Acts 18:12-17

Acts 18:12-17 | Alex Sands

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Transcript

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Jesus had made a promise. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And the Holy Spirit came upon the church on the day of Pentecost. They are equipped to do what the Lord had called them to do. It's kind of like they woke up one day and they had a Ferrari in the garage. And they're able, equipped to do what the Lord had said to do. But how many of you know just because the Lord has called it, doesn't mean it's going to be easy. Again, the scripture, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. But Jesus never said that it would be easy. God's promises are not a guarantee that you won't face trouble, but they are a guarantee that you can outlast the trouble for his glory. We're going to see that today as we study in Acts chapter 18, verses 12 through 17. That's where we are today. The Lord makes us promises, and he makes us promises, and we're called to say, Yes, Lord, because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. He makes great, wonderful, precious promises that are available to us. He's made promises in his word, but also he'll speak to us and direct us and lead us through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can accomplish them. But that doesn't mean trouble isn't going to come. It comes. As we look at Acts chapter 18, verses 12 through 17 to put it on a timeline, this is about 20 years, 20 years after Pentecost, about 20 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A testament to the fact that the tomb was empty is that it continued, the gospel continued to move forward. People still believed, lives were still being changed. One man's life was changed, was a man named Saul of Tarsus. Jesus met him on the Damascus road, and he had a mission for Saul. You will be my witness to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul, in response to the Holy Spirit, Jesus' command, he was sent by Jesus. Well, he went to various places teaching the word. And we've been studying his second missionary journey. The past couple of weeks, we've been looking at his stop in Corinth. And the city of Corinth was a hard place. It was filled with immorality, filled with greed. And it wasn't a place that would be like, I really want to go to Corinth there. And if you want to live a godly life, all around you was ungodliness. But you know, that's exactly where God wants his people. He wants his people there. And Paul, he's there, he's alone at first, and he doesn't have any resources, but he bumps into Aquila and Priscilla, who happen to have the same trade, and they're able to work together, and Paul is able to sustain himself financially. And they are Aquila and Priscilla are being the beneficiaries of his gifts. So he's, and then Silas and Timothy arrive and he's elated, and he begins to become uh just like gripped by the word. And he's now not just able to teach on on uh on Sabbath, but now he's all the time able to teach and tell people Jesus is the Messiah. Well, that opposition rises because just because you're called by God doesn't mean you won't face opposition. But God promises that you can overcome the opposition. And what happens is Paul, he's been in this for a while now, and he understands that even though the opposition arises, it got to a point in the synagogue where the synagogue leaders were like, look, no more, we can't tolerate this, and they started to blaspheme and everything else. Paul just shook the dust off of his feet, shook his robe out, and he said, From now on, I'm going to the Gentiles. Not permanently, but within Corinth, he was going to focus on the Gentiles. And he went right next door to a man named Titius Justice House. He lived right next to the synagogue, and there he posted up, continuing to teach, continuing to lead people to belief in Jesus Christ. And in verse 8, as we covered last time, a miracle happened. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed. He was the leader of the synagogue, and so look, he he was, you know, head honcho. He believed. Never, never, never doubt, never think to yourself who God can't save. Amen. He believes. And then many believe, his whole household believes. And so there are many now. The church now is filled with many people. But then Paul gets a house call from Jesus. Verse 9, and the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid. And the and the and the word there, the way that do not be afraid, it's like it's stop being afraid. Yeah, the apostle Paul. He got afraid. That's the reason why Jesus comes to him. He's seen this story before. He's been beaten. He's been stoned. All of that, the the patterns are being played out. And you know, it's at night when you start to think of these things. At night, it all just comes back to rush. When you're settled, you can't. Oh, what is going to happen next? Jesus made a personal visit. He saw in a vision. Paul saw in a vision the Lord Jesus telling him, do not be afraid, but go on speaking. And do not what? Do not be silent. Why? For I am with you. What you need to know is, I am with you. What he told Moses, what he told Gideon, I am with you. I am with you. As long as the Lord is with us, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Jesus says, I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people. There are many more, Paul, who are going to come to faith. There are many more that are going to hear the word. There are many more who are going to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I have many more in this city. Go on speaking. I am with you. No one will attack you to harm you. So he stays on for a year and six months. He goes on for a year and six months. 