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We Can Always Count on the Lord!
The Book of Acts - Part 61
Acts 18:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - October 5, 2014
*Ben Franklin once said that the only sure things were death and taxes.
But that's not necessarily true.
I'm still looking for the rapture!
When you get down to it, the only sure things are the things of God.
God's Word is sure.
God's goodness is sure.
God's love is sure.
God's judgment is sure.
(1)
*And as we look into God's Word tonight, Christians, we can see some more sure things about our God, things we can always count on about our Lord.
1. First: We can count on the Lord's provision.
*In Philippians 4:19 Paul tells Christians that our God "shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
We can count on our God to provide everything we need in life.
And one of the greatest things He provides is other people.
The Lord will put new people in our lives, new Christians to help us, support us and work together with us in serving the Lord.
*We saw this truth last week in the opening verses of Chapter 18.
Here Paul was on his second missionary journey and he went down from Athens to Corinth.
There Paul met fellow-Christians Aquila and Pricilla.
*Verses 1-3 tell us that:
1.
After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.
2. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.
3. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.
*A.T. Robertson reported that the deportation in vs. 2 happened about 49 A.D. And it happened because the Jews were in a constant state of tumult about Christ.
Some of the Jews were rioting in opposition to Christianity, and the Jews were already unpopular in Rome, so the Roman Emperor simply had them all expelled.
(2)
*That was a terrible thing for those families who were uprooted, especially because most of them were totally innocent of any wrong-doing.
But Romans 8:28 says "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
That Scripture is always true!
And God used that decree to bring Aquila and Priscilla together with Paul.
*Church, they wound up being some of the closest Christian friends Paul would ever have.
William Barclay explained that "There is no more fascinating pair of people in the New Testament than Aquilla and Priscilla.
When Paul left Corinth and went to Ephesus, Acts 18:18 tells us that Priscilla and Aquila went with him and settled there.
*The very first incident related of Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus was typical of their godly lifestyle.
Apollos had come to Ephesus.
He was a brilliant Bible scholar, but Apollos did not yet have a full grasp of the Gospel.
So, Aquila and Priscilla took him into their house, gave him their friendship and instructed him in the faith (Acts 18:24-26).
From the very beginning Priscilla and Aquila were people who kept an open heart and an open door.
*Another time we hear of them, they were back in Rome.
The banishment of Jews by Claudius was no longer in effect.
And like many other Jews, Priscilla and Aquila had gone back to their old home.
(3)
*We know that Aquila and Pricilla were back in Rome because Paul sent greetings to them in the closing part of his letter to the Christians in Rome.
In Romans 16:3-4, Paul said:
3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
4. who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
*How wonderful it is to have friends who are even willing to risk their own necks for our lives!
And Church: That's the kind of friends God provides for us.
*Here in Acts 18, God also provided more new friends for Paul.
We know this because in vs. 4, Paul "reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
Then Paul was reunited with his old friends on the mission team, so vs. 5 says "when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ."
*In vs. 6-7, under the leadership of the Lord, Paul gave up preaching at the synagogue.
But when Paul left from there, God surrounded him with other people who cared.
So, vs. 7 says: "He departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue."
*Next in vs. 8, we see many more of the people God put in Paul's life: "Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized."
*Then down in vs. 10, one of the most comforting things the Lord said to Paul was this: "I have many people in this city."
These were people who cared for Paul, supported him, encouraged and loved him.
They were the kind of people we have right here in our church.
I see them in action almost every day.
*And these people who helped Paul were not perfect people, not by a long shot.
We find this out pretty quickly when we look at Paul's letters to the Corinthian church.
These Christians weren't perfect people.
But they were good, godly people.
They were the kind of people who will bless our lives, the Lord's people.
*And we can count on the Lord to put people like that into our lives, people who are not selfish and self-centered, but are looking out for others.
God will connect us with people who are looking for ways to bless and help other people, especially when they are going through hard times.
And by the way, God wants us to be like that too!
*But one of the greatest truths about being a Christian is that we can count on the Lord to provide everything we need.
Again, as Paul said in Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
2. Church: We can count on the Lord's provision.
We can also count on His presence.
*In vs. 9-10, Jesus revealed His presence to Paul in a special way:
9. . .
The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
10. for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.''
*Now, Jesus probably won't speak to us in a vision.
But we don't need a vision, because we have His written word on His presence with us!
As Jesus said in Matthew 18:20: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.''
*By His Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is surely here with us right now.
And we can always count on His presence.
David was so sure of this truth that in Psalm 139, he had this conversation with God:
7.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8.
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9.
If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10.
Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
*The same Lord who was close by David and there with Paul is also here with us right now, even though we can't see Him.
*Vicky Marra told about going to the bank with her brother and his 5-year-old daughter, Melissa.
As they got ready to leave, little Melissa ran ahead to open the heavy door.
She huffed and puffed and pushed.
Then she stepped back and started again.
Finally, she pushed with all her might, and the door opened!
*But the little girl didn't notice that her father's hand high above her head had actually opened the door for her.
At first, Aunt Vicky chuckled at her niece, but then Vicky realized that God does the same kind of thing for us every day.
(4)
*Jesus is certainly here with us at church right now, but He will also ride home with us in the car.
He will be right there with us at home, at work, in the hospital and wherever we go.
Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.
We can count on God to be right here with us in the good times and the bad.
So, trust in His unseen Hand.
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