Still God in the Valleys

You can open your Bibles and open them to Acts chapter 18. I love the weekend after Easter. I always try to put myself…I kind of start to think about the apostles. Imagine them seven days after Jesus walked out of the grave. They would have just been emboldened. They would have been so excited about showing other people that Christ defeated death and the grave. We wouldn’t have any of these songs that we’re singing if Jesus hadn’t defeated death and the grave. And it’s just an awesome thing to come here and to proclaim the greatest truth in all of history.

But as you open to Acts chapter 18, we’ll be in verses 1-22. And what I’m finding with Scripture is that sometimes it’s the chapters that you could quickly breeze through in your devotional life that once you start to dig them apart they actually become a great source of encouragement to you and they speak directly to your heart. That’s again just a testimony to the faithfulness of God’s Word. Every sentence, every word, has been preserved and breathed out for our good. And we take it, we expose what it says, we take it in the form that God has given it to us and we dig it apart and we find life.

You could spend your entire life mining the Scriptures and you would never come to the end of all that God wants to do and say through His Word for you. But everyone loves the big epic moments in the Bible. Everybody loves Paul on Mars Hill in Athens and his great speech. Everyone loves, I love Stephen before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 7 that we looked.

But not all of life are big epic moments, are they? Not all of life are like that. And it’s often in the aftermath of these moments that can feel discouraged or even grieve the way things used to be or face the battle after the battle, and Satan likes to get you down right after you feel like you’ve just had a victory in Him. And I say all of that because I’ve found it to be true with Acts 18 as I’ve studied it this week. I noticed in my own personal Bible I have tons of stuff underlined and circled and highlighted in Acts 16 and 17 and 19 and 20. I had nothing in Acts chapter 18. So whenever I read it last, I must have just breezed through it.

And to be honest, Acts chapter 18 is not as action packed as Acts chapter ~ 17. But in it we’ll see neither were Paul’s days in Corinth. And we see that even he felt discouraged and wanted to give up ast times.

I had a call this week with some pastors around different places, different states, sat with some pastors. I heard a senior pastor say, “You know, I’ve just struggled through this season. I’ve wanted to give up more in this season than ever before. I’ve thought about throwing in the towel more than ever before in this season.” And those who are in ministry of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ, which should be all of us as believers to some degree, but those who are in occupational ministry, those in history who have proclaimed Jesus Christ and been pastors, and people we read on a regular basis, discouragement was close to them.

And we see that at times we do feel like giving up. And even Paul felt like giving up. In this particular situation, his levels of provision are low. And yet it was not the strength of the apostle Paul that kept him on mission for Jesus, but it was the gentle reminder from God that God is in control, that God is true to His promises, and God will never leave you or forsake you.

I don’t know if you came in today and you find yourself in a valley. I said to the green room before we came out of here this morning that if you’re not in a valley, you’re either coming out of one or probably heading into one. And they weren’t very encouraged by that. But so much of life is surrounded by valleys and discouragement and hardship.

And so the big idea that I want us to take from this text today in Acts chapter 18 is this- God is God in the valley, so don’t be afraid, and trust in His promises. God is God in the valley, so don’t be afraid, and trust in His promises. I pray that this will encourage all of you today and be something that you can take with you as you leave.

But verse 1 of Acts chapter 18 tells us that After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. So Paul is in Corinth and we looked at that last week. He speaks on Mars Hill. and then he moves on and he heads to a new city. And at this point in his missionary journey…This is his second missionary journey and it spanned about five years and Paul finds himself in a new large city. Some of these cities that he’s going to are just massive on European soil.

Tim Keller, who is a pastor, comments on the cities just for context. He says, “Athens was like Boston, an intellectual center. Corinth was like New York City, a commercial center. Ephesus was like Los Angeles, a popular culture and occult center. And Rome was like Washington, D.C. It was a political center.”

So Corinth is where Paul finds himself today. And Corinth was a sinful city. It made Los Angeles look like a family friendly place to go for vacation. It was not only a flourishing center of political power and commerce, but Corinth was rampant with sexual immorality.

So there’s a picture on the screens of the Acrocorinth. This mountain looms over the city of Corinth. And I took those when I was there. Doesn’t that just look like an evil kind of sinful mountain, right? And it just looms over the valley of Corinth.

And I told you last week, in Athens it’s the highest peak, the Acropolis, where they house their gods. The same was true in Corinth. And at the top of this mountain was the temple of Aphrodite or the goddess of love. And so every night in Corinth, from the moutnain would come 1,000 prostitutes or more and they would go down into the city and they would lure worshiippers up the mountain to go and worship the goddess of love. And you could imagine that that evil, that grossness and that sin just ran rampant in the city of Corinth.

