Next Steps
Overview
Walking the Mission by Trust
Following the Lord on mission often feels like a blindfolded trust walk—one step at a time, listening for the voice of the One leading us. Paul's arrival in Corinth Acts 18:1 shows this kind of obedience under pressure. After a tepid response in Athens, Paul entered a city of roughly 200,000 people known for commerce, constant traffic from its two ports, and the temple of Aphrodite with its sacred prostitutes. By his own admission, he came "in weakness and in fear and in much trembling" 1 Corinthians 2:3, determined to "know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" 1 Corinthians 2:2.
In Corinth the Lord provided companions—Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers and likely already Christians, exiled from Rome under Claudius's decree. Paul worked alongside them through the week and reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia with a gift, Paul devoted himself fully to proclaiming that the Messiah was Jesus Acts 18:5. Met with opposition, he shook the dust from his garments—a gesture echoing both Ezekiel's watchman charge Ezekiel 33:9 and Jesus' instructions to his disciples Luke 9:5. The rejection was not finally of Paul but of the salvation he proclaimed. Yet Paul did not flee far; he simply moved next door, into the home of Titius Justus, where Crispus the synagogue official and his whole household believed and were baptized Acts 18:7-8.
Then came the Lord's vision with three promises that anchored Paul for eighteen months of ministry: "I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people" Acts 18:9-10. These same promises hold for us. The Lord is with us through His Word, absolution, and the Supper. No mortal—and not even the devil, whom Christ has defeated—can harm us eternally, for "in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Psalm 56:11. And the Lord still has many people in our cities whom He intends to call through ordinary believers speaking the gospel.
Paul's journey rarely matched his plans—forbidden from Asia and Bithynia, redirected to Macedonia where he found Lydia rather than the man of his vision Acts 16:6-10. He moved step by step, sometimes through a closed door, sometimes through a vision, always by trust. Our culture can feel as morally bleak as Corinth, but that is not a reason to give up; it is a reason to listen, take the next step, and speak. Especially in this season of Advent—an active waiting—we share the news that Christ was crucified for sinners, raised from the empty tomb, and is coming again. Put on the blindfold of trust. He is with you. No one will harm you eternally. And He has many people in this city.
Transcript
I love games. 0s
I love interactive games. 2s
I love physical games, not much of an athlete, 5s
but I like physical games. 7s
One of my favorite games to play in a youth group 9s
is a trust game. 13s
Have you ever played the trust game 18s
where one person gets blindfolded 20s
and they get led through an obstacle course 23s
just by the words. 28s
By being directed by a friend, 29s
there is a lot of trust to be found in teenagers, 32s
leading one another with one of them blindfolded, right? 37s
A lot of trust. 41s
And a lot of times when we're going about our daily lives, 42s
trying to live as good Christian people, 47s
we try to listen to the Lord and listen for direction 52s
from the Lord and it can really feel 54s
like one of those trust games 58s
where we are blindfolded, not really necessarily knowing 60s
where we're being led if there's actually something 64s
that we're supposed to climb over or if our friends 67s
are having a joke on our half, on our at our expense. 70s
But we listen and we try to get directed 74s
and pulse journey. 77s
His mission so often is a complete exercise in trust. 79s
He has to listen to the Lord and listen to where the Lord 86s
is leading him. 92s
Just to back up a little bit and recap 94s
where we were last week, Paul had just been in Athens. 98s
He had been driven out of a couple of cities. 102s
He had been driven out of Thessalonica. 105s
He had been driven out of Beria 107s
and he found himself in Athens. 109s
And he was preaching the word of God. 112s
He was explaining the unknown God, 115s
explaining who that God is in pagan Athens. 121s
He was using theism because they had a lot of little G. 124s
Gods. 129s
He was using theism to teach them about the God, 129s
the one and only God who we know to be the Triune God. 135s
He was using that and it wasn't quite 140s
establishing a church in Athens 145s
as he had seen in other towns. 147s
The reaction he got was kind of a, 150s
man, we'll hear you about this later 153s
or we'll hear you about this again. 156s
But they weren't enthused. 159s
They weren't excited. 161s
They weren't begging or clamoring to hear more 162s
as the Jews in Beria had done. 166s
So he had just left Athens 170s
after this sort of nia response. 173s
And he found himself in Corinth. 176s
And this is exactly where we're picking up 178s
in verse 1 of chapter 18 today. 181s
It says after this Paul left Athens 184s
and went to Corinth. 186s
Now Corinth was a city of about 200,000 people. 188s
So this is a large city in Greece. 193s
Athens was known as sort of the intellectual center 197s
of the world, right? 201s
That's where the philosophers would come 203s
