THE SPREAD of the Gospel in the BOOK of ACTS WELCOME to FELLOWSHIP PRAYER REQUESTS PRAYER TEAM October 15-22

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WITNESSES THE SPREAD OF THE gospel IN THE BOOK OF ACTS WELCOME TO FELLOWSHIP PRAYER REQUESTS PRAYER TEAM October 15-22

October 12-18 WITNESSES THE SPREAD OF THE gospel IN THE BOOK OF ACTS Questions for WITNESSES Do you ever get discouraged? What encourages you? Who encourages you? Does the promiseActs to not be18 forsaken matter? How do we stand for Christ in a pagan world? PAUL’S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY c. AD 49 – 52 (Ac 15:3 9 –18:22)

THRACE Black Sea C E D O N N D P O N T US M A I A A Philippi Byzantium I A Amphipolis Neapolis N Thessalonica Y Samothrace Nicaea H A Berea Apollonia T t I I A Gulf on I sp Prusa B C lle T He O A Troas A Dorylaeum D e MYSIA g e L A a Thyatira A n I P A

A C H A I G Pisidian P A S ASIA

e G a Y Antioch A Athens Ephesus . Corinth R C s Iconium t H Cilician M Saronic Lystra Cenchreae P Gates Derbe I A s Gulf Sila u C nd s l a I Pau n L Tarsus a I m C Seleucia A Rhodes Pieria Antioch S Y as ab R CRETE S arn k U B ar . R d M A R I P an C Y I s e A M C t e I n d o i N t r e E r r O a Sidon O n e a n S e a H Damascus Tyre P

Caesarea I A Route of the Egnatian Way 0 100 km. PALESTINE A B R 0 100 miles Jerusalem A PAUL’S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY c. AD 49 – 52 (Ac 15:3 9 –18:22)

A C H A I G Pisidian P A S ASIA

Caesarea I A Route of the Egnatian Way 0 100 km. PALESTINE A B R 0 100 miles Jerusalem A PAUL’S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY c. AD 49 – 52 (Ac 15:3 9 –18:22)

A C H A I G Pisidian P A S ASIA

Caesarea I A Route of the Egnatian Way 0 100 km. PALESTINE A B R 0 100 miles Jerusalem A Corinth • It was an ancient city with a long history, strategic because of its location. • The current city is a few miles from the ancient location, making archaeological work quite accessible. • The Acrocorinth towered 1900 feet above the city with the Temple of Aphrodite (goddess of love) dominating it. Cult prostitutes roamed the city. • The city was destroyed by the Romans when they conquered Greece in 146 BC. Julius Caesar rebuilt the city as a Roman Colony in 46 BC. • It was at a crucial crossroads with ports to the east and west only two miles apart connecting the Saronic Gulf with the Corinthian Gulf. • The narrow isthmus on which it is located connects the Peloponnesus to the Greek mainland and connects the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea. • Corinth was famous as a center of commerce, idolatry, and pagan worship. • The Isthmian Games were held here every two years. Corinth worshiped the Emperor, upheld Roman law, pulsated with international trade, hosted athletic games, beckoned pagan worshipers, and thrived on slavery.

Chuck Swindoll Corinth Corinth Corinth Corinth Macedonia had not been kind to him. The churches he planted in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea came at great personal cost to him physically and emotionally. He performed brilliantly in Athens, but it resulted in little fruit—only a handful of believers to show for his time there. Trouble in Macedonia weighed heavily on his mind. Chuck Swindoll And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him cruciﬁed. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul reports that he came to Corinth “in weakness and fear, and with much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). This is understandable considering the pain he endured in his last few stops. Despite the divine call to Macedonia, he had been driven out of all three Macedonian cities in which he ministered. . . . Paul may not have anticipated encountering much receptivity to his message in Corinth because of its prosperity and reputation for immorality. Ajith Fernando PAUL'S PARTNERS

Witnesses make disciples wherever they go.

Acts 18:1-3 PAUL'S PARTNERS After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Acts 18:1-3 Suetonius (circa 69-122) claims that Claudius (r. AD 41-54) took this action because they were "constantly making disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” “Chrestus” was a common Latin name and may refer to a particular troublemaker. It may also refer to a controversy between Jews and the Jewish Christians over "the Christ,” and Suetonius misspells the name.

David Garland tentmaker, leather worker (σκηνοποιός) The word can describe a broad set of skills basically working with leather and hides, even weaving certain fabrics to make material and coverings. Certainly the manufacture of tents would have been included but perhaps not exclusively. Paul prided himself on working with his hands as an artisan (1 Cor. 4:12; 9:6; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:6-8). His menial labor comports with an ideal found in rabbinic literature for those who dedicate themselves to the study of the law (m. ‘Abot 2:2), but some of the Corinthians thought it demeaning.

David Garland PAUL'S PREACHING

Some witnesses focus their full attention on evangelism regardless of the response of the people.

Acts 18:4-8 PAUL'S PREACHING Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Acts 18:4-6 • Paul “reasoned,” allowing them to ask questions. • Paul “explained,” opening their minds and hearts. • Paul “proved” by answering their objections. • Paul “proclaimed” with clear authority. • The people were “persuaded” it was true. • He was a “witness” testifying his experience.

Ajith Fernando His friends Silas and Timothy rejoined him and brought him good news of the steadfastness of the Christians in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:6). Too, they evidently brought material help (cf. 2 Cor. 11:8; Phil. 4:15). This released him from some ﬁnancial pressure so that he was able to begin “devoting himself completely to the word.”

Charles Ryrie exclusively devoted to preaching, fully absorbed in the Word (συνείχετο τῷ λόγῳ) In a very literal sense the word can mean to hold something together to prevent it from falling to pieces. In the metaphorical sense, which is common, it means to hold your focus on something or to keep yourself occupied with something you are doing. opposed (ἀντιτάσσω) This word is quite intense and even suggests an organized opposition. This is not the spontaneous rejection of a crowd we have seen before that is almost like a riot. Here we have a considered and organized resistance. became abusive, mistreated (βλασφημούντων) While we most often think of this word in reference to God, it can be and is often used in relation to human beings. It is used to indicate disrespectful references or language that denigrates another. It most often implies that a person is being cursed, slandered, and condemned. PAUL'S PREACHING Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. Acts 18:7-8 By now, Paul must have started worrying about a repeat of the painful experiences he had in endured in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. He was after all, just a normal human.

Chuck Swindoll PAUL'S PROMISE

The Lord is with every witness always, even to the end of the age.

Acts 18:9-11 PAUL'S PROMISE One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. Acts 18:9-11 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 PAUL'S PERSECUTION The opposition of religious people to the gospel of grace is relentless. Acts 18:12-13 PAUL'S PERSECUTION While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Acts 18:12-13 Gallio is a Roman proconsul about whom we have much information. He was the son of the orator Seneca the Elder (ca. 50 BC-ca. AD 40) and the elder brother of the stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger (4 BC- AD 65). Although popular, he was also known to be anti-Semitic.

Darrell Bock PAUL'S PROTECTION In the end, witnesses will be protected and persecutors will be punished.

Acts 18:14-17 PAUL'S PROTECTION Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” So he drove them oﬀ. Acts 18:14-17 PAUL'S PROTECTION Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever. Acts 18:14-17 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctiﬁed in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ —their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 LESSONS FOR WITNESSES

Witnesses proclaim the gospel of grace and are ultimately vindicated when persecuted. LESSONS FOR WITNESSES Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. God sends encouragement in many ways. We are responsible to witness, not manipulate. God will bring justice, in His own time. We do not know the end at the beginning. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20