Okay. I'm just glad to see all of you here, and that's all we need to move on. For those of you that are here, if you want to take an opportunity to apply to our class, to prepare yourselves for worship, for people who need it, and prepare yourselves for worship, just come on in. If you haven't already, just come on in. We need to prepare ourselves for worship. There's a slide on the front of you, and we're going to get it for you. If you look at the front of you, you'll see on page 1 of the house of law, page 26, Romans chapter 11 verses 33 through 36. We are here to worship the living God. We're here to remember his greatness, his kindness, and his power. We're here to worship with one another in the body of Christ through the power of the Spirit. And so this morning, join me as I read Romans 11, 33 to 36. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, amen. Pray with me. God, this morning we want to see the depth of the riches of your wisdom and knowledge this morning. We want to be in awe of your judgments and your ways. God, you are our counselor. You have revealed yourself to us through your word. God, this morning, teach us who you are. For from you, through you, and to you are all things. We give you the glory. Do your name. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me as we worship this morning? What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus For my life is wholly bound to His Oh how strange and divine, I can't sing, all is mine Yet not I, but through Christ in me The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side the Savior, He will stay. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need His power is displayed. To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me Through the deepest valley He will lead Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome Yet not I, but through Christ in me No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven The future sure, the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea Oh, the chains are released, I can sing, I am free And not I, but through Christ in me With every breath I long to follow Jesus For He has said that He will bring me home And day by day I know He will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne To this I hold my hope is only Jesus All the glory evermore to Him When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. To this I hold. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. All the glory evermore to Him. When the race is complete, still my lips Yet not I, but through Christ in me When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat Yet not I, but through Christ in me Yet not I, but through Christ in me Yet not I, but through Christ in me. I will trust my Savior Jesus when my darkest doubts befall. Trust Him when to simply trust Him seems the hardest thing of all. I will trust my Savior Jesus Trust Him when my strength is small For I know the path He's judged us Is the safest place of all Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust you more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever yours. I will trust my Savior Jesus. He has set his way his best. And I know the path He's chosen leads to everlasting rest. Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust You more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever Yours. Oh, on that cross, how it was seen. I can go now ever trusting in the One who died for me. What can I bring? For Your gift is complete. So I trust you, simply trust you, Lord, with every part of me on that cross. Oh, on that cross, how it was seen. I can go now ever trusting in the one who died for me. What can I bring? For your gift is complete. So I trust you, simply trust you, Lord, with every part of me. On the cross. Oh, on the cross. I can go now ever trusting in the one who died for me. Oh, what can I bring? For your gift is complete. So I trust you, simply trust you, Lord, with every part of me. Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust you more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever yours. Sing that again, Jesus. Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust you more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever yours. Amen. You may be seated. Well, we've come to our prayer time. And sometimes we have specific requests that we want to let you know of. This morning is one of those mornings. We have something specific we want you as a church family to be praying about. And there's going to be an email that goes out a little bit later on this afternoon, because not everybody that's in our family is here this morning. And so there's going to be an email going out a little bit this afternoon. It's hard when we have people that we love that are going to be leaving us. And so very simply, I want to let you know that Scott has informed the elders. that he is going to be moving on in ministry. And I'm going to read for you very simply the content of the email. It'll give you some of the points and some of the facts. It'll just be easier if I read this. It says, Dear Church Family, we, the elders, are sending this email out to the entire church family in case you missed the announcement during the worship service today, which is right now. Scott Dolan announced to the elders on May 21st that he has decided to end his employment with us as the worship youth director. He has been in prayer for several months wrestling with what God would have for him. He has come to the conclusion that vocational ministry is not what God has for him currently. He is willing to stay on as the current worship youth director until August 11th. Please join the elders in praying for God's provision while we process what we should do in the future to address the needs in these areas of ministry. Scott has been a faithful servant in these areas, and we are grateful to God for the way he has used Scott in ministry here at SRBC. So that email is going to be going out a little bit later. We are going to miss Scott. Scott has been a faithful servant. He has filled a gap, a very important gap in youth ministry and worship ministry. And so we wish him the best. We need to be praying for Scott as he moves on. And we need to be praying as a church that God would provide. And so we wanted to let you know that so that you can be in prayer with us. And I'm going to have Chris come up. Chris is going to lead us. in prayer for Scott and for our church and for other needs as well, I'm sure, and then he's going to bring us the Word. Thank you, Mike. Well, one thing about life and not only personal life, but certainly church life, is there's just a continuous chain of transition, a continuous chain of changes. But isn't it good to know this morning that our God does not change? The author of Hebrews gives us these comforting words. He said, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And as I come to prayer this morning, I'd like to just read to you just a few verses from Psalm 115. And this is what the psalmist writes. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your loving kindness and because of your truth. Why should the nations say, where now is their God? Or maybe a local church could say that. Where is God? Because now there's change, there's transition. He answers the question. But our God is in the heavens. And he does whatever he pleases. And that's not to suggest that God does things that are displeasing. It's to suggest that our God is sovereign. And he oversees all of the affairs of not just Santa Rosa Bible Church, or Scott's life, or our lives, but he oversees the affairs of the universe. That's the one that we're linked to as his children. That's the one we look to for comfort, for encouragement, for wisdom, for direction. The author James, which was the Lord's brother, He said, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally, meaning more than what we need, maybe even more than what we're asking for. He'll go even beyond. to make sure that we have everything we need to know, to know what the next steps are. So I'd like to lead us before the Lord, asking Lord to direct us as a church, direct the elders as they provide leadership for us, and then of course for Scott, that the Lord would direct and guide him. Scott will be with us for a little while. He'll be with us until August the 11th. And so we'll have a big shindig and a big send-off. That's kind of an old-fashioned word, isn't it? Shindig. That was a rock and roll TV show when I was a teenager. There's about three of us who remember that. So let me pray for us, because we know God has something really good for Scott, and he has something very good for us, because our God is a good God. Let me pray. Father, we thank you for these words from the psalmist. who reminds us that you are always in heaven, on your throne, completely in control. And that control impacts not just our personal lives, not just our church life, but the entire universe. So what a comfort it is to be your children and to be able to come together and bring these concerns to you, that God, the sovereign one, the infinitely wise one, the one who's always in control. And it's hard, Lord, for all of us. It's hard for us in our personal lives. It's hard for us even in a church because we always want to know what's next. And you will in due time show Scott what's next, and that is our prayer, that you will guide him very clearly, very specifically to where that place is that you want him to serve. And Lord, most importantly of all, we just pray that Scott will lean on you, he will look to you, and even all of this becomes a part of how you continue to mold him and make him into a man of God, into a Christ-like follower of Jesus. And then, Lord, we pray for us as a local church. We remember our elders as they begin to prayerfully go through a process of addressing these needs on an interim basis and on a long-term basis and what that will look like. And like James invited us to do in James 1, we come and we ask for that wisdom for Scott, and we ask for that wisdom for us as a local church. We pray, Father, that these next couple of months would be sweet and precious with Scott. And we're so grateful that you brought him to us. Thank you for the talents you've blessed him with. Thank you for the care he's given our young people. Thank you for the leadership and direction he's given to our worship ministries. And Lord, it is so encouraging to know that as your people we can come into the very throne room of heaven where you are seated and you've invited us there. And we can lay these at your feet with absolute confidence that you're going to execute your will. And your will is always good, and it is always perfect, and it is always acceptable. So grant us grace, Lord, as individuals, as a church, grace to Scott, so that we can move forward confidently knowing We don't do it alone. And we pray now, Lord, as we come to the Word of God, that you'd speak to us. We pray that you would give to each one of us what we need to hear today. May the Spirit of God take this, your Word, and uniquely apply it to each one of us. And help me, Lord, to kind of get out of the way and not mess it up. And we pray this in Jesus's wonderful, wonderful name. Amen. So we're in Acts chapter 18. Starting a new chapter in this study of Acts. We're beginning to look at some light at the end of the tunnel. And so we continue our march through Acts. And so in your Bibles, Acts 18, we're gonna be looking at verses one through 21. Well, this month is kind of momentous for me because 50, this is hard for me to admit and realize, but 50 years ago today, I moved to California. And I've lived here for a very long time, although my kids are quick to remind me I am not a native. They all are, they were all born here, but I was not. I'm a Minnesota. All right, there's two of us here in church, all right. Through the years, my out-of-state Christian friends have always asked me an interesting question. And the question is, why do I stay in California? I mean, given its reputation for everything sensual and wicked and evil. And I usually answer for two reasons. Number one, I love sinners. And there's a lot of sinners in California, including this one. But I also answer it kind of curiously. I say, well, if Corinth was good enough for Paul, California is good enough for me. I mean, I love this picture of Paul in the book of Acts, and we see him once again. He runs to the front lines of evil and immorality for the purpose of establishing a church, a gospel outpost, a dispenser of good news. I love it. He runs to it. He had a passion for lost people of his day. And he knew there would be contrasted responses to his preaching and his teaching. Some would oppose it. We're going to see that in our text. And some would welcome it. And we're going to see that in our text. We see these truths played out in this Acts 18 passage. The truth that I want you to walk away with this morning is a pretty simple one, and it's this. Faithful sharing of the gospel generates two responses. Faithful sharing of the gospel generates two responses. Resistance to it and reception of it. You will get both responses. And what we're going to notice in our text this morning are a couple of activities that Paul engaged in in relationship to Corinth. First of all, we see him persevering in Corinth. He had some headwinds he had to come up against. And then we're going to see that he spent time there, but then it was time for him to move on, which is interesting that our text brings us to that place this morning. Now, contextually, let me just remind you where we've been previously. In Philippi, Paul preached Christ as the personal savior of sinners. In Thessalonica, he preached Christ as the suffering risen savior. In Athens last week, we saw Paul preach Christ as the coming judge of sinners. So the heart of Paul's teaching was always the same. It was a person. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the heart of his preaching. And in Corinth, he continues this theme as he preaches Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One. He is the chosen Savior and Sovereign of the nation of Israel. So let's look at our first point here in the first 17 verses, Paul's persevering in Corinth. The first thing I want you to take note of, he gets some new friends in ministry. Verse one says, after these things, he left Athens and he went to Corinth. So after a relatively sparse response to the gospel, in the philosophical capital of the world at that time, city of Athens in Greece, Paul heads southwest about 50 miles to a much larger city and a infamous city in terms of morality. The city's name is Corinth. It was the capital city of the Roman province of Achaia. And it was the largest city in Greece at that time, 200,000 plus citizens. That's 20 times the size of Athens. This is a big city. This is Los Angeles. This is San Francisco. This is Chicago. It was strategically located, interesting enough, on a little isthmus, a little land bridge that connected two important seaports. One led to the Aegean Sea to the east. It was called Synchraia. And the other one led to the Adriatic Sea to the west. It was called Lycaon. And they were only about three and a half miles apart. What that meant is Corinth was a very bustling commercial center. The city had a very notorious and moral reputation. due to two, immoral, I should say, immoral reputation, due to a couple of reasons. First of all, the multitude of transients, like sailors, because the two port cities, businessmen, because it was a commercial center. And there was one other reason. It was a notoriously wicked city. Just outside of town, there was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. It was 1,900 feet tall and on a mesa 1,900 feet above, and it was just outside the city gates. Her worshipers promoted gross immorality as a part of their religious experiences. As a matter of fact, there were 1,000 temple prostitutes who every night would come down into Corinth and they would practice their trade. The moral climate was so wicked, it was so evil, it was so immoral, that a word was coined in Corinth's early history to describe sexually immoral people. They would say, that person is Corinthianized. And everybody knew what that meant. To act like a Corinthian was used of fornicating. Corinthian girls was the description given to prostitutes. So it must have been a pretty scary proposition for Paul to come to that city in light of its size, in light of its immoral reputation, and to top it off, he's coming by himself once again. He's alone. Look at verses two and three. Here we encounter some new friends. He found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. She's also known in the New Testament by Prisca. And why did they come? Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, that is Paul came to them, Aquila and Priscilla, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working. for by trade they were tent makers. So providentially, I don't know how this happened, providentially Paul found some fellow Jews in that large city, happened to be a married couple, Aquila and Priscilla. Now how did he find them in the midst of over 200,000 people? I mean, you take Santa Rosa, you merge it with Windsor, that's about 200,000 plus people. How do you find a Jewish person in that city? There was a Jewish population. Well, it was God. God providentially working in the circumstances. Just a bit of an insight here as you think of your life this morning. God is always working behind the scenes. to meet our needs and to accomplish his purposes. We see that in Paul's life. We see that in the life of Aquila and Priscilla. Somehow, providentially, he brings them together in a city of nearly a quarter million people. How does he do that? He's God, that's how he does it. John Piper, he wrote this years ago, and I always liked it. He said, you may be aware of two or three things God is doing. But the reality is, behind the scenes, he's doing 1,000 things. He's doing 1,000 things. You see, they had been expelled from Rome by an edict of Emperor Claudius. And a historian notes the reason. And this is a direct quote of an inscription that has been found. This is the quote, because the Jews caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Crestus. Crestus is a common misspelling of Christ from the first century. And so the crisis in Rome wasn't brought on by Jesus, but rather it was about Jesus, because he was being taught and he was being preached in the synagogue, and it created a big uproar with the Jews. And so Claudius determined, I want you all out of the city of Rome. Imagine, he expelled every Jew who lived in the city of Rome at that time. Aquila and Priscilla were two of them. Anti-Semitism was rampant, even in that day. Jews in the first century lived under a cloud of prejudice and hatred. I guess times haven't changed that much, have they? They were a married couple who shared the same trade, Luke says, as Paul. They were tent makers. Literally, they were leather workers. They were leather workers. I think sometimes when we see tent maker, we kind of imagine canvas being cut into pieces and sewn into the form of an umbrella tent or something. That's not exactly what they did. They did make tents of various kinds, but they primarily worked with leather. And it's really interesting, every Jewish boy And even rabbis were taught a trade, regardless of rich or poor, or regardless of their education, they all learned a trade. Paul's was to work with leather. And leather workers made and repaired leather goods, not only built tents. Paul's home province, as a matter of fact. He was from Tarsus, and his province was called Cilicia. And Cilicia was really well known for a very special leather and cloth material that was made from goat's hair. So it's possible that Paul was especially skilled in making that unique material. And that's what he relied on. So he didn't have to burden churches financially, what Paul would often do. He would make tents. He would work with the leather, generate some income to support himself. he comes into Corinth, he's by himself, he's got to get a job. And so this is the job that the Lord has provided. Now Luke doesn't provide us with any background on Aquila and Priscilla in terms of their salvation, in terms of their religious background. But they probably were Christians, maybe saved in Rome, because we know there was a church in Rome, and probably that church was started by pilgrims who had been in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and when they went back to Rome, they started a church. It's very conceivable that that's where they came to know Christ, and it's that church that played a very important role in their life. The fact that they entered into partnership with Paul and he moved into their home with them would also seem to confirm the fact that they were believers. Now, why do I say that? Because Paul wrote to the Corinthians later on, do not be bound together with unbelievers. And I don't think Paul would have compromised that principle at this point, as desperate as he was for a job. So I believe they were born-again believers. And the couple became intimate friends with Paul. They became a very important part of Paul's life. Aren't you glad for friends, good friends, in your life? God has blessed me with good friends in my life, and I'm very grateful for that. He had, in this couple, intimate friends. How do we know how close they were? Well, in Romans 16, he writes of them, they are my fellow workers. They are my fellow workers. We serve together. But he also notes one more thing. Who for my life risked their own necks. They were willing to give up their lives for the sake of the Apostle Paul. Now, what does that say about the depth