and they would discuss and they would argue and debate 205s
over everything, different philosophies. 209s
Well, Corinth was really known for its commerce. 213s
It had two ports. 218s
It had trade routes in every direction. 220s
So it had people in and out of the city 223s
all day long, every single day. 226s
And in the city of Corinth, they had a temple 230s
where they worshipped the goddess Aphrodite. 234s
And part of their temple worship was to have 238s
about 1,000 sacred prostitutes. 242s
Corinth was known for its immorality. 248s
It was known to be kind of a wasteland 251s
as far as morals or values are concerned. 256s
And this is where Paul is headed. 261s
This is where he went. 265s
He was entering a city that was very, very strategic 268s
from a missional standpoint. 272s
I mean, think about it. 275s
He has people in the city in and out all day long 276s
with the trade. 280s
He's got a town that is worshiping 281s
through sacred prostitutes, the goddess of Aphrodite. 285s
He has a lot of people that he can go and call to repentance. 289s
He can go to them, call to them or call them to repentance. 295s
But he wasn't necessarily really rear into go. 298s
He wasn't eager to go to Corinth, necessarily. 302s
In second Corinthians, he wrote, 306s
I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 308s
This isn't very surprising. 317s
Think about his journey so far. 320s
He had been beaten. 322s
He had been tortured. 324s
He had been thrown into prison without due process. 325s
He had argued and debated the scriptures. 328s
He had been thrown out of or chased out of several cities. 331s
And now he's facing a city that is the epitome of immorality. 335s
Let's continue in verse two. 343s
There, he founded Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus 346s
who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, 349s
because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. 353s
Paul went to see them and because he was of the same trade, 357s
he stayed with them and they worked together. 360s
By trade, they were tentmakers. 363s
Every Sabbath, he would argue in the synagogue 366s
and would try to convince Jews and Greeks. 368s
The Greeks in this one were not necessarily pagan Greeks, 373s
but more probably the Godfierers. 376s
Those who had converted to Judaism without the circumcision. 380s
So they were believers in God, but not circumcised. 385s
During the year 49, there was a decree 391s
that went out in Rome. 395s
The Emperor Claudius had banished or exiled all the Jews 397s
due to disturbances in the city. 402s
A Roman historian of the first century, 406s
Svetonius, he wrote of the decree. 409s
He said that the Jews were making constant disturbances 412s
at the instigation of Christus. 415s
Hmm, disturbances did happen. 421s
They happened all over the synagogues. 425s
They happened all in the cities where the gospel was being proclaimed. 427s
And according to scholars, 434s
those people who were exiled were probably not the Jews. 437s
They were probably Jewish converts or converts to Christianity. 443s
Those were the ones that were blamed for these disturbances, 448s
because at the heart of the disturbances, 452s
it was whether Jesus was the Christ or not. 456s
And so Claudius, he exiled these Jews 460s
or these Christians to be gone. 465s
And so Aquila and Priscilla were most likely 468s
already Christian converts. 472s
So they had gone to Corinth in the exile 474s
or in the banishment, and they had set up shop there. 477s
Upon arriving in Corinth, Paul meets them. 481s
He connects with them. 484s
They find out they have a shared trade. 485s
They welcome him in and they work together all week long. 488s
They're working together, earning money together. 492s
Paul was a worker. 496s
He was a bi-vocational pastor or missionary. 499s
He earned his money in second Thessalonians. 503s
He wrote that he did not rely on others, 509s
but he received when Silas and we're getting here. 513s
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, 517s
they brought with them a gift. 519s
So Paul was working throughout the week with Aquila and Priscilla 522s
and then on the Sabbath, he would go back to his pattern. 526s
He would go to the synagogue and he would preach. 530s
He would argue or reason through the scriptures 534s
with the Jews and the Greeks about Jesus, 538s
continuing in verse 5. 542s
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, 544s
Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word testifying 547s
to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. 551s
So once Silas and Timothy arrived in Corinth 556s
and brought that gift with them 560s
and the good news about the church in Thessalonica 564s
that they were doing okay, 567s
he was able to stop focusing on the tent making 569s
and really devote his time to proclaiming the good news 572s
to witnessing and being a full-time missionary, 577s
continuing in verse 6. 582s
When they opposed and reviled him in protest, 584s
he shook the dust from his clothes 587s
and said to them, 590s
your blood be on your own heads. 592s
I am innocent. 596s
From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. 598s
So what's the response that Paul receives? 603s
The Jews and the Greeks, those God fears, 607s
they aren't the pagan Greeks, they oppose him, 610s