And so if Paul’s spirit was provoked in Athens by the idolatry, you’d better believe that he wasn’t too excited about being in the city of Corinth in this sin city. And if you tend to see the world through redeemed eyes, which we all should if we are believers, then rampant sin and unapologetic evil should disgust you. And that’s exactly what Paul would find in Corinth. And we know so much about it from his letters to the Corinthians and their churches. But even as he was arriving in Corinth, we learned from his writings that he was discouraged and even fearful of the mission that was at hand.

So in 1 Corinthians 2:1-3 as Paul writes to the Corinthian church, he says this: And I when I came to you (it’s on the screen). I when I came to you brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

So as Paul finds himself in Corinth, he also found himself worn down from his efforts to advance the gospel. He’s discouraged. He was weak from his travels. So Paul would have been between the ages of 49-52 on this missionary journey. He traveled 2,000 miles by boat and 2,000 miles by foot. That’s like walking from Raleigh, North Carolina the whole way to Denver. And he wasn’t the springiest of chickens at this point in his life, ok?

So in fear of what the pagan Corinthians might do to him when they heard his message, he was fearful. He was discouraged from many denying his message in every city and seeking to beat him, to kill him. He’s lonely because his teammates were no longer surrounding him and helping hold him up. Silas and Timothy are in Macedonia still. And he is seemingly low on funds because we learn in the next couple verses that he has to get a job in this season of his life. He has to get a job in Corinth as he’s there to advance the gospel.

So point number one that we’ll look at today is this: In the valley of loneliness, find people who refresh your soul. In the valley of loneliness, find people who refresh your soul.

Starting in verse 2 of chapter 18 it says, And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:2-4)

Now it’s in the sin city of Corinth that Paul meets a couple that will continue to be two of his greatest sources of encouragement in the remaining years of his life. Isn’t that just like God when we go somewhere, when we are in need, God provides people that can refresh our souls. And you should be familiar with Aquila and Priscilla because when we studied 2 Timothy a year ago in the “Fan the Flame” series at the end of that book, at the end of that letter, Paul writes Timothy and says, “Go to the house of Onesiphorus and greet Aquila and Priscilla.”

And so he is constantly bringing these two up in his writings because they were a great encouragement to them. He speaks of them with great fondness. They were a special couple. They’re always mentioned together, which probably spoke of their dynamic marriage. You know people like this who just have a great marriage. You want their time. You love being in their presence. They encourage you. Most often, this is interesting, Priscilla is mentioned first which speaks of her impeccable service and influence to the local church.

I can think of couples in my life who have been like this. There’s just a strong husband who’s a prayer warrior, a leader, and he takes the gifts of his wife and just says, Hey, my wife has so many gifts to offer the church. And the wife serves the church and loves the church and teaches children and youth and invites people into their home. And just an awesome couple.

They were also a mobile couple. We see that they don’t stay in Corinth but they move around. They go at the end of this passage with Paul to Ephesus. And in all of the places that they were, they were constantly serving the local church. In Ephesus and in Rome we see churches meeting in their homes. So this was a couple with some menas. They must have had a sizable dwelling place. And what they had, they used for the glory of God and for the advancement of the kingdom and for the local church. And specifically they used what they had to bless those in occupational ministry working to advance the gospel.

Proverbs 11:25 says this. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and the one who waters will himself be watered. The NIV says, Whoever refreshes will be refreshed.

This couple used all that they had to refresh the apostle Paul as he gets to Corinth in his discouragement. Do you have couples in your life like this? Do you have people in your life that you can point to who have been a source of encouragement and refreshment to your soul whenever you felt lonely or discouraged?

I can think of people in my life. And even this week I had lunch with a guy who was telling me his story about picking up his family, moving to South Bend to help with a church plant. And they left family in another state. They left jobs, they left home, they left friends of their kids. And they moved here just to plug into a gospel glorifying church.

And they were telling me about the last several nine months or whatever leading up to them getting more established. And they were saying, you know, it’s been really hard. My wife was missing her family. Our kids had some medical things come up and sickness and struggle. And we had some failures with jobs that we couldn’t land and our housing situation didn’t work out.

And I was like, “Man, it sounds like the Lord is taking you through a massive valley. That sounds like a really trying time.” I said, “What kept you from giving up in that season?

