In his sermon 'Marvelous Grace to Weary Saints,' Peter Allison explores the experiences of the Apostle Paul during his time in Corinth, as recounted in Acts 18. Paul, weary from his missionary journey and facing physical, emotional, and financial burdens, finds solace through God's grace. In Corinth, he meets Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers and believers, who provide him with fellowship and support. The return of Silas and Timothy with encouraging news further uplifts Paul. Despite the immoral environment of Corinth and his own discouragement, Paul is encouraged by God's promises and continues his ministry for 18 months. The sermon emphasizes the importance of God's word, fellowship among believers, and the power of encouragement to sustain faith. Allison concludes by urging believers to find strength in Scripture, community, and the examples of other saints, and to view trials as opportunities for growth and joy.

Our scripture reading for our message today is Acts, Chapter 18. We've been going through this book of Acts. Last week we saw Paul in Athens delivering the famous sermon on Mars Hill. And we pick up the account in the middle of his second missionary journey at verse 1 of Acts 18. After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth 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, so because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, He shook his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 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. Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city." And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for this Your Word. We ask that You might open it to us. Give us eyes to see and to understand. We ask that You might transform us by Your Word. And we ask for your presence as we continue to worship now.

And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips to proclaim your good news. In Jesus' name, amen. Weariness of the flesh can be a great cause, a great factor in discouragement. When you're tired and you're hungry and you're cold and you're shivering and it hasn't gone well, it's very easy to be discouraged. And I'm sure that all of you can relate to those times in your life.

Well, Paul was in a point like that in his ministry. He's still probably recovering physically from the caning that he received in Philippi. People in modern times have said that it takes many months to heal from caning. And Roman caning was probably much worse than what is administered today in some places. Paul has had close calls with angry mobs at Thessalonica and Berea.

He's escaped under stressful conditions from Thessalonica to Berea, and then from Berea to Athens. And in Athens, he began boldly preaching in response to the pervasive idolatry in the city and he's taken to the Areopagus and asked to give an account and asked to elaborate on this strange message that he was preaching. And the Areopagus was a court, and in the past it did condemn people to death. And so I think in part to avoid any potential future prosecution by the Areopagus, Paul leaves for Corinth, fifty miles away. So we pick up in verse 1 that where he comes to Corinth, this is another very large city.

And where Athens was overrun with idols, Corinth is overrun with sexual immorality." In fact, to Corinthian eyes, meant to fornicate. And there were a number of other terms around Corinth that referred to similar things. And so we see evidence of this in the letters that Paul wrote to the church. He had to deal with the case of gross sexual immorality in the church that was not being addressed by the leadership. Something that even he said the Gentiles recognized was wrong.

And so I think this overwhelming evil, this overwhelming pervasive immorality is discouraging. Remember, Lot was vexed with the sexual immorality in Sodom. And Paul was provoked by the, as we noticed, by the idolatry in Athens. Even the Lord is said to be wearied by sin. In Malachi 2, 17, He says, you have wearied Jehovah with your words, and yet you say, in what way have we wearied Him?

Part of Elijah's great discouragement was not only the threats of Jezebel, but probably also the pervasive idolatry of Israel. Think about, he's one prophet of the Lord and 950 prophets and prophecies to Baal and ashtore in that land. And so, Paul is discouraged, probably, oppressed, he's wearied, by this pervasive immorality in Corinth. But he's also alone in Corinth without his support team. Remember, he came there alone.

Being without fellowship can be difficult. But it's especially difficult in times of stress, in times of difficulty, in times of affliction, in times of uncertainty, such as Paul has been enduring. It's very helpful in those times to have fellowship, to have ministry partners to discuss things with, to have others to come alongside and just say, we're praying for you. And we see the difficulty. Just for somebody to notice, remember Hagar was encouraged because she recognized that the Lord saw her in her distress.

And she said, you are the God who sees. So just noticing people's distress can be an encouragement. In Colossians 3.16, Paul said, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. You see, this is how we as saints and believers are encouraged and built up and by God's grace, enabled to persevere. And so whether you're someone who can enjoy and appreciate lots and lots of alone time, or whether you're somebody who thrives in the presence of other people and feeds on that energy, we all need fellowship.

We all need the encouragement and comfort that saints bring to one another. And so Paul is here in Corinth without any of that support. Another reason that a text gives for his concern in verse 5 is a great burden that Paul is bearing. It says when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, that Paul was encouraged. And Paul gives the back story of this trip to Macedonia in his first letter to the Thessalonians, where he speaks of his deep concern for this fledgling congregation.