of their friendship? What did Jesus say? Greater love has no man than this, that he do what? Lay down his life for his brother. That's how intimate they were. And these dear friends would stand with him, they would pray for him, they would encourage him, and they would serve alongside him in evangelizing and in edifying. Well, there's new friends, but there's also some adversaries. and they're old adversaries. He keeps encountering them wherever he goes. Look at verse 4. It says, and he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. So as was Paul's usual evangelistic strategy when he came into a town, every Saturday he went to the Jewish worship center, the synagogue. By the way, implying he was working the rest of the week. So the time he had free to go minister was on the Sabbath. So here he is in the synagogue, and what is he doing? Well, he's doing what he always does. He's dialoguing and he's debating with the Jews, the religious Jews and the God-fearing Greeks. And he wants them to consider the claims of Christ. He's endeavoring to influence them to make a commitment to Jesus. Verses 5 and 6 read, but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. So Paul's companions, and these two guys had been left up in Berea, so Paul went to Athens by himself, but he sent word to them, please come and join me in Athens. And we know from 1 Thessalonians 3.1, Paul's companions finally caught up with him in Athens, but they didn't stay very long. Because the implication here is before he left for Corinth, Paul sent Silas possibly to Philippi because there was a church there. And then he left Timothy in Thessalonica because there was a church there. Both those places are located in Macedonia, which is north of where they are now in Corinth. Now they catch up with the Apostle Paul, both having come from that province. Their arrival seems to have an impact on Paul because he's freed up to give most of his time and attention now to the teaching of the Scriptures. Before it was just like once a week, he'd go into the synagogue. But now he's able to focus all of his attention on the preaching and teaching of God's Word and the sharing of the Gospel. So what happened? Well, we have to surmise here. It suggests that these men brought love gifts from the churches where they had been. And that was a practice that Paul alludes to often in his writings. Like in 2 Corinthians 11, 9, he said, when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need. Well, how did they fully supply his need? They sent him some money. So he didn't have to build tents. He didn't have to work with the leather. He could concentrate. He could use his gifts fully to reach the Jews and the Gentiles of the city of Corinth. And these gifts, these monetary gifts, freed him up to do that full time. Now sadly, as we look at the text here, the outcome of Paul's efforts in the synagogue to convince Jews that Jesus was the Christ, that he was the Messiah, Christos is a Greek version of Messiah, which is a Hebrew word. And they both mean the same, the anointed one, the chosen one. And he was trying to convince them that Jesus was their chosen savior and their chosen sovereign or God or king. And he had marginal success, as we're going to see here in just a moment. But most of them were hostile to his message. Remember? Some will reject it. Some will not welcome it. As a matter of fact, the text tells us they spoke evil of him and Jesus. The word is blasphemed. Literally, it means they verbally abused Paul and they verbally abused Jesus. They lied about Paul. They lied about Jesus. The positive thing about that is this. When you see the enemy pushing back in a certain area, you know what that means? God is at work there. That's why the enemy is pushing back. The enemy doesn't like it when his territory is invaded. But resistance usually means God is indeed at work. And so as we think of Paul and the response of the Jews here, We should be encouraged because clearly God is at work here. We're gonna see in just a moment in what way. I like what Spurgeon said years ago. He said, the devil never kicks a dead horse. He never kicks a dead horse. Paul then did something completely foreign and borderline weird to all of us. What did he do? He takes off his outer garment, his outer robe, and he shakes it wildly in front of the Jews. So get a picture. Takes it off, and he's shaking it wildly in the synagogue in front of these Jews who have been blaspheming his Lord and who have been speaking evil of him. So what in the world is going on there? Well, it's an Old Testament act of judgment. Symbolically, he was declaring he was moving on and he wasn't going to take even a particle dust from where they were to where he was going. We see it also in some other ways in the Old and New Testament because sometimes they would shake their sandals of the dust. Same idea. I'm going and I'm not taking any of your dust with me. They were to blame for the judgment that would come upon them. He said, may your blood be on your head. That's what he means there. You're accountable to do something with this knowledge, and you're rejecting it now, so you're accountable to God, and you will have to face the music one day. And additionally, he declares he's moving on, and he was going to just shake himself of responsibility for them, absolving himself of all responsibility for their souls. He had faithfully preached the gospel, he had faithfully taught God's word, and they regularly rejected it. So now they're personally accountable to God for their rejection of Jesus. These are all images from the Old Testament. The blood on your head, I'm clean, the shaking of his outer garment, his robe, all of these things were saying to them, you now have to account personally for the Lord for your rejection of him. He emphatically declared to them he was finished with them. I guess today we would say he washed his hands of them. I'm done. I'm absolved. I shared the news. Now it's in your court. What are you going to do with it? His evangelistic attention now is focused on the Corinthians, which now moves us to some fresh disciples. You know, he has some new friends in Aquila, Priscilla. His old enemies have shown up once again, the Jews who reject the gospel. Look at verses 7 and 8, because now we encounter some new disciples, some fresh disciples. Then he left there, that is the synagogue, and he went to the house of a man named Hideous Justice, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized. So immediately Paul leaves the synagogue. This is so interesting to me, but he doesn't go very far. He goes next door. He goes next door to the home of a Roman whose name is Titius Justus. Luke notes he moves in with him. And this Roman man has another name we discover in the Bible. His other name is Gaius. That was probably his first name. Titius was probably his given name, and Justus was his family name. And we read in 1 Corinthians 1.14 that Paul baptized Gaius, and he baptized the other guy mentioned here, Crispus. His home may have become the first gathering place of the Christians in Corinth because Paul says of Gaius in Romans 16, 23, hey, Gaius hosted me and the whole church. The implication is in his home he hosted me and the local body of believers. They're in