105
Acts 18:9-11  GODS ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PAUL AT CORINTH

Introduction:

	In our text today the Apostle Paul stood in need of encouragement.  We can 
all identify with that.  It seems that we all need encouragement from time to 
time.  It seems to me that I need a little of it every day.  Does it seem that 
way to you?  Do you need some encouragement every day?

I.  Paul discouraged

	V. 9, “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not 
afraid...”  When I read this Scripture it was difficult for me to picture the 
Apostle Paul being discouraged.  Paul had always been so bold to speak his mind.  
Even before he was saved, he was bold to speak out against Christianity.  He not 
only spoke against it, he went to the officials and got authority to arrest 
Christians and throw them into prision.  Then after he got saved, he was bold to 
speak for Christ and to promote the gospel of Christ.  He was bold to dispute 
with the Jewish leaders and to seek to show them that the Old Testament 
Scriptures teach that Jesus is the Christ. Then after Paul went on the mission 
field, he was always so bold to speak the gospel message even in the face of 
personal danger.  In one city he would be threatened and beaten and run out of 
town, but he would go to the next city and boldlly preach the gospel message 
even though he knew that his life would be in danger for doing so.  So it is 
hard for me to picture Paul as being discouraged and in need of encouragement.  
	 But in this text Paul was discouraged.  The Lord made a special apperance 
to Paul in a vision to speak words of encouragment to Him.  The Lord does not do 
things needlessly.  The Lord would not have made this special effort to 
encourage Paul if Paul had not been discouraged.  
	From our previous text we can see why he would be discouraged.  When Paul 
would enter a city if there was a Jewish synagogue in that city, he would attend 
worship services at the synagogue and he would witness to those present that 
Jesus is the Christ.  He would inform them that even though Jesus had been 
crucified, yet He lives.  He had been raised from the dead.  He would inform the 
people that forgiveness of sin is to be found only by trusting in Jesus as the 
Christ and, therefore, man’s oly hope of going to heaven is by trusting in Jesus 
Christ to save him from his sin.  Paul was very bold in proclaiming this 
message.  
	Right there in the city of Corinth, Paul had spent several weeks attending 
the Jewish synagogule and reasoning with the people about Jesus being the 
Christ.  But he had had little success.  The very opposite was the case.  Most 
of the Jewish leaders in that synagogue were dead set against the gospel 
message.  They vehemently denied that Jesus is the Christ and blasphemed the 
name of Jesus.  
	When Paul saw that he was not getting anywhere with most of the Jewish 
leaders and with most of the Jewish people, he became discouraged and stopped 
attending the synagogue.  He announced that he would spend his efforts trying to 
reach the Greeks, who were more inclined to listen and to believe his message.  
	One thing that should have been encouraging to Paul was that Crispus, the 
chief ruler of the synagogue along with all of his household, believed Paul and 
got saved.  Another thing that should have been encouraging to him was that the 
Greeks were still willing to listen to him and to give consideration to the 
gospel message.  
	Still another encouraging thing was that Justus, had opened up his home to 
Paul so that Paul could preach the gospel and hold church services right next 
door to the Jewish synagogue.  
	But in spite of all that should have been encouraging and uplifting to 
Paul, Paul was discouraged.  More than that....Paul was scared.  He was afraid.  
On a previous occasion he had been beaten and left for dead.  He feared that he 
might be beaten again.  He may have fearded that this time he might not survive.  
He knew full well the danger that he was in and he was afraid.  

II.  God’s encouragement to Paul 

	God spoke to Paul and said, “...be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy 
peace.”  God encouraged Paul not to dwell on what had happened to him in other 
cities.  God encouraged Paul not to dwell on what might happen to him in the 
city of Corinth.  God encouraged Paul to focus his attention upon the task of 
speaking out for Jesus.  He was to speak out.  He was not to hold his peace for 
fear that something would happen to him if he should speak.  God had much more 
work that he wanted Paul to do in Corinth.  
	Then God made Paul a promise.  V. 10, “For I am with thee...”  God said, 
“You speak up and be not arfraid of the people because I will be with you.  
Paul, don’t be afraid because the Almighty presence of God will be with you.  I 
have a work for you to do and I will be with you to enable you to do it.”  
	God continued to encourage Paul.  (V. 10), “... and no man shall set on 
thee to hurt thee...”  Now God was not saying that no man will ever hurt you.  
But God was saying that nobody in this city of Corinth was going to hurt him.  
You do not need to fear that you are going to be stoned here at Corinth.  I am 
with you and nobody is going to hurt you;.  
	(V. 10), “... for I have much people in this city.”  God was not saying to 
Paul that I have a lot of people here who are already saved.  Rather He was 
saying, “I have a lot of people here who are ready to listen and willing to 
trust Jesus and be saved and willing to be taught my truths after they are 
saved.  I want you to be bold to speak to them the message of salvation and to 
be faithful to teach them my ways after they are saved.”