And he was like, “You know what? It was the church. It was people in the Body of Christ who saw what we were trying to do for the kingdom who came around us and said, “Hey, we want your family to feel like our family. We want what we have to bless you. We want to feed your kids like they’re our own. We want to hold you up whenever you have medical things you’ve got to deal with. We want to help you find a home. We want to help you find a job.” And they were so encouraged and their souls had been refreshed by the people of God taking the time to love them in the midst of their discouragement.

It’s also a challenge to all of us not to isolate when we become lonely or discouraged. When life doesn’t feel like Easter Sunday, you still need to come to church. I thought about going and getting a confetti cannon this morning. But when life is not dropping confetti on your head you still need to come to church. You still need to go to small group.

And isn’t it so true that when we feel lonely or discouraged we want to withdraw from those things. We want to isolate from those things. It blows my mind that our doors and walls were bursting with people last Sunday and yet there’s space between your buffer seats today. Where does everybody go? This is the most important place that we could be as we devote ourselves to the teaching and preaching of God’s Word. And life will not always feel like a celebration. And it’s in the lowest moments that the people of God can hold us up and help us to grow up into Christ.

And yet our tendency is often to isolate ourselves when we’re in a bad place. And then the distance that we create creates a distortion of reality and we begin to believe lies, our faith begins to grow stagnant; our joy begins to deteriorate. Thank God that Pual was able to find like-minded people in the city of Corinth in his fear and discouragement.

But not only did Aquilla and Priscilla help Paul and become great partners, they provided him a job in this season. Paul probably did not want to work a 9-5 job in the city of Corinth. He was like, God, I just want to go here. I want to preach the good news and I want to get out of this city. And yet his provisions seemed low. And so he worked throughout the week and he taught about Jesus and the Scriptures on the weekend. And it’s just a great testimony to all of us that we are all called to full time ministry.

I’m not in full time ministry anymore than you are. You work a job. We all work jobs so that we can provide, but our main mission in this life as believers is to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Aquila and Priscilla used what they had to minister to Paul so that Paul could use what he had to teach the Scriptures whenever he could. And God has you in your current work situation.

God has you in your current position in life regardless of your longings so that you can trust in His promises, so that you can advance His google. And even if you’re building tents from 9-5, you can still tell people about Jesus. And when you get off on the weekends you can go and tell people about Jesus.

And, you know, even the people who are up here serving on the worship team today, I see that being modeled from them and their families so much. A lot of them work jobs throughout the community from 9-5 and then they give up Thursday night and they get here at 6:30 AM, some of them 6:00 AM on Sunday morning. And they leave their families at home and they come and prepare a place for us to worship the most high God. That’s service. That’s what it looks like to be on mission for Jesus regardless of our position.

And I was saying in the last service I saw Ben Hansen, who on Easter Sunday, he got his kids ready because Carrie Anne was singing here. And he got his kids ready by himself and he drug all four or five of his kids into church. And he walked in the door and was like, “Woo, that was hard.” But that was his reasonable act of worship to the mighty Savior of God. and that is an awesome thing that we can do as the people of God.

Now number two, in the valley of rejection, shake it off and move the mission forward. In the valley of rejection, shake it off and move the mission forward.

Verse 5. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. (Acts 18:5)

So here is some encouragement for Paul. His friends join him, Silas and Timothy, and they brought provisions from the churches in Macedonia that they had planted. The word occupied isn’t like they found Paul doing what he’s always doing. They were able to occupy him with the teaching and preaching of God’s Word permanently. And so Paul could set aside tentmaking for a little bit and he could devote fully to the mission of making disciples because the provision that came from the churches in Macedonia.

The generosity of the saints funded and fueled Paul’s gospel ministry in Corinth. Isn’t that awesome? The generosity of the saints here at Gospel City are funding and fueling the mission of glorifying God and making disciples. And it’s an awesome thing. We were even looking at our global partners in our elder meeting last week and we were looking at where that money is going. And the money that comes into this place is going out to places that are hard to reach so that the gospel can go forward.

Even Pastor Trent and Andrea, who are here today and were saying, “Thank you for sending us,” their mission, their new mission and their new ministry of spreading the gospel into broken places and broken marriages is funded and field by the generosity of the saints in the Body of Christ. Paul was faithful to advance the gospel when it wasn’t his occupation, and the Lord provides the provision and the position. But here’s a challenge. Where you do have the means to give to those advancing the gospel occupationally, do it. It’s a blessing. What you have is for the kingdom of God.