Corinth. He's described as a worshiper of God, implying he had become a follower of Jesus. He probably was one of the God-fearing Gentiles who heard Paul preach in the synagogue. Because now his ministry is primarily to Gentiles. There's another thing you take note of the text. He moved out from living with these Jewish folks, Aquila and Priscilla, and he moves in with the Roman guy. I suspect he did that to guard against offending the Greeks that he was now going to be focusing his ministry on. But shockingly, the thing that's interesting in this text is the Jewish synagogue leader, probably a rabbi, the guy in charge of all that went on in that little group of Jewish men and women, this guy gets saved. And not only him, but his entire household, his family, his servants. So God did do a work in the life of some of these men and women. Paul's faithful preaching to the Jews was paying off with some fruit. Not a lot, but with some fruit. Now, just a practical insight here. Never underestimate the Lord's working through your evangelistic efforts. Have you ever shared Christ with people and you're always disappointed because they didn't trust him, they never want to talk about him again? I mean, we've all had those conversations with family and with friends, with co-workers, but never underestimate the Lord's working through those efforts. Paul faithfully preached, and God did a work in a handful of people, but praise God, Crispus got saved, right? Praise God, Hades got saved. Praise God, Crispus' family got saved, as well as many of his servants. That's good news. I remember years ago, Pastor Graves, my father-in-law, told me an interesting story. He went to a pastor's conference at Mount Hermon, down in the Santa Cruz Mountains. And he sat down next to a young man, and the young man actually addressed him by name and said, hello, Pastor Graves. And Bob looked at him and said, I didn't know the guy from Adam. I had no idea who he was. Well, then the guy proceeded to tell him. He said, one day, I was driving through Santa Rosa, and I felt an urgency to go to church. This is how long ago this took place. So he said, I got the yellow pages out. And I looked under churches, and I saw Santa Rosa Bible Church. So I figured they ought to have an answer for me. So he pulled in here. He sat in the back. Pastor preached his message, and as was his custom, he gave an invitation, and his custom was, you know, bow your heads and trust Christ, and he would help them with a prayer, and then he would say, if you prayed that prayer this morning and it really meant business, raise your hand. He said, I never raised my hand, but he said, I went out those back doors. I transformed man. And later on, I felt God calling me into the ministry. Thus, here I am at the pastor's conference. Bob had no idea that God had done any of that. You have no idea as to what the Lord has been doing in people's life. And you may never ever see the results this side of heaven. But one day in heaven, somebody might come up to you and say, hey, thank you for sharing Jesus with me. So don't give up. Keep sharing the good news. Now we also notice there were some fresh disciples from amongst the Gentiles. Many Corinthians, the text tells us, were believing the gospel and afterwards identifying with Jesus by getting baptized. Look at verses 9 and 11. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent for I am with you and no man will attack you in order to harm you. For I have many people in this city." And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Courage will be required. And it was required of this man. Courage will be required. One evening, probably while he was sleeping, the Lord appeared to Paul in a night vision. And there was a very specific reason why. He spoke directly and unmistakably to the Apostle. He lovingly commanded him to not allow his faith to become fear. Has your faith ever become fear? Sure it has. Mine has. Paul apparently has. The way this is written in the grammar, it suggests Paul was at that very moment that this vision appeared of the Lord Jesus, at that very moment. He was fearful of what he was about to face. And the Lord commanded him to stop it. Paul, don't be afraid. Put the brakes on the fear factor. You see, I think this is what was going on in Paul's mind. In other places, Paul's ministry's success was followed by persecution. Pisidian Antioch, persecution, though he saved. The Lord saved many there. In Lystra, persecution. They stoned him, they thought, to death. Philippi, he was beaten with rods and then he was thrown into jail, into the deepest, darkest part of the jail. In Berea, Some Jewish agitators from Thessalonica came down and chased him out of town. So Paul's thinking, God has been doing some work here. Crispus has gotten saved. Hideous Justice has gotten saved. Crispus' family has gotten saved. What's in store for me? What's gonna happen? He was kind of waiting for the shoe to drop, you know? He believed he was in store for trouble in Corinth as well. I mean, after all, God-fearing Gentiles were getting saved. This synagogue ruler and his household got saved. Numerous Corinthians had been saved and baptized. Paul found joy in that, to be sure. But they also created an intense emotion of distress in him, not knowing how the Jewish and Corinthian communities were going to respond. And this fear, this fear could have led him to not speak up for Jesus. This fear could have caused him to run. to flee, to find another place to go. So having admonished him, commanding him to not allow fear to muzzle his preaching, the Lord brings encouragement and comfort. Did you notice that? What did he do first of all? He directed Paul to continue preaching. He said, don't be silent, keep speaking. It's a present tense. Keep on speaking, Paul. Keep on preaching, Paul. Keep on teaching, Paul. Keep on lifting up Jesus, Paul. Keep on heralding the gospel, Paul. And then he gave him three reasons why he could keep on keeping on. He said, first of all, I'm promising you my presence. I am with you. You're not alone, Paul. I am with you. He promised his protection. I will keep you safe. No man will harm you. No man will harm you, Paul. And thirdly, he promised his progress. He said, I'm going to bless you with more success because in Corinth I have some of my people. You know what he's talking about there? the election. He's talking about the fact that the Lord knew in that city who he was going to save, and that's why Paul was there. And he said, you just keep on preaching because I will keep on saving. I like what Warren Roosby said. He said, divine sovereignty in election is one of the greatest encouragements to preaching the gospel. The Lord could see his elect in Corinth even before their conversion, even though Paul could not see them. And don't lose your mind over the word election. It's in the Bible. It just means he told Paul, Paul, I'm gonna be saving some more people in this city. So you just keep on preaching. You just keep on doing your work. The vision had the desired effect because the next verse tells us Paul remained in Corinth for a year and a half. That's the third longest church that he stayed in. Ephesus three years, Rome a few more. And the result was a church of a rich mixture of