Remember, he had to leave there very abruptly before he would ideally have wanted to leave there. The church was very much in its infancy. He'd only been there a few weeks. And so he says his concern was such a deep burden that he says he could no longer endure it, so he chose to labor alone so that Timothy could go back and get a report on their condition. The one who could endure all things for the sake of the elect could not endure not knowing how this new church was faring in the face of persecution of the Jews.

So 1 Thessalonians 3, in verse 1, Paul says, Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left alone in Athens and send Timothy our brother and minister of God and fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith that no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be in vain." And in verse 7, Paul says that they were in affliction and distress over this matter. Paul didn't know. And it was a burden. Paul says that he has a daily burden for all these churches.

So this is an additional matter that's weighing on Paul at this time in addition to the other burdens he was going under. And fourth, in verse 3, Paul came to Corinth with no financial support. The urgency with which he fled Berea and then having sent Timothy and Silas back to Thessalonica meant that he's without any support here. And so we know that because he has to work at his trade of tent-making to support himself when he first arrives in Corinth. So it says that he worked with, worked at that trade.

Now some people think that this is the norm, that preachers should work to support themselves and preach on the side, or maybe that they should even preach and work on the side to support themselves and their families. But while this is sometimes necessary, it's not the ideal. It was one more burden on Paul weighing him down. There are times when all the other workers can take a break, and he can't because he has this other labor. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Paul addresses this very topic in the letter to this church that saw him work in this bivocational capacity.

He addresses this to them very pointedly. He says in 1 Corinthians 9, right? He's writing back to this Corinthian church, the church that saw him work in a bivocational capacity, working as a tentmaker to support himself while he's also preaching. He says, or is it only Barnabas in verse 6, and I who have no right to refrain from working. Whoever goes to war at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruits?

Or who tends a flock and doesn't drink the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man, or Does the law not say the same thing also? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it ox, Paul says, that God is concerned about? Or does he say it altogether for our sakes?

For our sakes, no doubt, this is written. That he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be a partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, Paul says, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more so? Nevertheless, Paul said, we haven't used this right.

Paul did not charge the Corinthians when he was trying to evangelize them. He said, but we endure all things lest we hinder the Gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister of the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar." And then he says this to them, even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the Gospel. And so Paul didn't exercise this right. He calls it a right, an authority.

Actually, that word right is the word exeusia, authority. Paul did not exercise this authority or right to payment in order not to hinder the Gospel. He didn't charge the people he was evangelizing. But once the Church was established, then he would encourage and urge and even expect the churches to financially support the Gospel ministry. Our culture in recent years has looked down on people who work with their hands.

Nobody says it out loud, but terms like blue collar and white collar tend to create a class distinction. We have to remember those terms originated in the 20th century and are not reflective of a godly Christian culture. Of a godly Christian culture. Because the trades have been denigrated by high school counselors urging people into college and away from the trades, fewer people are entering the trades. And skilled labor is becoming more and more of a scarcity, which in a free market makes things more valuable.

And so the price of trades, the price of services, is going sky high right now. On the other hand, we have a glut of white collar workers with useless college degrees who are not skilled in much of anything. And that's driving their wages down. Those were the people that used to fill the skilled labor roles, but they were sold a bill of goods in their youth by their counselors, that they needed college degrees to get a good job and to realize their potential. But here we see that Paul, a learned man of letters, who had one of the best educations of his day.

He had an elite, what we would call today, an elite Ivy College education. He saw no problem with working with His hands in a trade to provide for His necessities. It's honorable. It's good. Nevertheless, He does speak of this time of working with His hands as a time of humbling Himself in His second letter to the Corinthians.

In 2 Corinthians 11, 7, did I commit sin in humbling Myself that you might be exalted because I preached the Gospel to you free of charge. I robbed other churches, He said, taking wages from them to minister to you." And I think this humbling, that Paul calls a humbling, this self-abasement would have added to the burden that he's bearing right now. He goes on in 2 Corinthians 11, a little later in the same chapter, to describe being in a condition of sleeplessness. Working as a tent maker in addition to his preaching is a recipe for sleeplessness, because you're working more than one job. And I think sleeplessness and this burden of tent making would have also added to the burdens and contributed to his discouragement at this point in his life.