Verse 6. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” (Acts 18:6)

So it seems to suggest a pretty heated moment among the Corinthian Jews. Paul has been in places of rejection, but this suggests that the Jews in Corinth were hostile in their opposition to Paul’s teaching. They revile him. That word means to criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner. That’s frustrating in general, let alone when you’re trying to help somebody.

But think about Jesus who we just looked so much at on Good Friday and Easter. Jesus was reviled on the cross. The perfect innocent Savior was despised and He was rejected and He was mocked and He was laughed at and He was spit upon. He was reviled as He took on a death that He didn’t deserve. He died on a cross in our place as a substitute for our sins so that we could believe in Him and trust in Him and follow Him.

But this is what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5-11 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. It doesn’t sound like a blessing. But in the kingdom of God, when others revile you for your message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a blessing. Paul was blessed, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t discouraged. And Paul shows his frustration in his response. He shakes the dust off his garments as a sign of rejecting the Jews and their ignorance.

And he says, “Your blood is on your own heads,” meaning you will take responsibility for the way that God will judge you. If you reject this message, if you mock the message of the gospel then you will be judged according to that response. And then he moves on. He goes to the next house, and that’s a frustrating way to leave people who we long to see saved. But as the people of God we have to trust what only the Spirit can do.

And so in verse 7. Paul left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, (I love that name. I would love to see a Crispus up here whenever we dedicate more babies) Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. (Acts 18:7-9)

Often in life isn’t it true that we just feel like we’re always hitting a wall, especially when it comes to evangelism? I haven’t seen anyone get saved. Nobody ever responds to me trying to share the gospel. And I think that’s why a lot of us get discouraged and just don’t evangelize. That’s why a lot of us get discouraged and don’t share the message of Jesus Christ. It’s easy to get weary when you have rejection in your life. It’s easy to give up.

I’m sure Paul didn’t love rejection. But sometimes God lets us see the glorious results of His Spirit opening hearts and lives to the gospel. And it’s those kinds of victories that should spur us on to continue on the mission of making disciples. Don’t give up in the valley of rejection. Shake it off and move the mission forward. That’s what we see Paul doing.

Now number three, in the valley of fear, remember the simple truths God has said. In the valley of fear, remember the simple truths that God has said. So Paul- just backing up for one step- he went next door. The synagogue reviled him and rejected him. He goes next door and he sees salvation come to that house.

Sometimes you just have to move on to the next person. Sometimes you just have to move on to the next neighbor. Sometimes you have to go across the street because this neighbor you’ve done all that you can with. Sometimes you need to move on to the next family member because you’ve tried to say everything you could to this family member who continually rejects you. And you trust in what the Spirit can do.

But very quickly the Jews who reviled him every other city that Paul was in, when the Jews reviled, they ended up arresting him, accusing him, beating him, getting him put in prison. And Paul is a little fearful in this moment.

Look in verse 9. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:9-11)

Now some of you here today are like, That’s exactly what I need. I need God to show up in a vision and tell me exactly what I need to do. I need God to show up in a vision and give me my next step in life so that I can just move forward. No you don’t. God has already said everything He needs to say to you right here in His Word. And it’s so faithful and it’s the truths He’s said and preserved for us that will bring us encouragement and boldness in the valley.

And often we think we need more because we think we need more than the simple truths that God has already said. This was the apostle Paul. I mean, the apostle Paul was a beast for the gospel. He was taking this thing all over the place. Look what God says to him. He doesn’t like give him this epic new truth. God says, “Do not be afraid.” God tells Paul one of the most repeated commands in all of the Bible. More than any other command in Scripture, it says, “Don’t fear. Do not fear. Fear not.”

It’s something that I’ve told my children time and time and time again. But I easily forget it when I’m in my own valley or when I’m stepping out in faith. God used this reminder, this simple reminder, even in my journey over the last nine months as I’ve gotten to this place of lead pastor here at Gospel City Church. And I find myself fearing at times. And I’m like, Lord, I’m fearing about failure. I’m fearing about the past and I’m trying to pry my fingers loose of things that I love. And I’m trying to trust you with what’s next.

And God used the same reminder that He gave Paul, but He gave it to Joshua so many years later when in Joshua chapter 1 it said this: Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Have I not commanded you be stong and courageous? Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

I have told that to my kids. I’ve quoted that with my kids. But I’ve failed to believe that at times when it felt like the Lord was asking me to step out in faith, step out into the unknown. And there was a message by a pastor named Philip De Courcy that I listened to. And he was talking about Joshua and being strong and courageous. And he said, “Often in the valleys of fear, often in the valleys that we face, we get stuck in the fear of failure, in the negativity of nostalgia or in the curse of comparison.”