18 months. That's longer than he's been anywhere else. Teaching in Corinth. A quote-unquote spiritually dark place. Teaching. Those disciples, they needed teaching. Now we continue. You know the story would be what we how we would write it. The church exploded. And just swept over and and every everything happily ever after. But that's not how the story ended. Today we'll see how it concluded in Corinth. Verse 12. But when Galio was pro-council 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. Oh my, my, my. The Jews made a united attack. And speaking of the Jews there, that is the uh the Jews who were opposed to Paul. You're talking about the Jewish leaders who uh had you know blasphemed against him and everything else. They mounted a united attack against Paul, and united meaning being on one accord, together with a singular purpose, having the same mind. It's been 18 months, he's been doing ministry yet there, but they're still holding a grudge. When the the Gallio, the pro-council, when he was pro-council, the Jews made this united attack. And listen to this word attack. Listen to what it means. To rise up in a sudden, organized, and hostile manner, standing over someone with aggressive intent. With aggressive intent, they brought him before the tribunal. That means that they brought him before Galileo. They brought him before the tribunal, and it's not a nice thing, and it's not saying it was violent, but it was forcefully. Paul didn't have a choice here. They were very aggressive in doing this. Let you know things haven't settled down. Let you know that things haven't de-escalated. What it shows us is that the Jews that had opposed uh Paul, it shows you they didn't go anywhere. You know the opposition to the gospel is not going anywhere, right? As long as people are faithful to living for Jesus, there will be opposition. If you want everyone to like you, not going to happen. Opposition will arise. But now they've had a coordinated, a coordinated response. They're of one mind, of one accord. But we've seen this before. This has happened already. Already on this second missionary journey when he was in Philippi. They, you know, but the some people brought um were so upset because Paul had driven a demon out of a out of a girl, and the slave owners brought him before the officials, and you know, they didn't even have an official court. They just beat him with rods, him and Silas, and threw him in jail. Wrongfully, he was a Roman citizen, but forcibly brought before the officials and beaten and thrown in jail. Attacked. Well, didn't Jesus tell Paul that this wasn't going to happen? Look at verse 10. Again, for I am with you and no one will attack. Everybody say attack. No one will attack you. No one will attack you to harm you. So we go back down to verse 12. Again, it's a united attack against Paul. So what's happening here? Did Jesus tell him the truth? Uh did Jesus uh something happen here? Just because we've got the Holy Spirit within us, just because the Lord has called us, and just because the Lord says no one won't, no one will attack you to harm you doesn't mean you're not going to be attacked. It doesn't mean when Jesus said no one will attack you to harm you, he wasn't saying that you won't be threatened. He wasn't saying that you won't be drugged before the officials. He didn't mean uh that that wouldn't happen, that they wouldn't slander him and drag him before. No, no, no. They were, Jesus was saying it was, I'm with you. They won't harm you. So again, God's promises are not a guarantee that you won't face trouble. They are a guarantee that you can outlast the trouble for his glory. We're familiar with Romans chapter 8, verses 35 through 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. They bring Paul before the tribunal. That is the judgment seat. It's Bima. A raised stone platform used by Roman officials to hear legal cases, pronounce public verdicts, and administer justice. This is where verdicts were rendered elevated above the people. So as they're bringing Paul before Gallio. Gallio is looking down upon him, and he's on a platform, and he can look down at the others, but there's the marketplace where everyone can hear the decisions that are made. So, so they've brought him before this, uh before Galileo and the tribunal, and is and he sees everyone, uh sees him, and and there the governor, that's what the pro-council was. The governor is there to make a decision. The governor is there, and they bring a case to him. That's what's happening. Verse 13. This man, and here is their charge, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. To worship God contrary to the law, and he keeps persuading them to do it. He keeps persuading them to do it. You won't stop. Now, when they didn't come before him and say, listen, he he's he's bringing this and he's bringing this, and when we we don't like his theology. Their charge is again, he is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. They're bringing this before the pro-council, not because of his violations against the law of Moses, but he's they're saying he's breaking Roman law. What is unique about this case? What is unique about Paul being uh here at the uh uh Bemis, place of judgment, right here in Corinth, is that this was the first time Paul had to defend the gospel before an official of the Central Roman government. The pro-council had full judicial authority. This isn't just like a mob coming together and they have little mayors or something like that. This dude was appointed by the emperor