Because you see, sleeplessness and weariness have an impact on our emotional strength as well. How many times has something seemed overwhelming to you when you're tired and hungry at night, and you go to bed and you sleep on it, and you wake up refreshed the next morning, and that same thing that was hard now becomes much easier. So being well rested can change our perspective and enthusiasm. And so while the trades are good and they're honorable, Paul's situation is not something to be emulated unless it's necessary. Paul describes his own condition at this point in his life in his first letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 3.

He says, I was with you in weakness, in fear." Paul, the great bold preacher of the Gospel, is saying that he was afraid at this point in his life. He was there in weakness and in fear. He admits to being afraid. He says, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. He says, in my speech and my preaching, we're not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that Your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." This has happened to many, many men of God.

Great men of God. Moses was afraid to go to Pharaoh alone. And at one point in his ministry, remember he's leading the children of Israel, he became overwhelmed and he cries out to God, why have you put me in charge of these stubborn people? He says, Elijah is this man who could call down fire from heaven and could stand alone against nearly a thousand prophets of an idol. And Ahab and Jezebel then becomes afraid of Jezebel's threats to make him like the prophets of Baal.

Or John the Baptist who boldly confronted the Jews. And Herod, remember telling Herod that it was unlawful for him to have his brother's wife, but then in prison he had doubts about who Jesus was, with Jesus the Messiah, and yet he sent people to Jesus, his disciples, to ask. And you see in each case, in each of these cases, and there are others, the Lord is the wise Master Shepherd with marvelous grace sustains each of His servants in wonderful and beautiful ways. He strengthens them, He assures them, He raises them back up, and He puts them back into service. And that's what the Lord does with Paul right here.

Paul is a man, a mighty man of God, but a man nonetheless, subject to the same passions as you and I are. He was weary, he was hurting, And he was afraid of being abused. Now that's Paul's condition and his deep distress. Let's look now at how the Lord comforted him and sustained him at this moment in his life. The first point we see in Luke's account after Paul's arrival in Corinth is that he meets Aquila and Priscilla, who are both fellow Jews and as it turns out, fellow tent makers.

And they provide fellowship and finances for Paul. Luke tells us in verse 3 that Paul initially connects with them because they share the same trade. That tells you Paul went to Corinth and he starts looking for a job. And he found these two Jews and he stays with them. Luke says, because, not because they were Jews or Christians, but because they were the same trade.

But Aquila and Priscilla become far more than Paul's employer. They become his lifelong friends and co-laborers in ministry. Aquila and Priscilla are a very unique couple in the Scriptures. And I would like to take just a minute here to introduce these co-labors with Paul. Luke says Aquila was from Pontus in our text in verse 2.

Aquila and his wife Priscilla had recently moved from Rome as a result of the decree of Claudius expelling all the Jews. There were apparently two decrees regarding the Jews in Rome, the first in about AD 41, so Christ is crucified in AD 30, so about 11 years later, that forbid the Jews to assemble. They could practice their religion, but they couldn't assemble. And then there was a second decree, probably in AD 49 by Claudius, that expelled the Jews from Rome. And several Ancient historians attribute this decree to the turmoil between the Jews and the Christians.

And this would exactly match the mobs that the Jews stirred up in Antioch and at Iconium and at Lystra and at Thessalonica and at Berea and as we'll see at Corinth as well. And then later on in the next chapter in Ephesus. So that would fit. These Jews were notorious at stirring up mobs and at the preaching of the Gospel. So Aquila and Priscilla are expelled.

Both the Christian Jews and the non-Christian, the Talmudic Jews, were expelled in this. Claudius didn't differentiate. And so Priscilla and Aquila are already Christians when they come to Corinth. There's no mention made of their believing or of Paul baptizing them as would be expected if they had been converted under Paul's ministry. So we might wonder, how did Aquila and Priscilla become Christians?

And I think there are several very quite likely possibilities. Aquila could have heard the preaching of Peter in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in 8030. Acts 2-9 says that there were Jews from Pontus in Jerusalem for the Passover at that time. And that's where he was from. He was a Jew from Pontus.

And verse 10 says that there were also Jews and proselytes from Rome that were present in Jerusalem at the Pentecost that day that Peter preached his sermon. And so he and his wife could have easily been one of the 3, 000 souls that were saved that day. Eusebius, an overseer of the church in Caesarea in about 300-314 AD, wrote a church history and he says that Peter preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And this is very consistent with Peter's greeting in his first letter that he wrote in 1 Peter 1.1. He wrote it to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

And so Aquila could have been converted 10 years earlier on Peter's preaching tour. The scriptures don't say. But there are a number of very likely ways that Aquila and Priscilla could have heard the Gospel and been saved. There are actually several clues that point to Aquila being an evangelist who was planting churches, including the church in Rome with his wife Priscilla. First clue is that Paul calls them his fellow laborers in Romans 16.3.