No doubt Paul was probably there a little bit. I’m sure he was like, Lord, I am failing the Jews. Like I surely can’t be the guy. I got beat with rods last time. I don’t want that to happen here in Corinth. I’m fearful Lord.

And I’m sure when he was making tents he’s like, Why couldn’t it be like Philippi? I was down by the river with those ladies. It was so sweet and good and people responded to the gospel. And now I’m making tents in the sin city of Corinth. And I’m sure he had the curse of comparison. I can’t read into the text too much, but you know that we get stuck into those places so easily and so often, and it brings fear into our lives.

But if God is on our side, then whom shall we fear and what shall we fear? And we walk by faith and not by sight. And so we should not be surprised when the way seems hard or unclear, but we trust that Christ has overcome what this world might throw at us.

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And in this particular vision, God gives Paul four reasons to not fear, four reasons to continue. He says, “Go on speaking.” So God commanded Paul to speak. That’s all he needed. Obedience is of highest value, so even if God said, “Just keep speaking,” that would be enough. But in HIs love God says, “I am with you.” And the same is true for us, and the same was true for Joshua as he stepped into that role. Just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. Just as I was with Paul, I will be with you.

And then he gives him kind of a special revelation, number three. He says, “No one will attack you or harm you.” This was unique to Paul in Corinth. God says, “No one is going to harm you. No one is going to attack you.” I can’t say that no one is going to harm you or me or attack us in this life. Scripture promises that trials and tribulations will come. But we can take heart that we have overcome the world. And so even when hardship comes in this life, we trust in the promises of what He has said.

And then Jesus said this in the vision to Paul. He says, “I have many in this city who are my people.” I love that. In the sin city of Corinth, God says, “I have many in this city who are my people.” And the same is true here in Michiana. God has many in this city who are His people. He knows them before the Spirit ever opens their heart and their life.

And you may be rubbing shoulders with some of God’s children every single day, and they have yet to respond to the gospel. But we need to be faithful to continue to open our mouths and to speak the truth of Jesus Christ and let the Spirit do what only the Spirit can do. Because God is the one who draws His people to Himself. And faith comes by hearing. And how will they hear if we do not open our mouths and speak?

And so don’t give up when people reject you. Don’t give up when you’re fearful of the response, because God has people in your workplace and in your school and in the grocery store, down the street, that are His people and they desperately need to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Verse 11. After the vision, he stayed a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. The promises of God are our hope of continuing in the faith. The promises of God are our encouragement on our darkest days in life. The promises of God are an anchor when we feel like giving up.

And you have to remind yourself constantly of the simple truths that God has already said, and they will bring you life and encouragement on your darkest days. Romans 8, you’ve heard it. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So why should I fear?

Psalm 18- God is a strong tower and the righteous run into Him and they are saved. So why should I fear? Lord, remind me, Spirit remind me. Matthew 28:20, the Great Commission, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Where can you go from His Spirit? Where can you hide? Where can you flee from His presence?

1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all of your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.” You don’t have to live in your anxiety. You don’t have to live in your fear and in your worry. Cast it on the Lord, for He truly cares for you.

Now the fourth thing we see as he continues on, in the valley of opposition, trust in what Christ has said.

Verse 12. When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”

So here we go. Paul is getting arrested. He’s going before the tribunal. Verse 14.
But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. That’s new.

Verse 15. But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. (Acts 18:12-17)

So this is a new occurrence for the apostle Paul as he goes before the tribunal in Corinth. God’s promises to Paul had come true. God didn’t say that he wouldn’t face opposition or that he wouldn’t be arrested. God said that he would not be harmed. And before the tribunal, Paul doesn’t even have to open his mouth. Historically, every time he went before the council he was either beaten or arrested, but God is faithful to His promises. And what God has said will come to pass.

So you and I have a lot of hope to stay anchored in because of all that God has said to us in this book. And while He’s promised us that we will face opposition, we put our trust in Jesus who has overcome it all.

Now you could read this and you could be like, Well that stinks for Sosthenes. Like Paul got off scott free, but this guy got beat in front of the tribunal. How is that fair?

