A Challenge for the New Year (2018) - A Challenge from Paul's Ministry in Corinth

Well, go ahead and take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the book of Acts. The book of Acts, turn to chapter 18, chapter 18 of the book of Acts, and we will be in verses 1 through 11. Now, as you're turning, I'll tell you how my mind works when it comes to this thing called preaching. You know we've taken a break from our study through the gospel of John. We reached a good stopping point before our Christmas messages, and everything about me wants to dive head first right back into John.

But yet we have before us those messages that have been on my heart that will start next week, part of that series, Messages from the Pastoral Heart. I'm excited about teaching through those subjects that I think are very pertinent to where we are and who we are. And yet I'm excited about what we're going to look at here in Acts, chapter 18. So, if you understand what I have just shared with you, my mind and my heart goes many different directions when we're getting to this thing called preaching and teaching the Word of God. We take this serious and we're very thankful to be able to sit under His Word.

Now, this morning, this particular day, December the 31st, 2017, we are facing a new year. Now, if you look at your clock of the watch, you will know that we are just a little over 12 hours away from the new year. Now, a question for us to ponder. What do we need from the pulpit this morning to prepare us for the coming new year? Now, I am not naive enough to think that one message is enough to make us what God wants us to be for the upcoming year. This is just one of many messages from God's Word that we desperately need.

But I do believe that this morning's message here in Acts, chapter 18, is a good starting place as we face a new year, 2018. This morning, we will be looking at Paul's ministry in Corinth from the book of Acts. Now, this is not an in-depth study. Luke only gives us an overview of Paul's ministry here in Corinth. For an in-depth study, we would have to go through the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Maybe one day we'll dive off into those books.

When I ponder that proposition, I think about all of the problems they faced, the theological problems that were in that church, the length of material, and I'm telling you that would be a long but yet fruitful journey. Maybe we will do that one day. Now, if you don't mind, I want to give you a little background here. And I think that background helps us see the nuts and bolts, the small things and truths that we're going to look at. This Paul here is the Apostle Paul. He earlier was called Saul. He was the great persecutor of the church. Most of us know that he was gloriously converted earlier in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 9.

And as an Apostle, Paul had three great missionary journeys. His first missionary journey started from the church at Antioch and it ended at the church of Antioch. Now, let me pause here for a minute. All true missionary work comes out of the life of the church. There's far too many missionary works and parachurch ministries that are not tied to the local church. And all true missions work has at its very end the church. That's what we see in Paul's journeys. He went and evangelized and he started the church and he came out of the church. It all centers around the church.

We see his first missionary journey start in Acts 13 and then that missionary journey ended in Acts 15. Acts 15, 36 records the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey. Paul's purpose was to go back and visit the converts from their first journey and to give them encouragement from the Word of God. Now, if we study the scriptures, we see that they did more than encourage believers. Paul and his associates did evangelize and start more churches. And it is at the end of this second missionary journey that we see Paul comes to Corinth and he begins the work of evangelizing the loft and organizing the church.

So what do we have right here in these verses? Paul had been in Athens presenting the gospel to the Greek philosophers in that day. And then in verse 1 of Acts 18, we see that Paul immediately leaves Athens and he goes to Corinth to begin a new ministry. So as we face the new year, 2018, I want us to start this new year by examining Paul's ministry in Corinth. And there is a challenge, many challenges out of these verses. And I believe this will prepare us for the new year. I'll go ahead and give you the title of the message. The title of the message is pretty simple, a challenge for the new year. And it's out of Paul's ministry to Corinth.

Now, we will divide these verses in four ways. We'll have four major truths. You see before you on the screen two of the first major truths and then I'll transition in the screens later to give you the other two major truths. So we see a challenge for the new year, the new year of 2018 from Paul's ministry there in Corinth. So let's start in verse 1. Let's read all the way down to verse 11. Now, after these things, he left Athens and he went to Corinth.

And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontius, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius, who was the Roman emperor, had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working for by trade they were tent makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

And when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and he said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I shall go to the Gentiles." And he departed from there and he went to the house of a certain man named Titus Justice, a worshipper of God whose house was next door to the synagogue. And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all of his household and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and were being baptized.