Now Paul's work was planting churches. And in Romans 16, 3 he says, "'Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.'" So that would indicate that they were planting churches alongside of Paul. Secondly, they were an itinerant couple consistent with the life of a church planting evangelist. They moved from Pontus to Rome sometime before meeting Paul. Then they moved from Rome to Corinth.

That's what we saw in this passage here where their house becomes Paul's ministry base in Corinth. Then they move with Paul from Corinth to Ephesus when Paul goes there. And they stay there when Paul leaves Ephesus. That's beyond what we read, verse 18 and 19. Paul sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila were with him, came to Ephesus and left them there when he sailed away.

So while he is gone, Priscilla and Aquila established a church at Ephesus. And when Paul is back at Ephesus during his third missionary journey when he spent three years there. He writes a letter to Corinth in which he says, Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house." So he's writing a letter back to a church that they had established with Paul, sending greetings from them and from the church that's meeting in their house. And later, we find them back in Rome. So they've gone from Rome to Corinth to Ephesus, now back to Rome.

And that's at the close of Paul's letter to the Roman church, which he likely wrote from Ephesus. And he says in Romans 16, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ, likewise greet the church that is in their house." So not only are they back in Rome, but there's a church meeting in their house. And this would be about AD 57 or so. Then in 1 Timothy, we find them back at Ephesus. Timothy was an overseer of the church at Ephesus probably the moderator of the Presbytery and Paul sends his greetings again to this Precious couple greet Vassila and Aquila and the household of Inesiphorus who was at Ephesus.

So they're back in Ephesus now Other evidence of their being leaders in the church is their correction of Apollo's. He was an eloquent preacher, mighty in the scriptures, and they take him aside privately and explain the way of God more accurately to him. That's the function of an elder. And Aquila seems to be functioning in that role. But not only are they itinerant evangelists and co-laborers with Paul, Paul says that they risked their necks for him.

In Romans 16, three. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-laborers in Christ, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. They risk their necks. We don't know how. We'll find out one day in heaven.

But you can begin to see why this special husband and wife couple are so loved and appreciated by Paul and why he greets them by name so frequently in his letters. You see, Aquila and Priscilla were also a very close couple. They're mentioned six times in the scriptures, and every time they are mentioned, they are always mentioned together. That's incredibly rare. Many times the name of the wife is not mentioned.

Peter's wife isn't mentioned, just that he had one. And likewise, many of the other apostles' wives aren't mentioned. But they are not only mentioned, but always mentioned together. Half the time they are mentioned, Aquila is first, and half the time Priscilla is first. And we're going to talk more about that later in this chapter.

But of the nine or so different types of intimacy, and I would include their emotional, that's a deep sharing of significant feelings. Intellectual, that's a sharing of ideas. Aesthetic is a sharing of the experience of beauty. Creative intimacy is the sharing of acts of creativity together. Recreational intimacy is sharing fun times of pleasure.

Work is sharing in common labors. Crisis intimacy is working through afflictions and challenges together. And spiritual would be praying and worshiping together. And of course, marital intimacy. But of these nine, we can see from what the Scriptures tell us about them that they clearly shared five of these levels of intimacy.

They worked together. Verse 3 says that Paul stayed with them and they worked for by occupation they, Aquila and Priscilla, were tent makers. This was a family business that they both worked at. They had intellectual intimacy. That's evidenced by their doctrinal discussions with Apollo's.

They shared danger together, crisis intimacy. They risked their necks, both of them, had risked their necks for Paul. And this is the bond that ties soldiers together. It's called unit cohesion. And it's a deep bond that's formed by going through life-threatening experiences together.

It's very real. And they shared that. And they also, of course, enjoyed spiritual service together. They hosted churches in their home, and they housed people like Paul. And together they co-labored in evangelism with Paul.

And of course, given Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 and their very close association with Paul, they surely shared marital intimacy as well. And they likely shared many more levels of intimacy. We just don't have more details in the Scriptures. And so this is the couple then that the Lord providentially puts right in Paul's path. Just at this point of greatest discouragement in his life, the great shepherd of his seed puts this dynamic.

On fire for the Lord. Pulling up stakes and traveling all over the world for the sake of the Gospel kind of people. People who are willing to risk their lives for Paul. God arranges for Paul to stay at their place. To stay at their house.