people, Jew and Gentile, many of whom were wonderfully gifted. Just read the book of 1 Corinthians. Now there's practical insight here. As you sit here this morning at 1025, what are you afraid of? Are you dealing with some fear this morning? You just got a recent report from a doctor? Or this morning you discovered a lump somewhere? Or you're fearing what's gonna happen at Santa Rosa Bible Church because Scott's leaving in a couple of months? What are we gonna do? What are your fears this morning? We all have them. We all have them. Well, like Paul, though we face fears of various kinds, Paul had a unique one here, There are usually three responses to fear. There are usually three responses. You know what the first one is? Flight. You know what that means? Run away. I'm reading the most recent biography of Elizabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim Elliot, one of five missionaries martyred in Ecuador in 1956. And she often would describe how she was dealing with it. And she said, many days I just wanted to run away. That's the first response to fear, just run away from it. When I was a kid and guys bigger than me wanted to beat me up, I had an advantage on them because I was fast. And that's what I did, I would run. Until one day, my brother had a big Jim Bowie knife, and I found that big Jim Bowie knife, and one of these big guys was chasing me into my house, and I came out to the porch with the big knife. That's the last time that guy bugged me. Run away. There's another response. Fight. Lean into it. Face it. what Paul's gonna do here momentarily. But then there's another response. You probably have felt this one too. We are frozen, we freeze, we're stuck because we don't know what to do. What we learn from Paul is not let our faith turn to fear. Don't let your trust be terrorized by your circumstances causing you to be distressed. I want you to remember this morning, as Paul was reminded by the Lord that night, I want you to remember God has provided for us in a lot of ways. I'm just going to boil it down to three things. Number one, his presence, just like he said to Paul, his presence. My brother and sister in Christ, you are never alone. What did the Lord say? One of the last things he said, lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. In Hebrews 13, he said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. His presence is with you. Secondly, his power. How powerful can we be in Jesus? We can be pretty powerful. Because the power that brought the universe into being, the power that raised Jesus from the dead, is resident in us in the Spirit of God. 1 John, greater is he that is in me, the Holy Spirit, than he that is in the world. That's the devil. We are powerful. We are he-men and he-women. Because we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and no matter what we face, we can overcome. And then His promises, found in the Bible. The first thing you ought to do when you feel fear encroaching on you, remind yourself, He's with me. Remind yourself that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, but then you need to go to His Word, and let Him speak to you through that Word. Psalm 19.11 says, Moreover, by them, the Scriptures, your servant is warned, in keeping them there is reward. The people of God should never be afraid. The people of God should move forward in faith. And that's exactly what Paul did here. Look at verse 12 with me, because opposition will be unavoidable if you live out your faith in Jesus. Have you discovered that? It's inevitable when they discover you are a follower of Jesus. Look at verse 12, it says, but while Galileo was pro-council of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul. There it comes. and brought him before the judgment seat. Now we know why the Lord gave Paul the night vision. Trouble was just around the corner, so he was kind of bucking him up. He was bolstering him in preparation for what was coming just in the next day. Remember Corinth was a Roman colony, capital of Achaia. And there was a new Roman official. We know that because we can look at some archeological records that help us establish when he was and how long he was a governor, a pro-council there in Corinth. His name is Gallio. His existence and his rule is established archeologically because we found a inscription in Delphi not too far away with his name and when he ruled, AD 51. And he is an interesting guy because he was the brother of Seneca who was a Stoic philosopher who happened to be the tutor, the personal tutor of Emperor Nero. And at this time, a number of disgruntled Jews rallied together and brought Paul before him, kind of hoping, I think, to take advantage of his inexperience as a pro-council there in Achaia. Let's take advantage of him because he's only been here a short time. Look at verses 13 and 14, or through 15, saying, this man, these are the Jews speaking to Galileo now, this man, Paul, persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, oh Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you. But if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves. I am unwilling to be a judge in these matters. So the rabid Jews leveled a religious, not a civil charge, against Paul. The charge was the same that previous opponents brought against Paul in Philippi and Thessalonica. Same charge. They claimed he was proselytizing for a new religion, Christianity. But here was the deal. The Romans permitted the Jews to proselyte each other. And a proselyte is just to make a person of one religion a follower of a new religion. And they permitted Jew on Jew proselytization. But you couldn't proselytize Roman citizens. What's interesting here is Gallio doesn't want to get involved because he considers Christianity a sect of Judaism. And of course, the leaders of Judaism said, no way, it's a new religion. But he doesn't see it that way. Now Paul was prepared to defend himself against the false charge. Did you notice that? It says he was about to speak, but before he could begin an oral defense, Gallio interrupts. And he makes it abundantly clear the charges were religious, not civil. He wanted nothing to do with the nitpicking of rabbinical rules and regulations or the minute detail of the Mosaic Law. He assured them if some civil law regarding a minor misdeed or fraud or deception had been committed, he would have acted appropriately. But he refuses to act. Now, there's an interesting irony there, isn't there? A Roman official protects a Jewish evangelist. Interesting irony. God has a sense of humor, my friends. And you see it when you read your Bibles. The Lord's promise from the vision came to pass. The Lord intervened, using a Roman, no less, to protect his evangelist, the apostle Paul. There's a little insight here I want to share with you. Has there ever been a day that has gone by that you have not had a fear about dying? You get on board an airplane to fly somewhere, especially recently, wheels falling off, panels falling off, you know, these violent, turbulent rides. You ever been afraid to get on an airplane? You ever been afraid to get on a roller coaster? We are invincible. As Christians, we are invincible until our expiration date comes up. And you all know the scripture clearly teaches that