they revile him and yet again, it's a harsh reaction. 613s
They don't want to have anything to do 620s
with what he's bringing them. 623s
And this time, even though he had been beaten, 626s
he had been driven out of towns, 629s
he would go back and go back and go back this time, 631s
something's different. 635s
He reacts in a different way 636s
and he, in a symbolic gesture, 638s
shakes the dust from his clothes 641s
and declares them to be guilty on their own 643s
that he is innocent. 646s
There is a biblical precedent for this. 649s
The Lord in the book of Ezekiel, 653s
the Lord told the prophet Ezekiel, 655s
he said, if you warn the wicked 658s
and they do not turn from their wickedness 660s
or from their wicked way, 663s
they shall die for their iniquity 665s
but you will have saved your life. 666s
Paul has warned. 670s
Paul has proclaimed and in the face of rejection, 672s
he declares himself innocent. 676s
Their guilt is not on him because he has warned them. 680s
He has proclaimed forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ to them. 685s
This gesture of shaking the dust from the garments 693s
is also reminiscent of what Jesus had told his disciples 696s
to do in Luke 9. 699s
He sent his disciples out to proclaim and to heal, 703s
proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing 707s
and he said to them, wherever they do not welcome you, 709s
as you are leaving that town, shake the dust off your feet 714s
as a testimony against them. 718s
It's a break of fellowship. 721s
Paul was absolutely faithful to his call. 724s
He went to the Jew first and then to the Gentile, 727s
but he was exempt from any further responsibility for them. 732s
It wasn't a matter of the Jew rejecting Paul. 737s
He wasn't concerned about that. 741s
He had been rejected before. 743s
It was that they were rejecting salvation. 745s
They were rejecting the word that Paul was bringing to them. 749s
In 2 Corinthians, he said, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, 754s
I did not come proclaiming the mystery or the testimony of God to you 759s
in lofty words or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you, 764s
except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 770s
That's the word he brought to them. 775s
He brought to them the news that Christ had died for their sins, 777s
that Christ had been crucified on account of the sins of the world, 781s
that he had been resurrected and overcome sin, overcome the grave, 786s
overcome death itself, and they rejected it. 792s
They did not want to hear it. 797s
Jesus was rejected by man in his own time. 801s
Jesus was rejected. 806s
Jesus was hung on a cross because he was rejected by the men of his day and age. 809s
He was counted amongst the cursed during his time, 817s
and he was crucified. 823s
And here in Corinth, when Paul was bringing the good news of salvation through Christ, 826s
he is rejected again. 834s
We continue in verse 7, then he, that's Paul, left the synagogue, 838s
and went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. 843s
His house was next door to the synagogue. 848s
Christ's best, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, 851s
together with all his household, and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul 855s
became believers and were baptized. 859s
I love this. 863s
When Paul left the synagogue, when he shook his garments, 863s
and he said, this fellowship is broken, 866s
I am going to the Gentiles. 869s
You have rejected it. 871s
They need to hear it. 873s
He didn't go across town. 875s
He didn't go to another city. 877s
He went next door. 878s
He went right next door to the synagogue. 880s
And Titius just opened up his home, 883s
and that really became home base of the Christian church in Corinth. 885s
And another Jewish convert was Christmas, 892s
who was an official in the Jewish synagogue. 895s
So they left the synagogue, went right next door, set up church. 901s
They had an official from the synagogue, come over, 907s
his whole household believed and was baptized. 910s
So was Paul done? 914s
Could he go? 916s
Could he move on? 918s
No! 920s
No, he couldn't. 922s
How frustrating that must have been. 925s
But he was given a word of comfort, 930s
and a word of strength. 933s
Verse 9, one night, the Lord said to Paul in a vision, 935s
do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent. 939s
For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you. 945s
For there are many in this city who are my people. 950s
He stayed there a year and six months, 953s
teaching the Word of God among them. 956s
How frustrating it can be to evangelize. 960s
Have you ever had those moments where you are so gung-ho, 964s
you are ready to witness, and you know it's the time, 968s
and it's the place, and it's the person, and you're just preaching, 970s
and you get a... 973s
Mmm. 974s
It's really frustrating, and it's really hard, 978s
and it would be really, really easy to give up. 983s
But truly, we don't know God's plan. 988s
We don't know how He's laid out our missions for us. 993s
Paul didn't know how the mission was going to be laid out before him. 997s
But we have to listen, and we have to trust, 1005s
and we have to follow, and go where we're led. 1009s
Think about Paul, and his mission, missional journey. 1014s
He really had to take it, step by step by step. 1017s