And the Lord said to Paul, "In the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." And then this is our last verse, verse 11, and he settled there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. Now, you see how we're going to divide these verses. You see our major truths. So let's dive headfirst into the message. Let's look at our first major truth. Paul engaged the people in the culture. Paul engaged people in the culture. Go right back to the verses, verse 1.

He's come to Corinth from Athens and he found a certain Jew named Aquila. And if we read on down, we see his wife is listed, her name is Priscilla, and we see the reason why they were in Corinth. They were there because of Claudius had commanded all of the Jews to leave Rome. So right away, when Paul comes to Corinth, we find that he meets two people, a husband and a wife. Now, you can be familiar with these two individuals because they are mentioned many times in the New Testament. Here we see that Priscilla and Aquila had to leave Rome because of the decree issued by the emperor Claudius that all the Jews would leave Rome.

Now, historically, this took place in AD 49. So we see this husband and this wife, they were Jews. They're living in Corinth because of adverse circumstances. And then we have Paul. He comes to Corinth and he meets this couple as soon as he comes to Corinth. Now, a couple of specifics I want us to see about this meeting of Paul with Priscilla and Aquila. Now, the first is a question. Were Aquila and Priscilla Christians at this point? Right here in these verses. Now, there are some who say that they were not Christians, while there are other commentators and scholars that say that they were. The text does not specifically say.

Now, we do know that this husband and wife team became very, very close to Paul and they served the New Testament church very well. Paul states in Romans 16 that they even risked their lives for him. They also assisted Paul in his work in Ephesus. If you fast forward in Acts chapter 18, when Paul is on the third missionary journey and working in Ephesus, they were there, a part of the work. This meant that they participated in Paul's ministry extensively. 1 Corinthians 16, 19 says that they even hosted a church in their home. Now, we do not know if they're Christians here.

If they were not Christians, they were obviously evangelized by Paul because they immediately began to be part of the work. Now, if they were Christians, we would know that Paul encouraged them through the word and they went to work right away in Paul's ministry. So, we have a question, were they Christian, were they not? We do not know, but we do know that immediately they were a part of Paul's ministry and work. Now, second, I want us to see that Paul worked in secular employment alongside Aquila and his wife Priscilla. Go back to verse 3. And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with him and they were working.

For by trade, they were tent makers. Now, if you know your history, all of the Pharisees learned a trade. As a matter of fact, every Jewish boy was taught a trade by his father. And Paul had been a Pharisee prior to his conversion, so he had a trade and his trade was a tent maker. And it seems that when he met this couple, they were also tent makers. It seems that he stayed in their home with him and he worked alongside them making tents. And this was none other than secular, cultural employment. So, in summary, what do we see out of verses 2 and 3?

Upon coming to Corinth, Paul meets this Jewish couple, Priscilla and Aquila, or Aquila and Priscilla, depending upon how you read it. Either he evangelizes them or he encourages them in the faith. But then we see that Paul went straight to work with them and he is making tents. We see that Paul is engaging people in the culture and in the workplace. The trade of making tents was common. And it was needed in the culture. And this would have put Paul in contact with all sorts of people, even though their names are not listed. This tells us that Paul was moving within the culture.

He was engaging people, and if I can use this modern term, he was engaging people in the marketplace. So, our first major truth is that Paul engaged people in the culture. Let's move on, our second major truth. Notice that Paul engrossed himself with kingdom work. Paul engrossed himself in kingdom work. Starting in verse 4, "And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade the Jews and the Greeks." But when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Now, you'll notice that I call this kingdom work.

Paul is engrossed in kingdom work. Now, when I say kingdom work, we need to understand that Paul is engrossed in the work of the church. He was an apostle of Christ, chosen by Christ. And he devoted his life to spreading the gospel, reaching the lost, and when people were converted, he organized them into the church. Paul just happens to be in the beginning of the work of the church, and he is on the front lines of going where no man has gone with the message of Christ. So, this kingdom work is the birth of the church. He is one of many that God is using for this work. Now, a couple of specifics I want us to see here about Paul's ministry.

First, notice that he was a part-time minister at first. Look at verse 4, "And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." This tells us that he was a part-time minister at first. Here we see that Paul was able to support himself, and he was engaged in this pioneer work and supporting himself. There was no one there to support him. It was God's providence for Paul to meet this couple, Priscilla and Aquila, who happened to be, and I use that term loosely, tent-maker. See, that was God's providence. God provided for Paul to provide his own support.