while in our mother's womb, an expiration date, in a sense, was stamped on us. God determined when this person, Chris Bauer, will expire and go home to be with him. I'm 72 and a half, so it hasn't happened yet, obviously. But I had a little brother die when he was five. My mom died when she was 48. My grandma died when she was in her 90s. Exploration dates for all of us are different. But until that date pops up, we're invincible. Paul was invincible because God said, uh-uh, not right now, Paul. I still have work for you to do. And he protected him. You do the same for us. We don't need to fear death. We just need to faithfully keep moving forward. And by the way, all death does is what? It just takes us home to Jesus. What's the downside of that? We just go home to be with Jesus. I read this from a guy just recently. He said, for the Christian, our last day is our best day because it is our first day with Jesus. You folks ought to be shouting hallelujah. And we're invincible until that moment comes. And then when the moment comes, I just get to go home to be with my Savior. Look at the next couple of verses here. And he drove them away from the judgment seat. And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Galileo was not concerned about any of these things. So after communicating his decision, He physically, that is Galileo, physically drove the Jews out, the grammar suggests, probably using his Roman guards. And there was an altercation that occurred afterwards. The new synagogue leader, whose name is now Sothenes, remember Crispus, the previous one, got saved, so obviously he got booted out of his job. So this is the new guy, Sothenes, and he's beaten up by a group of people. Now, we're not told who these people are. Some have suggested it was the Jews who had just been kicked out, had just been expelled, and they beat up the leader, Sassanides, because he failed to get a conviction of Paul before the pro-council. Well, possibly. Some others suggest it was Corinthian citizens who were trying to ingratiate themselves to the new pro-council. If so, once again, we see an act of anti-Semitism. Let's beat up the Jewish people. The verse implies Galileo was unmoved in either case. Whatever was true there, he was unmoved by it. And then we come finally to our final point. Paul's departing from Corinth. All good things come to an end. I left Middletown after nine plus years. I left Upland after five plus years. I stepped down from the lead position here five years ago. All good things come to an end. That's what happens here. Look at verse 18. Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila, his good friends. In Sancreia he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. So despite aggressive efforts by the Jews, Paul had persevered for a year and a half. He didn't quit. He stayed for quite a while, grounding those believers in faith. A church has now been established in Corinth. But Paul has determined it's time to move on. His ultimate destination was his sending church in Antioch. We know that from the next verse, verse 22, which was located to the east across the Aegean Sea over here. So here's Greece, here's the Aegean, over here's the Adriatic. So he's going to sail over to Asia Minor, which is Turkey, and he's going to end up heading up north to his supporting church in Antioch. And his good friends and ministry partners, Priscilla and Aquila, join him on the trip. So he takes them with him. And before boarding a ship in the port of Sincrea, guess what Paul does? One last shot, before I leave town, I'm going into the synagogue in Sincrea. And he goes in and he does so. And we're gonna see that in the next couple of verses. But he does something kind of odd here. Did you ever read that verse and go, What is that all about? He cut his hair. Why does Luke mention that? He cut his hair. Well, obviously, Paul had taken a vow, probably an Azarite vow, Numbers chapter 6. They wouldn't cut their hair. They wouldn't shave for a period of time. The implication here is Paul, for a period of time, had let his hair grow out. He was unshaven for a period of time. But now it's come time for him to go and finalize his vow. So he cuts off his hair. He may have taken the vow as a way of expressing thanksgiving to the Lord for what he was doing in Corinth. Many vows lasted 30 days or more, and then what these men would do after they took the vow and the vow was now completed, they would cut the hair, they would take it to the temple in Jerusalem, and they would offer that hair up with the appropriate offerings as an act of thanksgiving to the Lord. That may be what's happening here. It was Paul's way of saying to the Lord Jesus, thank you for blessing me and protecting me and using me here in this city. Look at verses 19 and 20. They came to Ephesus. And he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue, reasoned with the Jews, and when they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent. So interestingly, Paul had tried previously to enter Asia, but from the West. Excuse me, from the East. No, from the West. And we know that from Acts chapter 16. Remember, he tried to go into these different places in Turkey, and the Lord said, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. But then he had a vision that took him across the Aegean Sea to where he is now. So he gets the opportunity now to go, but he enters from the east, and he leaves his friends A and P. That's what I call them, A and P. If you can't remember their names, just say A&P. His dear friends, he leaves them in Ephesus, and in time, they're gonna help establish that local church. But Paul's a creature of habit, and it's a good habit, driven by his love for the Lord, his deep affection for the lost, especially Jews. On his way out of town, he drops into a synagogue, uses his normal strategy, dialogue, debate, attempting to persuade them to follow Jesus. Now, in the case of these Jews in Sincrea, They were quite receptive to his message because what did they ask him to do? Stay, don't go, stay with us. But Paul turns down the invitation. Verse 21 tells us, he took his leave of them saying, I will return to you again if God wills. And then he set sail from Ephesus. So as the apostle leaves, he makes a promise of a return, but only if it is the desire and the pleasure of the Lord. and we're gonna discover it was the Lord's will because in the next chapter, Paul goes out on his third missionary journey and guess where he starts? He starts in Ephesus and establishes a church there. As a matter of fact, he stays there for three years, has a very fruitful ministry, has a deep and intimate relationship with that church. One final insight as I close this morning. Paul was always seeking God's will. Always, you read his epistles, you look in the book of Acts, and he was always trying to discern what God's plan for him was. He understood and believed, as Proverbs says, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Paul wanted his steps to be directed by the Lord. How about you? I'm prepared as an elder, I'm prepared as a member of Santa Rosa Bible Church to trust the Lord to reveal the steps we should be taking as we move forward, as we think of finding someone to fill the big shoes of Scott. And I'm also