see him doing this and we hear him mentioning it in the epistles but this is the first time that we've gotten a clue as to what Saul or Paul did for a living.
We know that he was a theology major. We know that. We know that he dug in at the feet of Gamaliel. We know he studied other stuff but what did he do with his hands? He made tents.
So, he's a builder and Paul as was his custom, he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. If you go back in the book of Acts and you see what his custom is, he goes places and if there is a synagogue, he goes to the synagogue first, the Jew first, and then also for anyone else. Well, he starts in the synagogues and in a lot of places, he encounters resistance in the synagogue after a week or two. One of them he goes in and they said, oh, wow. Will you come back next Sabbath and tell us this again?
And by next Sabbath, every everybody on the rolls is there for the vote. Right? And they run him out of town and that happens pretty normally. Well, in Corinth, it says, he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and because of the way that the text is phrased here, it's not exactly the same as and every Sabbath he was presenting Jesus. It it gets to that but right now, Paul is alone.
He's alone in Corinth after having been alone in Athens and we know that there were at least four converts maybe maybe a few more But Paul was reasoning synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. I think that he was taking a slower strategy in Corinth. I think I can show that in the text in the next paragraph. He was taking a course where he said, now, think about this. These suffering servant passages that you've always seen as just being about Israel.
Could it be? Could it be that this is about Messiah? He's presented this in other places and when he gets to that, that's usually where they run him off. So I think he's he's making a framework. He's making a groundwork.
He's tilling the ground as it were. Paul was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath. He's trying to persuade Jews and Greeks but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. When Paul left on the first missionary journey, he had Barnabas by his side and John Mark. John Mark went back to Jerusalem.
In the second missionary journey, there's a little bit of scuffle beforehand and he takes with him Silas and along the way, he picks up Timothy. So, there's this band of guys that is growing a bit but there's running buddies. Luke joins the mass there. Paul, Silas, Timothy, but then he's alone in Athens. He's alone in Corinth.
When they arrived coming down from Macedonia up in Berea down to Corinth and they got there. It says, Paul then began devoting himself completely to the word. He was testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Now, before that, I'm sure he had been reasoning with him. He'd been thinking through it and saying, consider this, I know what you think, but have you thought it might be this way?
And now, that he's got some backup, he's able to say, it's Jesus. This is what I've been talking about. It's not only that it's prophesied that it would be this way, it has been this way and y'all are just getting news of it now, but this is the way. Jesus is the way. If I can step away from the text for just a second, this leads me to a point.
To be here as the pastor here, and this is my primary occupation when I first got here. It's my only when I first got here, Adam used to try to get me to drive a school bus. Every week, he'd come in and say, you need to be driving a school bus. I know you need school bus drivers, but I can't do that. I'm barely surviving doing what I'm doing.
To have Carl to be here this whole time Oh, here he comes. I was going to say something nice about him. To have Carl with me the whole time, he has allowed for me to really devote myself not just to the word but to the word and God's people. When on my application for coming here, they sent me an application, 19 pages long. Sent me an application to answer all these questions.
It's 19. Forgive me, Dave. Was 19 by the time I finished it. Right? I added a lot to the application.
They asked what are two passions and I said, God's word and God's people. And I thought I thought God's word was gonna be the hard part of that equation. I really did. I thought standing up in front of people and presenting the word would be the hardest thing that I did, but we have walked through so much hard stuff. We've walked through so much people stuff.
I did two funerals and a wedding yesterday and got a call in the middle of the night from the hospital. It's relentless and it has been so good to be able to devote myself to God's word and to his people because I've had help. And we're going have help. I'm not saying there will be a successor. There'll be somebody comes along.
I know but this is cool that Paul was reasoning with him in kind of a slower fashion than he had been doing and then when Silas and Timothy get there, then he is able to just scour God's word and really present it for what it actually says about Jesus, Old Testament stuff. Now, of course, this is what happens when you present the gospel. There are going to be some that resist and there are going to be some that accept it, some that reject it, and some will hear you further later. These folks resisted it and it says they blasphemed. So, blasphemy is an interesting word.
If we say blasphemy these days, it could be anything. I know a guy that put a big block, a hemi. He put a hemi in a Chevrolet and Chevrolet guy goes, that's blasphemy. He actually named this thing blasphemy because of that, you know. Blasphemy is let me just define it, blasphemy.
Blasphemy is this, abusive or scurrilous language and I guess I have to just say what scurrilous is. Scurrilous is making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation. A scurrilous attack on his integrity is kind of blasphemy, but in this case, it's blasphemy because it's directed at God. We tend to think if we're theologically minded, we think of blasphemy as directed at God, but I want you to hear what the word means. It means literally, it means to be slow or sluggish to call something good that really is good or to be slow to identify what is truly bad as that which is really evil.
Do you get that? It's saying wrong is right and right is wrong. That's blasphemy. So, when Paul is presenting the gospel from the Old Testament and he's saying all of these proofs and all of these prophecies go right along with saying that this guy is the Messiah crucified, buried, resurrected, and seated at the right hand of the father. God is good.
He gave us Jesus as a sack as the sacrifice once and for all. To say that that's not true, I wanna stick with the law. I'm gonna take my chances with doing doing the right thing. They're saying that the gospel is not good news. They're saying the gospel is not good news.
That's blasphemy. So, blasphemy literally switches right for wrong or wrong for right and it calls that which God disapproves right. In fact, in Romans one twenty five, you'll see it. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. That's blasphemy.
Are we with? Are we together? So that's what happened when Paul has been reasoning with him, it says for weeks and then he gets to the point of saying, it really is about Jesus and they resisted and they blasphemed and then, most of the time when it says they there was resistance or they took umbrage to what it was he was saying, then it says, and they seized Paul and they beat him, you know, or but the next thing that this says here is in Corinth, he had taken more time than anywhere else so far. And when they resisted in blasphemed, he shook out his garments, dusted off his feet. Alright.
I'm done trying with y'all. Your blood is on your own heads. I'm clean. I'm innocent of your blood because I've been sharing with you the scripture and I've been sitting it in your lap. What are you gonna do with Jesus?
And you have said, I'm gonna reject him. I've done my job. I've I've I've clearly clearly given the message as best I can. I'm clean in this matter. From now on, I'm going to the Gentiles.
Now, the progress from he starts in the synagogue and then he goes to the Gentiles happens multiple times. The next town he goes to, he's going start in the synagogue because that's his custom. That's the way he does. These people ought to know. Romans one.
Romans one comes up a lot. Romans one says, I'm not ashamed of the good news of Jesus. For it is the very power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first because they had the Old Testament, they had the patriarchs, they had the history, and they should have known for the Jew first chronologically and also to the Greek for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith as it is written, the righteous one will live by faith. So Paul leaves the synagogue, the assembly point, probably a building and it's it is a building in this case, certainly.
Then he left the synagogue and he went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. Does Titius Justice sound Jewish? No. That's a Roman name. He's a worshiper of God whose house just happened to be next door to the synagogue.
So he probably heard the songs. He knows some of the folks. He comes to worship God just from proximity living next to the synagogue. But Paul went with this good principle, start where you are. Start where you are.
And I can say that for y'all. I can say it for me. Start where you are. When a long time ago, when I was working just regular jobby jobs, working on a sawmill or working in sawmills and factories teaching safety lessons and feeling like these guys need Bibles. I started handing out Bibles.
This is my job. I didn't have to it wasn't my job to hand out Bibles, but God help me with the Spanish and I'll give it back however can. I started handing out Bibles. I end up living in Mexico. Just couple years later and I ended up here because of going there.
Start where you are and go outward from there. Work your way outward from there. I had a boss in that actually a long long time ago. I told the story in the first service that he always said, don't step over business to get to business. I'm a terrible salesman, absolutely terrible, and I've proved it every time I've tried it.
I work for a screen printing company. I'm good at screen printing. I'm really good with process, but he stopped doing screen printing and started doing specially advertising and didn't want to fire me. So he said, you just need to be selling these little trinkets with, you know, company names on them and stuff. And I thought, oh my goodness.
So I made concentric circles. Don't step over business to get the business right. I made one sale and it was for refrigerator magnet for a pizza place, and when they came in, they had the wrong number on them. They didn't even work. Sales.
That's the only sale I had made. And frustrated, I went to Mobile. Mobile is five hours from where I'm from. I was stepping over a lot of business to get to business. But I went to Mobile and I got 200 pins with the name of this organization on it.
Well, I was actually came back and I said, hey, I got an order. And he goes, Saraland, Alabama. Why Saraland, Alabama? I said, this is my two week notice. I went down on a job interview.
I ended up selling 200p. So don't step over business to get to business. That's just a concept. He started literally next door to the synagogue with a Gentile guy who was already a worshipper of God, already ahead of most of the people around him. And then the very next sentence says, now Crispus Crispus was the leader of the synagogue.
So in the synagogue, he had my role. He's the leader of the synagogue and it says he believed in the Lord. So Paul had been reasoning with him and Paul had been presenting it, and he hit resistance, and they cast him or he he said, alright, I'm going. I'm out. And when he said, I'm out, the next thing that happens is the leader of the synagogue says, you know what?
I've been studying this stuff. It's my job to love God and love his people. And I've been studying this stuff and I think Paul's right. And so he believed. What happens when the maybe I shouldn't ask this.
What happens when the lead pastor and the congregation don't agree? Usually, they get rid of the lead pastor. That's the normal thing. At least half the people leave. You know, that's that's the way that generally goes in the church split but Crispus, the leader of the synagogue believed, they believed in the Lord together with his entire household.
So, now, things are growing in Corinth. There is Titius Justice is in, Crispus is in. We see in first Corinthians a shout out. I'm thankful there are factions that have developed in Corinth and Paul says, I'm thankful that I baptized none of y'all except for Crispus and maybe Gaius, you know. And many of the Corinthians, as they listened to Paul, they were believing and they were being baptized.
He was faithful to be walking out the walk. He was faithful to be proclaiming. It says what it says. Jesus is the way and so they're believing and they're being baptized and the Lord said to Paul by vision at night. Now, the last time we saw Paul give vision at night, it was when he was in Troas and they did not know where to go next.
They had been hindered of the Lord to go into Asia and hindered of the Lord to go into Bithynia and they're sitting on the coast at Troas and they're gonna sleep on it. And Paul sees a vision of a Macedonian man calling out, come help us. We need your help and so they took that to be, we're going. They got up the next morning by way of Samothrace, they made their way up to Neapolis into Macedonia, and the first converts were two women and a a Gentile. A woman, a slave, and a Gentile.
Now, this vision at night, the Lord says to Paul by vision, don't be afraid. Now, don't be afraid any longer. Any longer is in italics there. If you read italics in the New American Standard Version of the Bible, it's been editing in English to make it flow but it's not there in the Greek. Okay?
It's just any longer. Don't be afraid any longer. That's kind of the same as saying don't be afraid. God knows he's afraid. Don't be afraid, Paul.
Keep on speaking and do not be silent. Don't be silent. This place needs to hear what you have to say and I can say, hey, those of you who carry the evangel, the gospel in your heart, let it permeate and let your life live it out and then when the opportunity arises to defend the hope that is in you, do not be silent and do not be afraid. For I'm with you, God says, and no one will attack you to harm you. He says this to Paul.
Okay? He says this to Paul. It's a specific vision for him. He said to Paul by a vision at night, don't be afraid. Don't be silent, I'm with you, nobody's gonna harm you here for I have many people in this city.
Isn't that encouraging? To know that when we receive a call to go wherever it is that God is calling us, that he already has gone ahead of us. I mean, Carl's going to Madison, Alabama and God's gone ahead of him. He's prepared the way, he's made the way clear to him and he's given the power to carry it out. I have many people in this city and he settled there for a year and six months.
Now, this is the longest we've seen since Saul has started his missionary journeys. This is the longest that we've seen him anywhere. When he was converted on the road to Damascus and when he went to study in Arabia and when he went different places, he may have stayed longer, but he stayed here. Usually, he was run out of town in the first few weeks and he was there for a year and six months and he was teaching the word of God among them. There are seasons in our lives and there are times when we're called to a specific place for a specific amount of time and do all the steps that God has for us there and I'm grateful that Carl's been walking this path together for a long time, together.
He's been here fifteen years next week, fifteen years. Yep. And I've been here thirteen. I got here just before him as an intern. Never thought I'd see him again and he's become my best friend.
But while Galileo was proconsul, I'd get back to the scripture. While Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, you can look it up. Galileo was indeed proconsul of Achaia. The Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the judgement seat. Now, God said, don't be afraid and don't be silent.
You're not going to be harmed. I've got many people in this city and Paul, I imagine is struggling with fear but he's getting through it and he's not going to be silent and here is his chance. God has told him through Jesus that it would be his job to go to the Gentiles and here he is. That's a Gentile guy, Galio, proconsul of Achaia. He's standing up in Corinth, majority Gentile place.
The Jews rose up together against Paul, they brought him before the judgment seat, the Bema, and they were saying, this man is inciting the people to worship God contrary to the law. Now, this is a Jewish crowd before a Roman council, pro council. And so, often in the book of Acts, Christianity is acquitted before the government. This is not a danger for the government. This kingdom is not of this world.
This man is inciting the people to worship God contrary to the law. This guy is a problem for us. We want you to deal with it, but when Paul was just about to open his mouth because he was not gonna be silent, Galileo himself said to the Jews, if it were a matter of some crime or some vicious, unscrupulous act, oh Jews, you've already been kicked out of Rome. Don't be causing me trouble too. It'd be reasonable for me to just be putting up with y'all.
But if there are questions and there's teaching about persons or your own law, see to it yourselves. I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters. Court dismissed And he drove them away from the judgment seat. Y'all get out of here. I don't want anyone here.
Y'all deal with it yourself. It's okay. He hadn't done anything wrong. That's obvious. I'm not even gonna listen to this nonsense.
You think he might have been one of God's people in that city? I think he might have been. We don't know that from scripture but it sounds like he's like, oh, come on. But the crowd, the mob, they did take hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue. Wait just a second.
Wasn't Crispus the leader of the synagogue? Well, he was until he believed. And then they took hold of Sosthenes, who was the leader of the synagogue. Second command takes over for the first. And doggone it if they he didn't believe too.
There's something about this job or there's something about ministry and y'all are all ministers. Don't get me wrong. I know that. There's something about when you take seriously the role that God has for you in life and you humble yourself before him that you get to see some crazy stuff. You get to see him move in some pretty miraculous ways, and you get to see some pretty hard things too.
When they all took hold of Sosannes, leader of the synagogue and began beating him in front of the judgment seat because that's what happened. Paul had the promise that he wouldn't be harmed, but it was just in Corinth. He was beaten multiple times. He was run out of town multiple times, lowered down over a wall once, bitten by snakes, shipwrecked, all that stuff in the end of second Corinthians and 11. We see what his list was.
But Sosthenes believed in Jesus and they resisted him and they blasphemed the gospel again and they beat him in front of the judgment seat. There it is. Now, I I wanna call out that Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and our brother Sostenes, same guy in first Corinthians. He's saying, y'all know this guy. He's been through a rough time for the gospel and I'm writing and called to be an apostle sent out one by Jesus by the will of God and our brother Sostanes is in there too.
I'm writing back to y'all at his request. He's the leader of the synagogue and then he becomes a leader in the church when he's cast out of the synagogue. So they began beating him in front of the judgment seat. Now, Christmas the leader of the synagogue, that happens too. Those those two and their households come to Jesus.
Wow. Then the whole synagogue is kind of left without a leader. They probably just pick somebody else. They'd say what they wanted to hear. And yet Galileo, the proconsul of Achaia, Galileo was not concerned about any of these things.
I I want to say something. When one of the hardest things, we've walked through a lot together. Carl and I and y'all as a congregation. I'm not saying it's just us but we all have walked through a lot of hard stuff in the last fifteen years, last thirteen years. A lot of death in the last ten years, a lot of really hard cases and tragedies, and walking through y'all do so well.
Y'all, first service, second service, this church together do so well with helping out widows and orphans in their time of distress, and we've had some very very extreme examples of very painful situation. And this last sentence hit me as a yet Galileo was not concerned about any of these things. One of the things that widows often say after the passing of their loved one, even in tragic circumstances, they say, the world just keeps on going. They're completely unconcerned. Nobody cares, but the body of Christ cares.
Right? Paul was concerned. I'm sure Paul was concerned about Sosnay. He loves him and continues a relationship with him, but there's so much hard stuff and yet the world just keeps right on turning and that's really really hard. Like I said, when God's word and God's people, I thought that the people, I'm a people person.
I love people. I'm a super extrovert. I love all of y'all. It's going be easy but I never did imagine a lot of the situations that we're gonna be in together. God's word just says, either they're gonna accept it or they're gonna reject it or they'll hear more from you later.
Be as winsome as you can and there are gonna be some things where there's just no easy way to say it. Be as winsome as you can when you carry forward the gospel. Live it in your life, use it in your words and when the world keeps on turning and they don't listen and they don't pay attention, God is gaining ground. The vast and unchronicled witness is the way the gospel goes forward. Right?
Now, we got three minutes with Carl. That's what he asked for. That's what he asked for. And I said, do you want it three minutes or do you want a missionary three minutes? Because missionary three minutes can go a while.
He said, three minutes ought to do it. So here he is.
Speaker 3That's right. And and I I do wanna keep it brief. Otherwise, I'll just be a puddle on the floor. But first, be it has been an absolute joy and a pleasure to be one of your pastor pastors these last fifteen years. And God is gracious and loving and faithful and kind.
And first b, you are a reflection of that. And I wanna thank you. I couldn't ask for a better congregation, for a better staff to be a part of, for a better lead pastor and friend all these years, a talented and faithful worship team. And, there's really no good reason to leave. There there is really no good reason to leave at all other than God's divine hand leading us there.
And there was no doubt about it, when the the time came, that this is where we're supposed to go. We have, peace about it. And and in God's wisdom and his sovereignty, he's we get to be near our family. For Christa, she gets to continue to be an elementary school teacher, which she's just wonderful at for our kids as they grow into adulthood. And even for me, I get to continue doing what I do here.
I get to do it there at a little church called Cave Spring Baptist, who happens to need another pastor and a worship leader and someone to launch a children's program called Awana. Wow. How about that? And there is no way that I could have orchestrated these things. None of mine.
If if it were me, I could have messed it up royally. And yet, God brought all these pieces together and put them just so in his way and his timing, and it's absolutely astounded me. But I will say this. I leave with absolute confidence and certainty. God who began a good work will finish it to completion.
There is no doubt about it. And wherever we have seen the gaps at first b, God has graciously brought brought in just the right people at the right time. And he is doing that, and he will continue to do that. And so I wanna encourage you in that way. And please, don't be a stranger if you're passing through, and I mean it with all my heart.
If you're passing through Huntsville, Alabama, it would make my heart so happy to see you there or to worship at this this church that I'll I'll be at. Or if on a return visit, that I get to see you, or a text or a phone call just to say hello, and I'm thinking of you. We have seen a lot of folks come and go here in in in Jackson, haven't we? It's a very transient place. But I'll tell you something that I absolutely love about first b.
When we see folks come back, it's always a joyful reunion. There's no weirdness there, and we just pick up where we leave off. And so first be, can I be one of those people for you? Can we just pick up where we left where we left off? As Martin Murphy often says, here, there, in the air, we will see one another again.
And please keep us in prayer as we go. Really, there's there's work to be done. We will hit the ground running, and and and I will also pray for you as I think of you, which will be very, very often. I love you first b. Thank you.
Speaker 1I have one more song, and actually, where he leads me, I will follow even if that be rural Alabama.
Speaker 2I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. Take thy cross and follow. Follow me.
Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him all the way. I'll go with him through the judgment.
I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him, with him all the way. Where I'll go with him, with him all the way. He will give me grace and glory.
He will give me grace and glory. He will give me grace and glory. Me, Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him all the way.
Speaker 1Amen. And now, may the Lord bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace and I pray that you would be a carrier of the peace of God that's available in Jesus. I pray that you would spread that peace in the world that is at war. Lord God almighty, I I would be remiss if I did not mention all of the other very difficult things that are going on in the world. We don't wanna be like Galileo when we do not notice that the world is at war, that we are at war, and lord that the family of Flo McCall has lost and this as a community that we have lost a beautiful person, a beautiful soul.
I pray for Tanner, for Annabelle, I pray for the family, I pray for the friends, I pray for the community. Lord God Almighty, you know, you know, and we don't. We are so limited, Lord. We don't know. So, may we just trust you and may we have the peace that passes all understanding in the midst of difficult circumstances and will you show us exactly which steps in all of these different difficulties lord would you show us if it is ours to be walking out be in the hands and feet of Jesus.
Would you allow us lord to love, justice, love, mercy, walk humbly with the our lord. Would you allow us the grace to be able to do that? In Jesus name, lord, I pray a blessing on all assembled here and every family they represent. Would you go with us and give us peace? Amen.