If you recall, he had a plan. 1022s
Paul had a plan for this second journey of his mission. 1025s
He wanted to go, well, Acts 16, it says, 1030s
they went through the region of Frigia in Galatia, 1034s
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 1036s
So he had a plan to go to Asia, but he wasn't allowed. 1040s
Then they attempted to go into Bithinia, 1045s
but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 1047s
A vision appeared to Paul in the night. 1051s
A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, 1054s
come over to Macedonia and help us, 1058s
and when they got to Macedonia, did they find a man? 1060s
No, they found Lydia. 1064s
A woman. 1066s
Nothing went according to Paul's plan or idea of his missional journey. 1068s
It would have been so simple for him to give up. 1075s
At every turn, it was something different than what he expected, 1080s
but he went where he was directed, and he listened, 1087s
and the Lord would guide him. 1093s
And sometimes he guided with a no, 1095s
don't go there, don't go to Asia. 1098s
And sometimes he guided with a vision like he received in Corinth. 1101s
In Paul's vision, the Lord made three promises. 1106s
He said, I am with you. 1110s
No man shall harm you, 1113s
and I have many people in this city. 1115s
My friends, the Lord makes those same promises to you and to I. 1120s
Every single day. 1129s
Think about this, the Lord is with you. 1132s
The Lord is with you every single day. 1134s
You can be assured of this every single week. 1138s
When His word is proclaimed to you. 1143s
When you hear that word of forgiveness in the ab solution after we confess our sins, 1145s
the Lord is with you in communion in which He invites you to see, 1153s
to taste, to smell, 1159s
that forgiveness of your sins through the bread and the wine, 1161s
his body and blood. 1166s
No man can harm you. 1169s
In Psalm 56, 11, it says, 1171s
God, I trust, I am not afraid. 1173s
What can a mere mortal do to me? 1175s
You are not harmed eternally because Christ has taken care of that for you. 1181s
He has forgiven your sins. 1189s
He has washed you clean from your sin. 1190s
No man can harm you eternally. 1197s
Sure, they can punch you. 1200s
They can be you, they can throw you in jail. 1202s
They can mock you, they can spit on you, 1204s
but they can't harm you eternally. 1206s
They have no control, no mortal has any control over you eternally. 1210s
And I've got even better news. 1216s
Christ has defeated the devil, 1219s
so the devil has no control over you eternally either. 1222s
No mortal can harm you. 1229s
It is God who has cared for you through his son, Jesus Christ, 1233s
who has taken care of the big stuff through Jesus upon the cross, 1239s
who is dying for you for your sin, 1246s
to reconcile you to himself, 1248s
so that you may live with him forever, 1252s
that today truly is but one day in all eternity. 1255s
No man can harm you. 1261s
And the Lord has many people in this city. 1265s
That's good to know. 1271s
That is so good to know. 1272s
The Lord is not done. 1274s
The Lord has so many more people to call into faith. 1276s
And what's really exciting is that the way that the Lord calls people into faith 1280s
is through you and you and you and you and you 1286s
through the words that he puts upon our lips 1292s
to proclaim and to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. 1297s
We are put in great fine. 1305s
South Lake, Kaliville, in the DFW Metroplex, 1308s
because God has many people in this city. 1312s
And he's not going to waste our time. 1318s
And we are not going to waste his time. 1323s
We are called to bring that word of good news to our own world. 1327s
We can look around and we feel like we are in a society 1335s
that is the epitome of immorality. 1340s
But that doesn't mean we give up. 1346s
It doesn't mean we call it a day. 1348s
It means we listen. 1352s
We put on our blindfolds and trust that God will lead us 1355s
to where He wants to take us. 1363s
And we take that step. 1368s
And then we listen and we take that next step. 1372s
And we'll see upon our journey, upon our missions, 1375s
God will put people in our path every single day 1381s
that we get to tell them that Jesus Christ died for their sins, 1386s
that Jesus Christ was resurrected and that we worship a living God 1391s
because the tomb is empty, which tells us that the sacrifice for our sins 1396s
was accepted and that we are reconciled to God. 1403s
That is our mission. 1409s
That was Paul's mission way back when. 1412s
And that's our mission today and it will always be our mission 1417s
until Christ comes again. 1420s
In the season of Advent, it's a season of waiting, 1424s
of anticipation, anticipating Christ and the Christ 1428s
child. 1433s
But it's an active waiting while we wait for Christ to come again. 1435s
We are actively sharing the good news so that the wedding feast, 1440s
the banquet in heaven, will be that much greater, that much larger. 1448s
And we can trust that God will lead us all to where we need to go. 1455s
So I invite you this week to put on those blindfolds, figuratively. 1463s
Put on those blindfolds, listen to the Lord and listen to where He is leading us. 1469s
Because He is with you. 1476s
No man will harm you and there are many people in this city for you to call, 1480s