trusting the Lord to provide Scott with very clear and specific direction as to where he should go and what he should do. Paul did that. He believed Solomon's writings. The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Let's trust the Lord to direct our steps. Secondly, Paul wrote to the Romans that the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12.2. That means the will of God for St. Rose of Bible Church, the will of God for Scott is good. It's not bad. It means it's perfect. It's not flawed. And it means it's acceptable. We will be able to embrace it. Scott will be able to embrace it. But he also took the Lord's brother's counsel in James. In James 4.14, James wrote, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. So he gives this counsel. You ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live. And we will go here, and we will go there, and we will do that. If the Lord wills. Paul was prepared to come back to Ephesus, but he said only if the Lord wills it and desires it. And of course, we discover he did. So as we move forward, we just want to know what it is he wants us to do. Scott wants to know what it is he wants him to do. And together, by faith, we should move forward. Because here's the reality of it. I'm a simple-minded guy. God has a plan, one. Number two, God's plan is good. Number three, pray he'll show it. And number four, go do it. Go do it. Faithful sharing of the gospel generates two responses, resistance to it, reception of it. And we close our service today with communion. I love this. Communion is a visual aid to help us remember the cross that Jesus died on and its meaning for each one of us. The bread is a picture of Jesus' sacrifice body. The juice is a picture of his shed blood. I'm going to ask those who have the juice and the bread if they would come. And if you need to be served, please just raise your hand and they'll bring one of those to you. And now I get mine. Richard told me, I came to him before service, he said, oh, I need one of those. He said, oh, no, you don't, because if you don't have one, you'll remember, you need to make sure everybody out there gets served. So I said, sounds like a good plan to me. The bread is a picture of Jesus' sacrificed body, and of course the juice is a picture of his shed blood. And both of them remind us, I love this, that Jesus died in our place. Jesus took your place. Jesus took my place. He led the life we were incapable of living, meaning he lived a perfect life. He was sinless. But he died the death that we deserved to die because we are sinful. Communion reminds us that he died in our place, paying our debt for sin to God. I love 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. As you sit here this morning, as I stand up here preaching to you this morning, we are wearing a righteous robe. And that righteous robe is the Lord Jesus. And for that reason, God has forgiven us our sins. I like how Peter put it in 1 Peter 3, 18. He said, for Christ also died once for all. The just for the unjust, to what end, so that he might bring us to God, reconcile us with God, give us peace with God. Our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus, has made this possible. And this is a reminder to us of it. Those of you who are here who know Jesus, I invite you to join us. You've accepted the gospel. You've embraced it. You have believed it. And I want you to just take a moment right now to confess your sins. Because even as Christians, we sin, don't we? Sinful attitudes, sinful actions, sinful words. And maybe this morning, even before you got here, you stumbled along the way like the rest of us. So I want to give you a moment right now to go before the Lord and acknowledge that sin with this promise in mind. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from, I love this, all unrighteousness. Christian, confess your sin. And then I speak to you, my unsaved friend who may be present today or who may be listening to us today. Up to this moment in time, you have rejected the gospel. You have not welcomed it. You have not believed it. You have not rested and trusted in it. I want to admonish you. I want to beg you to take a moment now to believe in Jesus as Savior, because you need him. The Bible teaches us that we are sinners, that we need a Savior, that Jesus Christ is that Savior. that he lived a life we couldn't, a perfect one, and he died in our place, and God has accepted his sacrifice in full as satisfaction of his justice. And the minute we rest in that, believe in that, he causes a wonderful thing to happen. He regenerates us. He spiritually births us. He causes us to be born again. Going to church can't do that. Reading your Bible can't do that. Being a really good person can't do that. There's a place for all those things. But there's only one thing that makes you a Christian, and that is believing that Jesus is your Savior. And I want to give you a moment right now to settle that issue. Father, we bring these elements to you. It's just a wafer, just some juice, but oh, what a picture they paint. The sacrifice of our precious Savior Jesus. His body was sacrificed physically. His blood was shed. He died. And you accepted him as payment in full for all our sins. But we have to personalize that. We have to individually believe that you did that for us personally. And Lord, for anyone here who has trusted you, may you bless these elements to the celebration of the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. And for those, Lord, who are still here, still debating, still not welcoming, still rejecting, convict them, draw them to yourself. Demonstrate to them how much you love them. You love them enough that you gave your son for them. And today, may they trust you right now and join us as we celebrate this. Let's take the bread. Let's eat it remembering He said, this is my body, which is for you. Eat all of it. Let's drink the juice together, remembering that this is a symbol of his shed blood. He said, this is my blood, which has been shed for you. Drink all of it. Thank you, Jesus, for saving us. Bless us as we close in a song of praise as we lift our voices to you because of our great love for you. And we ask this in your wonderful and precious name. Amen. Though I walk through the valley, and I can't see the way When the shadows surround me, I will not be afraid For I know You are with me, and You will always provide Though the path may be lonely, you will stay by my side. And I will rest my soul, and I'll trust in you alone, for the Lord my Savior. is all I need. In the darkness valley, I know, I know my shepherd is all I need. Lord, I know that you seek me When I'm trying to hide And your love, it pursues me On the days of my life I will rest, I will rest my soul I'll trust in you all along For the Lord my shepherd leads me, leads me, and he is all I need. In the darkest valley I know, I know my shepherd is all I need I rest, I rest my soul I rest, I rest my soul in you alone. You light my way. You lead me on for the Lord, for the Lord my shepherd. need. In the darkest valley I know, I know my shepherd is all I need. Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art How great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Amen, church. Have a wonderful week.