himself. His brother was Seneca. He's a great philosopher. This man was very educated and very connected. This is the first time, again, he's presented, he has been presented before an official of the central Roman government, and the cause is Paul is trying to lead people to worship an unsanctioned God. Unsanctioned worship. Judaism was sanctioned by the by the Romans. You can do that, you can practice Judaism, but the Jews' argument is this is a new religion. This is not Judaism, this is a new religion. And and there and this is illegal. And you need to put the end to it. But you know, here's the thing Paul is so precise, he wants to make sure that Theophilus understands that this is Gallio. And that Gallio came into, we know this from history, he came into his position in A.D. 51. This is a real person, real place, real time. You know, the Bible is anchored in history. It's not fables and stories about this and that. This is this is truth. And so this man, he comes into position. And from what everyone has said, he had a good disposition. He wasn't a tyrant, he was fair-minded, but he's new to the position. So now, when you think that, and you plug it in, it kind of makes sense why they're bringing Paul before him now. Bringing Paul before the pro-council now, because the Galileo is new. And maybe, maybe what we can do is because he's the new governor. Maybe we could just kind of, you know, exercise, flex a little bit. You want to make us happy. Look, this dude is a bad dude. He's trouble, and he's he's persuading people to worship God contrary to Roman law. They're not sanctioned, they're illegal. You never know, they might cause a rebellion. You want to do your job right. You just got here. Don't get fired your first week of office. You see, that's why it's been taking 18 months. Now they're thinking to think that they had this long simmering thing. He took Crispus, the synagogue leader, and then others came to all of those other Christians, and it's been bothering them and bothering them with the one thing they can do about it. But now they think they've got the plot, the scheme, they know what they can do, they can leverage and they can just say, Look, you don't want anything to happen under your authority. They're raising up a new religion, you don't want that to happen. But look, even though the weapon was formed, it did not prosper. What appeared to be a trap was actually a stage, a setup for God to get glory. Because we're gonna see, we're gonna see this. Watch this. Uh uh, he's persuading, he's persuading earnestly, he's persuading negatively, he is a threat, he is subversive, and so the Jews are trying to weaponize the government against the gospel, but it's always, always, always about Jesus. And here is the thing the courtroom scene is not proof that Jesus lied to Paul. This courtroom scene will be the exact place where the promise will be proven and even expanded. Because again, just the fact that he was threatened, just the fact that he's brought before the pro-council, it is, it doesn't, the pro-council of a chaotic, it doesn't mean that Jesus has failed. He said, no one's gonna attack you to harm you. And what God is getting ready to do, not only is he going to deliver Paul, but he is going to advance the kingdom and bring protection for the whole, the body of Christ. Our first kingdom truth is a God. Promised believers a safe landing. But he didn't say there wouldn't be turbulence along the way. Never said there wouldn't be turbulence. Never said it would be easy. He's made no promises about it. If you come to be a Christian because you think that your life will all be easy from there, no, sir, no ma'am. If the world crucified Jesus, what's going to happen to his followers, right? And so it's not ever promised to be easy, but we know we'll make it at the end. There may be turbulence, but we're going to arrive safely. The one who began a good work in you, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He's not going to stop. He's going to continue to perform that work. And the thing is, a lot of times what happens is we get to a place where if I can just get here, if I can just get to this point in life, then everything would be okay. If I could just get this amount in my retirement, or get this job, or get that house, or get that family, or name it, then that next stage of life, everything will be so easy. It doesn't work like that. That just means a new place you level up, the devils level up too. The demons, they got their own games. But but but but but God He will level you up by grace. But don't ever think there's a place in this life where it'll become easy. There will always be a struggle as long as you strive to live for God's glory. No weapon formed against you shall succeed. You shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me, declares the Lord. The weapons will be formed, the rumors will spread, uh, lawsuits will be brought out, all of that will happen, but it will not prosper. John 15, 20. John 15, 20 says, Remember the word I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. And in Paul's word to Timothy, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Amen, church. Here's the life application. Don't hear what God isn't saying. You see, some of us, if the Lord had come and said, no one will attack you to harm you, we would have thought to ourselves, nothing's going to happen from here on. I don't have to worry about the Jews ever again. They're not going to attack. We would have just heard the word attack. Don't hear what the Lord isn't saying. Jesus didn't say a weapon wouldn't be formed. Jesus didn't say that there wouldn't be a plot. Jesus