But notice that the verse says that he would go to the synagogue and reason with the Jews on their Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath was a Saturday, and all of the Jews would congregate at the synagogue. And Paul knew that, and he knew that that was the best place to preach Christ from the Old Testament to the Jews. And he did this on a part-time basis. He reasoned with the Jews on the Sabbath, and the rest of the week he was working at his trade providing a living for himself. So he was part-time when he first got started. And then second, notice that he transitioned into a full-time minister there in Corinth. Look at verse 5.

"But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ." Here we see that Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia to Corinth to be with Paul. Now this is very important for two reasons. The first reason is they came to minister with Paul. They came to minister with Paul. Paul had many people who ministered alongside him in his day. I mentioned earlier that when Paul is an ethicist, there's Priscilla and Aquila ministering alongside Paul. And when Silas and Timothy came, they came to engage in the work.

But the second reason that this is important, we see that they brought monetary support for the work. And we see that in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 9. This monetary support enabled Paul to be free from making tents at the appropriate time in order to devote himself completely to the preaching of Christ. So let me go back and read the verses. He was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade the Jews and the Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely, completely to this work. So in summary, what do we see here?

Paul was engrossed in the ministry that God had called him to, whether it was part-time or full-time. He was called to travel as an apostle, preaching Christ, evangelizing the lost, and organizing the church. He was on the front end of this work. And here in Corinth, we see that Paul is working in two capacities. In the beginning, he's bivocational. And then in the end, he is full-time. This was a part of his calling. This was part of God's plan. He was engrossed with the work, whether it was part-time or full-time. Now we see Paul's heart here, because I use this word engrossed purposely.

We see Paul's heart if we go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I want to read to you verses 7 through 9. And you will hear Paul's heart and see that he was engrossed in the work. Notice what Paul writes to the Corinthian church. "Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge." Now why is Paul saying this? There was a debate in the life of the church as to whether or not Paul should be supported. And what is Paul saying? "I preached the gospel free of charge. I was not a burden to you." Then he goes on, verse 8.

"I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you." What is he saying? "Other churches supported me through Silas and Timothy so that I could minister to you full-time." And when I was with you, verse 9, and was in need, I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So what do we see here? This is Paul in grossed-in kingdom work. In the Corinthian passage, we hear and we feel Paul's heart.

He poured all of his life and all of his energy and all of his heart into the work of the church, so much so that he was willing to personally sacrifice for the work and for the people and for God's glory. So what do we see? Paul engrossed himself in kingdom work. Let's move on. I want us to notice our third major truth, and that is Paul experienced rejection and success. Paul experienced rejection and success. Go back starting in verse 6. "And when they resisted," Paul's there in the synagogue, "in blaspheme he shook out his garments, and he said to them, 'Your blood be upon your own heads.

I am clean.'" And then verse 7, "And he departed from there, and he went to the house of a certain man, Titus Justice, a worshipper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue." Now starting in verse 6, we see how the work progresses. Now each ministry point for Paul was different, and the people's reactions in these ministry environments, they were different. If we back up a little in the book of Acts, Acts 17, we see that Paul was there in Berea. And when Paul was there with the Bereans, the Scripture says they were noble-minded. They had a different mind and a different heart.

They received the word with great eagerness, as Paul taught it. And they went back and they examined the Old Testament Scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true. But that success did not last long because the Scriptures say that Jews from Thessalonica, they came to Berea and they started up the crowds. Now why do I mention this? Every situation was different. Now here in these verses, we see how the ministry progressed. And here we see both rejection and success. Now there are four quick observations I want to make out of these verses. First, we see the Jews resisted the message of Christ.

Go back to verse 6, "And when they resisted and blasphemed," here we see great opposition to the message of Christ as the Messiah from the Jews. This was common in Paul's ministry. Paul had previously experienced opposition in Thessalonica and then I mentioned it also in Berea. Here we see that this opposition was so great that Paul left the synagogue. Now notice we see that Paul does two strange things. First, we see that he shook out his garments. And then second, we see that he pronounced to the Jews, "Your blood be on your hands," or heads.