And to work with them in their common trade. You see how God used this expulsion decree from Caesar to bring these two to Paul right when he needed them and not before. And this is just yet one more marvelous grace to Paul, and an example of God working all things together for good in the lives of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. You know, they might have wondered why are we getting kicked out of Rome? What's the Lord doing with this?

God worked it for great good. Now, there's also more. Timothy and Silas return with encouraging words about the church in Thessalonica in verse 5. And that's a great encouragement to Paul. He told the Thessalonians, but now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you.

Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress, we were comforted." When Timothy and Silas came, He said, we were comforted concerning you by your faith, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. See, and indeed it is when these two men return with this encouraging news that Paul is now, in verse 5, compelled in the Spirit to testify to the Jews. Apparently, he was having some hesitation prior to this. Paul was fearful of fresh persecution and pain. He was fearful of being caned again.

And he mentions in 2 Corinthians 11 that he was caned three times by the Jews and flogged five times by them. So it's perfectly understandable why he might be hesitant to confront these Jews in Corinth. But God encouraged him with the presence of Timothy and Silas as well as this encouraging report that they brought of how the Thessalonians received the word in much affliction with the joy and the peace of the Holy Spirit. That message of how the Thessalonians were hearing the Word with joy, despite the afflictions, was an encouragement. And Paul says that this example was an example to all the saints in Macedonian Greece.

But they also brought financial support, which was a big help. They returned with a large gift. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, 9, And when I was present with you, that's the Corinthians, and in need, financial need, Paul says, I was a burden for no one for what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself." So these brethren, coming from Macedonia, Paul says he was in need and they supplied a gift for him. And this is the gift that likely allowed Paul to go to full-time work.

And this is, I think, an important point that's sometimes ignored by evangelists and teachers today when they try to take money from the very people they are seeking to evangelize by selling their products to them. Paul accepted money from the churches that were established, not the ones that he was currently in the work of planting. But also, another encouragement, the Lord in His marvelous grace encouraged Paul with fruit from his labors. We see that when Paul is kicked out of the synagogue, Justice, who lives right next door to the synagogue, opens up his house as a place for Paul to continue his preaching and teaching. What an encouragement that would be, To be right next door and able to continue.

But also more than that, in addition, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, is himself converted and his whole family. And that would be encouraging. The synagogue that kicks you out, the ruler of that synagogue, goes with you. But finally, the Lord encourages Paul with His Word. God appears to Paul in a vision and he promises him three things in verse 9 and 10.

Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision and he said, Do not Be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city." The Lord told him not to be afraid because Paul was battling with fear as we've seen. He says, speak, don't be afraid, speak and don't be silent. And then he gives Paul three very great and precious promises. First, I will be with you. I will be with you.

There's no greater promise, there's no greater encouragement than that the sovereign Creator who controls all things, who holds the hearts of kings in His hand, who can control the wind and the waves in the ocean, who owns the gold throughout the earth and all the cattle on a thousand hills, the one who can not only count the stars, but knows them all by name. The one who knows all things. Even the innermost thoughts of our heart. There is no greater encouragement than for this God, This Creator God, the Sovereign, to say, I am with you. And if God is for us, who can be against us?

This is what Paul says himself. Who can separate us from the love of God? If God says He's for us, who can separate us? And He says, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or pearl or sword? He'd endured all those things.

And He's convinced now. Nothing can separate Him from God. For Your sake we are being killed all day. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities that's wicked angels nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's a great promise. And it's a promise to us as well, that God is with us. He's Immanuel. But secondly, God promised Him that no one would attack Him.

Sometimes the Lord walks through the fire with us and brings us through unburned. You know, that's His promise in Isaiah 43. But now, thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by My name. You are Mine. And when you walk through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they will not overflow you.

When you pass through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you." But sometimes, he takes us around the fire. Or he moves the fire out of our path. Said gives an account of such a thing happening. They needed a bunch of Bibles in one of the closed countries in Central Asia. And they found a guy who could fly out and pick up the Bibles.

And he called them and he said he was on the 5 o'clock flight. He expected to arrive at 8. And so, Said went with another brother to the airport to pick him up. The plane landed on time at 8. But by 8.45 most of the passengers had come through the exit doors, but their friend had not.

And when he wasn't out by 9.30 they concluded that he'd been caught. It's another dilemma. Do they stay at the airport or do they run for their lives? They assumed that if he was caught, it would just be a matter of time before he was beaten into a confession. And he would say that his friends were waiting for him at the arrival terminal, and then Saeed and his friend would be arrested.

And Saeed says it seemed like a disaster in the making. He said his companion, his brother, his wife was not well. What would happen to her if he was arrested? And all sorts of thoughts, he said, were racing through his own mind. Years of incarceration, abuse, humiliation, all the chores, needing attention for his own family, as well as many other responsibilities.

His youngest son's 18th birthday was coming up. His graduation next year. He said, every cell in my body was in flight mode. But he said we couldn't bring ourselves to flee. They were in it together.

And to run away didn't seem to be a good testimony before the hosts of heaven who were watching. So they decided to stay and face this with dignity before the Lord. And meanwhile, of course, they began to pray earnestly to God for his intervention and aid. And every time someone came close to where they were sitting or innocently looked to them, they would immediately think, oh, they're coming. And the hours went by.

And a few minutes past midnight, their friend came through the exit gate with all his bags on a big push cart looking exhausted, as though he'd survived a train wreck. And he told us that his friend, the reason he had gone is he had had a friend at the customs who he thought would let him through. But what had happened, his friend that normally was there wasn't there. And he had been randomly chosen to put his bags on the x-ray. And when he was confronted about that, he told the officer that he said He had Bibles.

So of course you can imagine that immediately invoked all the security of the airport there. He's taken away to a private room for further interrogation. And what Said says is some big bearded man who looked like he jumped out of the pages of who's who among the Taliban had came in and escorted him to this isolated office. He's ordered to sit down. The guy takes out the form to begin writing out the charges.

And before he did that, he took out one of the books to examine it. And soon he was thoroughly engrossed in reading it. For the next two and a half hours, He's thumbing through this Bible, reading it, shaking his head, reading some more. And finally he broke the silence and burst out, we need to have shiploads of this book brought into the country. He stood up, tore up the report, and told our friend He was free to go.

And then he also said, may I keep this copy? That's the Lord giving protection, just like He did to Paul. That's the marvelous grace of God. But there's one more promise that God gave to Paul. And that is that God would grant him success.

God said, I have many people in this city. Many people. I will protect you. Don't be afraid. I am with you.

Keep on working. Keep on preaching. And that's what Paul did for one year and six months. Eighteen months. He continued in this city preaching the Gospel and planting this Corinthian church.

So just briefly in conclusion, there's a couple lessons here. And first, we need encouragement. And when we're discouraged, the first place we need to go is the promises of Scripture. If you're doubting, if you're discouraged, if you're weary, it's the Word of God that we need. It's the promises of Scripture.

Read them. Memorize them. Say them to yourself. And speak them to others. That is so powerful.

If you're doubting God's Word, if it's a moment of weakness, speak God's Word, speak His promises to yourself and to others. But also, Remember the importance of the fellowship of the church, the fellowship of believers. The prayers and the presence of God's saints. That's such a necessary part for us as believers. It's a necessary part for us to be encouraged to continue to persevere.

So remember that, don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together. And be those who are able to encourage others. Be those who are able to encourage others. Think about that. It's easy, some people are negative and it's hard to be around them, But most people are just neutral.

But we can be more. We can be an encourager. We can be those who uplift others so that when people leave our presence, they're uplifted, they're encouraged, they're helped. But also remember the examples of other saints. That can be very encouraging.

Hebrews 11 is written for our encouragement and our instruction that here are saints that God brought through great afflictions and trials of faith. And so pay attention to the examples of other saints. And remember that your own example can be an encouragement and uplift others. And then fourthly and finally, remember James admonishment to count our trials as a joy. To count them as a joy.

It's a deliberative process. To say, yes, this is an affliction. Yes, I am afraid of what might happen, but I'm going to count this trial as a joy, knowing that the testing of my faith will produce perseverance. And that's The final thing in dealing with trials and afflictions and being encouraged, it starts with counting them as a joy. It's a decision.

It's a decision. But One that reaps great fruit. May the Lord encourage us through His Word, through the fellowship of saints of like precious faith, through the examples of God's sustaining of His people, and through counting our trials a joy. Almighty Father in heaven, we thank you that you as the great and wise Master Shepherd can encourage us, that you've given to us your word with so many great and precious promises. Lord help us to remember them all.

Even as some have noted, you've given us one encouragement, one promise regarding fear for every day of the week in Your Word. Lord, build us up and make us to be those who encourage one another. And Lord, may our example be blessed and be an encouragement. Our example of faith, of perseverance, of walking through the trials that you send, may these Be used and blessed in the lives of others in the lives of one another we ask this in Jesus name Amen