didn't say that things wouldn't be challenging. He said, I'll meet every one of your needs. He never said that things would go along smoothly. Don't hear what God isn't saying. Church, the best life is to live life God's way. But living life God's way doesn't mean that it's all downhill. It's still the best life. But there are seasons of highs and lows, peaks and valleys. It won't settle down until we get into the next life. And God promises that He will get us there. It's Him. We started by grace. This thing will conclude by grace. But in between now and then, there will be struggle. Don't hear what God isn't saying. You often find people who are holding on to a prosperity gospel. Whether the prosperity is money or the prosperity is feelings. There's a different currency, but the same prosperity gospel, I'll always feel good. God doesn't promise we'll always feel good. But he promises he'll still be God. He will make you like Jesus through the difficulty. Doesn't mean he'll remove you from it, but grow you through it. Thank you, Jesus. Paul is chill. Paul doesn't know what the Lord is going to do here, but he's cool. The mob has gotten in the trap. They have set the trap and the accusation leveled, and you've got Galeo on the Bima seat. He's looking down, he's heard everything, and they finished their accusation. In verse 14, when Paul was about to open his mouth. I'm sure Paul had it already worked out in his mind. Paul, looks, Paul is sharp, educated, he knows the gospel. He's a Roman citizen. I mean, he's I mean, there's no telling what he had ready. He knows scripture. I'm sure his his his proverbial gun was loaded. Notice I said proverbial. Meaning he was ready to defend himself spiritually. But look, he didn't even get a chance. He was about to open his mouth. Right then, Galio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, if it was about those things. Well, old Jews, and don't miss that, the little bit of stinger in there, old Jews. If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, old Jews, I would have had reason to accept your complaint. Your complaint that you have lodged against this man. And wrongdoing. Wrongdoing speaks of an act of civil injustice, a violation of property rights, for example, a misdemeanor, a vicious crime is on another level. And that's an act of deception without regard for ethics, not regard for the other person. If this was a matter of that, either one of those two, I would have had reason to accept your complaint. Accept is a technical legal term meaning to put up with, to endure, to listen to, to grant a formal judicial review. I would have had reason, but since it is a matter of questions about words and names of your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. He says it's a matter of questions, and it is a matter of words, and it's a matter of names of your own law. Since it's about all of those things, you see to it yourselves. Not interested. Words, names, questions, and that's key. Well, I'll go ahead and tell you. I'll go ahead and tell you. Sometimes there's some battles you don't need to fight. Galileo here, he's not a Christian. He just showed up on the job. And the Jews make their plot, they plan, they they now have a united attack. They've been waiting for an opportunity, an open door. But they picked the wrong person. You see, he's really smart. He's very well educated. His brother was a tutor for Nero. The future emperor who will uh evil, wicked, burning down cities, killing Christians, all of that. That's where his lineage comes. He he's sharp. He knows what they're up to, and he knows his job. My job is not to judge these kind of decisions, because all it is is questions and words and names of your own law. Questions, words, names, Jesus, and you're quoting your scripture, so on. It's nothing to me. But you know what? God use, he can use secular people, people who don't believe in him to accomplish his purpose. None of this means anything. He doesn't even let Paul launch a defense. In fact, verse 16 says, He drove them from the tribunal. Get out. Get out to forcefully expel, to eject, to cast forth or thrust out. Get out of my presence. Stop wasting my time. I have lost patience. They just got started. See, it goes like how it is today in our court system. They don't lay all their cards out all at once. They just wanted to say, hey, guess what? He's he's he's doing something contrary to the law and against Roman law. You want to take care of this. They didn't show all their cards. But Galeo says, I've heard enough. He didn't even let them get in. He blocks it and then drove them from the tribunal. And see, he had guards with him. The guards were lictors, meaning they had on their backs like the swords, they would have the whips and all of that. They were like security. And so they didn't need to whip anybody. They just said, hey, y'all know what's gonna happen if you don't get out of the way. He said, go. And he drives them out. He wasn't born again. But God used him. And here is what's so key about this church that we could run past. If we're just reading really quickly, we'll miss this. By dismissing the case, Galeo rendered the Christian faith to be an internal branch of Judaism, not a cult, and therefore enjoy the protections, immunities, and status of an authorized religion. By making that decision, and because of his making that decision, and because of the position he occupied, other pro-councils, he is setting a precedent. He is setting a precedent, saying, listen, this growth, Christianity, yeah, there are a lot of Gentiles coming to it and Jews, but even though they're Gentiles now and they are claiming to