For Paul to shake out his garments, that meant that he was pronouncing judgment on those who were rejecting the message of Christ. And when Paul said, "Your blood be on your own hands," he was saying, "You bear the responsibility of your rejection." He is saying, "I am free from my obligation and responsibility to meet with you." He's basically saying, "I have done my job." But the Jews, they resisted the message of Christ. And then second, notice Paul left the synagogue and went next door.

Verse 7, "And he departed from there, and he went to the house of a certain man, Titus Justice, the worshipper of God, whose house was next door or next to the synagogue." Here we see that in God's providence, another person is brought into Paul's life, Titus Justice. It seems that he was a God-fearing Gentile who accepted the message of Christ from Paul. But notice something great, something not coincidental. He lived right next door to the synagogue. And this was part of God's plan. This kept Paul in contact with the Jews and the Gentile worshipers of the one true God.

And we will continue to see God's hand and all that is taking place as we progress. And then the third observation, the leader of the synagogue believes, or is converted. Look at verse 8, "And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all of his household." Here we see a great work of irony. Here we see that after Paul leaves the synagogue and pronounces judgment on the rejecting Jews, the leader of the synagogue believes in Christ. This individual was in charge of and cared for the building and he even organized worship services. This was extremely powerful.

This would have sent shock waves through the Jewish community and even would have been heard of all throughout Corinth. Not only did this man Crispus believe, but it says that his household believed as well. And then our fourth observation, notice many Corinthians believed as well. Verse 8, "Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord and his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized." Here we see that many in Corinth believe and they were obedient all the way to baptism. This meant that there was great success, not only with the Jews, but with the Gentile population as well.

In my mind, a question arises, could it have been that Paul ministering in the synagogue at first hindered the work of God among the Gentiles? Part of God's plan was to take the gospel to the Gentiles as well. So in summary, out of verses 6 through 8, what do we see here? Paul experienced rejection and success. The message of Christ was vehemently rejected by many of the Jews, but then the leader of the synagogue and his household, and many Corinthians believed and were baptized into the church. And I want to point something out here. What seemed like great rejection and defeat turned out to be God's great plan for His glory.

God knew that the Jews would reject. Paul going to the synagogue was part of God's judgment on them, but God provided a man, Titus Justice. God provided a place, his own home, to propagate his message and promote the work of the church. So we see rejection and success. And then notice our fourth major truth. Paul enjoyed an open door of ministry. Verses 9 through 11. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent.

For I am with you and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in the city." And then he settled there, there in Corinth, a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. Now, we do not know what took place within the Jewish community after the conversion of one of their leaders. I believe that it is safe to say that Paul faced difficult and dangerous circumstances from the Jews as a result of Christmas conversion. Paul had faced fierce opposition from the Jews in Thessalonica, and no doubt he faced such hostility in Corinth, especially after one of their leaders was converted.

Now, I want us to see that Paul had an open door of ministry. Now, I use this term open door because the Lord has taught us about the open door of ministry back in our study through the seven churches in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 7, or excuse me, Revelation 3, Verses 7 through 8, we saw that God gave the church at Philadelphia an open door of ministry, and He said to them that no one could shut that door. That was an opportunity, and that is just what we see here with Paul. God has granted him an open door of ministry in Corinth. Now, there are three specifics I want to give us here out of these verses.

First, we see that God gives comfort. Verse 9, "In the vision," what does He say? "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent. I am with you." Now, again, we do not know what took place after Paul's pronouncement to the Jews, and after the conversion of one of their leaders. We must assume that he faced fierce opposition, and I do believe that is a safe assumption. But notice what God does. He gives Paul words of comfort and security. What does He say? The Lord tells Paul, "Do not be afraid." Now, this to me could allude to Paul's humanity. Could he possibly have been afraid?

I think he might definitely have been afraid. Notice that the Lord tells him to continue to speak. What does He say? "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking. Do not be silent." "Keep on preaching," is what God is saying. And then notice that the Lord tells Paul that he is with him. What does He say? "Go on speaking and do not be silent." The beginning of verse 10, "For I am with you." And all of this, all of these words are words of comfort and encouragement. Then our second observation, God tells Paul that he has many chosen people in Corinth. