Jesus wins. That's not a spoiler, that's the whole point. There's a strange thing that happens when you already know how a story ends, you actually enjoy it more, not less. Studies on this back it up. And that's exactly the confidence running underneath this message. We know how the story ends. Jesus wins. So when the story gets messy along the way, and it gets messy fast in Acts 18, that's not a reason to worry, it's a reason to keep watching closely. Last week Paul got run out of Berea and landed in Athens, a city he never planned to visit. This week he lands in Corinth, wealthy, diverse, morally notorious, the same city that later gets two of the most unflattering letters in the entire New Testament written to it. And in the middle of all that mess, Jesus tells Paul something remarkable in a vision: keep speaking, don't be silent, because "I have many in this city who are my people." This message walks through Acts 18:1-17 and asks what it looks like to be bold in a city that doesn't look ready for the gospel at all. In this sermon: Who Know Him. Why Paul, alone and homeless in a new city, finds exactly the right people waiting for him in Aquila and Priscilla, what it means that Silas and Timothy don't just encourage Paul but materially free him to preach full time, and why "Priscilla and Aquila correct a preacher named Apollos" doesn't make them pastors, it makes them exactly what every church member is called to be. Who Oppose Him. Why rejection in verse 6 and an organized legal attack in verse 12 are two different kinds of opposition, why Paul's response to hostility isn't his first instinct but a later, learned one, and what it means that Jesus promised no one would harm Paul in this city, and then kept that promise in the middle of a courtroom. Who Belong To Him. Why the promise in verse 10 isn't about the people who already believe, but about people who haven't even heard yet, why God's sovereignty over salvation is a reason for more boldness, not less, and why the only way to fail at evangelism is to never do it at all. Also covered: the missionary Adoniram Judson, seven years in Burma without a single convert before revival came, why you cannot fall out of Christ's hand once you belong to him, and a man named Sosthenes who may have gone from organizing a legal case against Paul in this passage to standing beside him as "our brother" by the time 1 Corinthians was written. ABOUT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH HAW RIVER At First Baptist Church, we want to encourage you to know Christ, grow in Christ, and go for Christ. The Church is not a building, but a family of born-again believers who commit to loving one another by gathering together regularly for worship and running alongside one another as we know, grow, and go in Christ. We, at FBC, have been a church who loves and lives out the gospel in downtown Haw River, North Carolina, near Burlington, Graham, and Mebane since 1892. We would love to meet you on a Sunday at 11:00 am at 508 E Main St, Haw River, NC 27258. Website: https://www.fbchawriver.org/ Plan a visit: https://www.fbchawriver.org/plan-a-visit How can I be saved: https://www.fbchawriver.org/good-news Give: https://fbchawriver.churchtrac.com/give Preached by Justin Stevers, Lead Teaching Pastor Series: Looking Back to Look Forward, a study through the book of Acts Scripture: Acts 18:1-17 (ESV)