be part of the same family of God, eating all the pork they want to and everything else, and Jews aren't acting like Jews, even with all of that, they are not a new religion. You can't persecute them for not being. So he's making it now. Listen, that doesn't mean it's gonna last. It lasts about 10 years, but because of what he did, it set a precedent by virtue of his position and his influence. By position, by uh dismissing the case, you rendered it. Did I give you the virtue? By virtue of, nope, I didn't. Let me read it to you. By virtue of his position and influence, his verdict set the precedent for many other provinces. And for 10 years, the church was able to spread the gospel without fear of state-sponsored interference. Not only did Jesus protect Paul, he protected the church. God took what the enemy meant for evil and turned it for good. Y'all know the song, right? He took what the enemy meant for evil. The Jews brought the case. The Jewish leaders brought the case. This wasn't Paul trying to appeal to see something happen. The Jewish leaders brought the case, and God providentially put the right man in the job. And from what I understand, he was only there one year. He got really sick and other things happened. God orchestrated even the adversaries against the church to protect the church. They wanted to use the machinery of Rome to crush the gospel, but instead of crushing the gospel, it put an umbrella of protection over. An absolute reversal. And the ones who had that the issue, the ones who had the uh the issue and the beef, they left in shame. They tried to bring Paul and tried to like you know, Paul to leave with shame, but that's what they thought would happen. But God flipped it. He completely turned around, changed the outcome. And so here is the kingdom truth. God often advances his kingdom through people who don't even know him, who don't know him, who don't accept him. God can use anybody. There isn't anyone God can't use to accomplish his purpose. That doesn't mean everyone is saved. What that means is God can use anyone because he is sovereign. Providentially put all the people in place. This whole, everything that happened in Corinth was God setting people in position. Setting up, bringing folks together, all for his glory, establishing a church in the most unlikely place. Proverbs 21:1. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. God isn't God just over the church. He's God over the boardroom, God over the courtroom. He's God at the executive office. He's the God in the police station. He is God everywhere. And he works everything according to the counsel of his will. And so, saints, remember this. When you're living for Jesus, every battle belongs to the Lord. There will be times, church, where you are called to speak up. But then there'll be times God will fight your battles without you saying a word. But if he's calling you to speak up and to speak out, he'll even put it in your heart and your mind what to say. And also, if you lean into him, he'll even let you know how to say it. The right tone, the posture, the timing, everything else. What we have to do is to simply trust him and don't hear what he's not saying and then run out early or try to take things into our own hands. When we try to take things into our own hands, which is our natural instinct, we're just going to fix it. We can do so much more harm. We could block what God is doing. You know, I you don't send the email yet. The Holy Spirit, you know, you typed it up, and there's just something the Lord won't let you click. I mean, there's some reason why, and then Ephesians 4.29 keeps coming to your mind. Let no corrupt communication come on out of your mind. Edification. But he needs to hear this. Because they sent this nasty email and you need to reply because you need to show them what's up. And you're going to CC everybody. Because they sent it to everybody. And you're going to blind copy some other folks too. You don't have to write or post everything you're thinking about. You don't have to reply to everything on social media. Sometimes you just wait, and God will give you a gracious answer in season. Or he'll just say, hold that in your draft box. I'll tell you when to release it. Because he's getting other folks prepared. Hey, God is so awesome. We don't need to manipulate or exaggerate or contort things. Just trust him. We need to do more praying than complaining. We need to talk to God more than our best friend. We need to fast more than we read and watch what everyone else is doing. We need to get away into our quote-unquote prayer closet, meaning just separating yourself for the Lord, whether it be a park or whatever. We need to do more of that. And he will lead in God exactly where we need to be. Do not allow yourself to be a slave to your instant reaction. Your first thought, usually in the best one. You know, when you're all in your feelings, just wait. Just wait. So we've seen God's protection displayed as he's protected Paul, and he's gone even further than that, giving this protection for the church. We have seen that his promises are true. There was an attack, but they didn't attack to harm him. But now watch this. There's even more. Verse 17. They all seized Sothenes. And that is to grab violently. The ruler of the synagogue. Wait. What mean is this? First question is, well, who are the they? Scholars don't know. It could just be the Jews, or it could be the Gentiles, or yes. All of the above. You know when a crowd is bloodthirsty, they take Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, the ruler of the synagogue, which means he was Crispus's successor. They take him and