The point is God was faithful to His promises to Paul and here’s a really encouraging thing for you. In 1 Corinthians 1:1 when Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthian church this is how he starts it. Just listen. “Called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes. So at some point Sosthenes the ruler of the Gentile synagogue (it was Crispus. He got saved. I’m not exactly sure how that turnover happened. But here Sosthenes gave his life to Jesus Christ and Sosthenes became a brother in the faith. And perhaps God used the self-righteousness of the Jews in this instance to help bring Sosthenes to Jesus. God can do that. God can take our worst moments in life and use it to shake us up and show us our need for Jesus.

And so even in the beating and even in Sosthenes’ persecution, he eventually comes to Jesus Christ, a saving knowledge of faith. And so whether your opposition is like Paul’s in this situation or like Sosthenes, we must trust what Christ has said. Do not fear. Keep speaking the truth, wait on the Lord, and trust the God of salvation to work through your perseverance. Only He can open hearts and lives. And so even in that opposition we trust what He has said in His Word.

Now number five as we come to a close, in the valley of new beginnings, continue to live sent. In the valley of new beginnings, continue to live sent. Can we just read 18-23? After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. Someone said I just breezed through that part. I knew what I was doing.

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
Verse 22. When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. (Acts 18:18-23)
Any time you start new it can bring discouragement. It can bring, you know, feelings of like you’re in a valley. Paul never wanted to go. You know, he wasn’t jazzed probably about being in Corinth. And yet over this two, three year timespan he saw God do miraculous things and he built for himself a family, a Body of Christ.
And so even leaving them after the time period that he was there, that would have been hard. And as he says goodbye to some of those people he takes Aquila and Priscilla and they move on to Ephesus. He drops them off on this way home. And because Paul is who he is, he lives sent. I mean, I’m sure he was excited to get home after all this weary traveling. But he stops in Ephesus, goes into the synagogue, shares the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because even on your way home as a disciple of Jesus, you still live sent with the message of the gospel.
But at 52 years old, he doesn’t get back home and say, That’s it. I’m retiring. He doesn’t kick up his feet as if he was done or if he had done enough. He spends some time at Antioch. All these other places they’ve told us he’s been there for a year, a year and a half, many days. He spent some time, a short amount of time, at home with these people in Antioch. And then he goes to strengthen and encourage and make disciples because on the mission of Jesus we don’t stop. On the mission of Jesus we continue to carry this message to the lost who desperately need it so that God might open their hearts to receive the Spirit and His power.
Why was Paul able to have friends that encouraged him? Why could he shake off rejection and move on? Why could he remain faithful to live sent throughout his life? Because he was not afraid to show his weaknesses. He wasn’t ashamed of his weaknesses. He wasn’t ashamed of his discouragement.
And as he let people into his life, he was encouraged by the God of glory. He was encouraged by the promises of God. And he came to see God as so good that God is worth proclaiming even in the darkest valleys of this life. He came to see God as so good that even in the valley of rejection it was worth moving onto the next person and praying for the lost.
He came to see God as so good that His promises would be good and true and so he could hold fast to the Word of God. He could trust in what God has said everyday in his darkest days because he was unashamed of his weakness. He knew he was just a man, he was just a clay pot. And through him the surpassing power of Christ could come. And it was in his weakness that Christ was seen as strong, and the same is true for us.
We don’t bring much to the table, but the Spirit of God is in us and it should cause us to persevere to use all that we have for the kingdom and the glory of God, to advance this glorious message with passion. And in the valleys of discouragement, the valleys that this life brings, don’t be afraid and trust in what He has said in His Word.
Can you stand to your feet with me? Go ahead and bow your heads. Just take a moment to breathe. Cast your cares on Him for He cares for you. And we’ll pray.
Lord, we thank You for Your Spirit. God, every day that our feet hit the ground is an opportunity for us to say, “Holy Spirit, fill us fresh and anew.” Remind us Holy Spirit of your promises that are true. Remind us of what You have truly said in Your Word. And God, would Your Spirit illuminate in our hearts those truths. And would it ignite faith to believe that You are a God of the valleys? And that even in our hardest days we can find encouragement in you.
And as we reveal our weaknesses and as we gather with the Body and gather with the Body who bring refreshing to our soul and as we’re vulnerable and as we share why we don’t have it all together, Lord, would Your Spirit strengthen us and would the surpassing power of Christ be seen in us? For in You we are strong.
And so Lord, we love You. Would You fill us up today even as You send us out? And would we just know that You are a good and perfect God worthy of proclaiming even in the valleys? And so anyone who is discouraged today, would You just encourage them? Would You lift them up? Would You make Your face shine upon them? Would You give them peace? In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.