IIL  The results of God’s encouragement to Paul
  
	V. 11, “And he continued [there] a year and six months, teaching the word 
of God among them.”  So instead of Paul being run out of town almost immediately 
after he got a church started as had happened at most of the previous places he 
had done mission work, Paul stayed at Corinth for a year and a half.
	Now I know that a year and a half seems so short compared to the three 
years that he would later stay at Ephesus and in comparison to the lengthy stay 
that the Apostle John is said to have stayed at Ephesus.  It is short to the 
thirty-three years that I spent at Pleasant Hill.  But that year and a half was 
lengthy in comparison to the short stay that Paul had made at most of the places 
where he had been.  
  
IV.  Encouragement needed today

	I have already acknowledged to you that I often find myself in need of 
encouragement.  I suspect that most of you have also already acknowledged that 
you often stand in need of encouragement.  It is easy to see that most all of us 
need encouragement.  We need a lot of encouragement.  
	Children need encouragement.  They need a lot of encouragment.  They need 
to be encouraged to attend church and Sunday school every Sunday.  They will 
usually gladly do so if only they receive the proper encouragement from adults.  
	The teens need encouragement.  They need a lot of encouragement.  They 
need an extra lot of encouragment.  They need encouragement from their parents 
and grandparents.  They need encouragement from their Sunday school teachers and 
other leaders in the church.  They need encouragment from other Christian teens.  
	Parents need encouragement.  They need an extra big load of encouragment.  
Being a parent can be a great joy, but it can also be a heavy load.  They need 
all the encouragment they can get.  
	The sick and afflicted need encouragment.  Pain and suffering can let the 
air out of one’s tires.  It can make it all too easy to give up.  To just quit.  
	Those who are lost in sin should be encouraged.  One thing that should 
encourage the unsaved person is the fact that God loves him (or her).  He loves 
the unsaved in spite of his sin.  Another thing that should encourage the 
unsaved is the fact that Jesus has died on the cross of Calvary in order to 
provide a way of salvation.  Furthermore, the fact that God has promised that 
whoever will place his faith in Jesus Christ to save his soul will be saved.  
Furthermore, it should encourage the lost person to know that Jesus has invited 
him to come to Him and to trust Him for salvation.  
	There is one other person who needs encouragement and you may be surprised 
to learn who it is.  That person is the pastor of the church.  You may think 
about him the way that I thought about the Apostle Paul.  I just had a hard time 
realizing that the Apostle Paul gets discouraged and you may have a difficult 
time realizing that your pastor needs some encouragement.  Now don’t expect God 
to send him a vision in the night to lift his spirits.  But it could just be 
that God would like to use you to lift his spirits.  Maybe you can speak just 
the word that he needs to lift him us and give him the encouragement that he 
needs.  
	God wanted Paul to be encouraged and He set out to encourage Paul.  God 
spoke to Paul in a vision to encourage him.  God promised to be with Paul and 
that should have encouraged him --- and did.  God wants you to be encouraged.  
God wants you to be encouraged and God will seek to encourage you.  You need not 
expect God to speak to you in a vision and give you encouragement in that 
particular way.  But God will speak to you through the pages of His Bible.  God 
had made some very definite promises that should encourage you.  God has 
promised to be with you.  The Lord Jesus Christ has said, “I will never leave 
you nor forsake you.”
	
Conclusion:  

	Let me say to each of you personally that God loves you and wants to 
encourage you today in whatever way your heart needs lifting.  If you are 
unsaved, God not only loves you, but He wants you to be saved.  He wants you to 
cry out to Jesus and trust Jesus to save your soul so that you will spend 
eternity in heaven.  
	If you are saved, God loves you and wants to use you in His service.  He 
wants to use you to witness to the unsaved and tell them about Jesus Christ, the 
Savior.  He wants to use you to lift the spirits of the saved and to lift the 
spirits of those with whom you come in contact.  Give people a smile.  Speak and 
encouraging word.  Lift their spirits.