they beat him in front of the tribunal. And Galileo paid no attention to any of this. There was still tension. It didn't dissolve. They beat Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue. Maybe because he was spearheading this whole thing, and now the Jews are embarrassed. Because they got driven out, humiliated, and a whole crowd of people have seen it, and there's already anti-Semitic vibes amongst the Romans period just to begin with. So now they're embarrassed. So they and I'm and I'm sure you got some who just joined in, Gentiles just joined in because they could. They beat him. You know, some of us would say he got what he deserved. He shouldn't have tried this anyway. You know, a lot of cases the movie would stop right here. He got beat. Shouldn't have been messing with God. It's poetic justice. But, church, how many of you know God isn't a God of just poetic justice? He is a just God. But how many of you know he's also a gracious God? A compassionate God. This isn't the only time we see Sosthenes. A few years later, you fast forward, the apostle Paul writes a letter to the Corinthians. And in the beginning of the letter, he starts. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes. Wow. Now listen, it wasn't like Sosthenes was an unusual name. There's many who had that name, but this, he says this, you know the Sosthenes. I'm talking about Corinth because he was the ruler of the synagogue. How did this happen? What if it was all of his partners beat him within an inch of his life? And what happened? What if? I'm just saying, what if the one person who hung around was Paul? He knows what it's like. He knows what it's like to have people turn on. And God, you know, he doesn't, his spirit is not one of hatred and vengeance. He doesn't give us that spirit. Vengeance belongs to him. It's not in our job description. He gives us a heart of compassion. What if Paul and other Christians, maybe Christmas, help take care of this brother? Somebody had to teach him, somebody had to break it down. And Sosthenes made Jesus the Lord of his life. Don't you ever say who can't or won't be saved? Oh, yeah, God was protecting Paul, but he had a much bigger plan than that. He was protecting the church, advancing the kingdom. Our brother, kinship, family. The prosecutor became a partner. The one who held on to the hell to the hatred, now he's holding on to grace. God does a 180 in our lives. And they call him brother. Grace is stronger. Grace of God is stronger than men. The ultimate purpose of God in Corinth was not just to keep Paul safe, it was to make Jesus known. He wasn't just protecting Paul. He was even working to save Paul's fiercest opponent. I often think about Stephen, the first martyr. I think about how Paul observed it. He watched it. He was there. He saw it all. I wonder how that affected him as he was going on in ministry. He never let that go. Maybe even part of Stephen enduring what he did touched Paul in that way. Because Stephen said, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing, just like Jesus had said. And then the same Holy Spirit brings that reconciliation, that forgiveness. You know, grace transforms people. It's not hatred and all of that. It doesn't do the change. Final life principle is this. Your gospel opponents today may be your ministry partners tomorrow. Don't write anyone off. Let's always look at other people and say, what if God saved that person? Wouldn't they be awesome for the kingdom? Couldn't God do an amazing thing through them? I see so much passion in them. What if all that passion was directed toward God? We should always have that mindset. Because we don't know, we don't know who is going to receive it and who won't. We just have to trust that God does and we are called to sow seeds. Don't treat critics like permanent enemies. Pray. Pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you. Show kindness, proclaim Christ. Never stop believing there's a Savior that can save them just in the same way he saved you. God did an amazing work in Corinth in a dark place. A place where no one would have expected him to work. And then even as the Lord was doing all of this, things got started, God continued to amaze. It looked hard multiple times. But God worked a beautiful thing. Church, we have hard seasons. But in those hard seasons, let us trust that the Lord said, I will always meet every one of your needs. That's spiritual, that's physical, that's everything. Trust that he is working in ways we can't even begin to see, and that he is advancing the kingdom even through our pain and our struggle. Trust him with that. Believe him in that because he's doing it. And you can make it because the Holy Spirit is within you. God's Spirit dwells inside of you. And you can say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Let us pray. Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for your word. We pray, God, that it just hits fertile soil in our hearts, God, and that there would be just a great harvest. Help us to take this example. Lord, we we we we haven't had a personal visitation from you, Lord Jesus, but we know you would give, you give us everything that we need to continue to be strong, to make it in every moment of life. Thank you, Lord, for using us. Thank you for staying with us. Lord, we're praying for those that don't like us. People who don't like who we are, who we stand for. There are some Sosthenies out there now. Help us, Lord, to see them the way you see them. And be slow to respond, slow to anger. Help us to show grace and watch you do what you do. Thank you, Lord. We love you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.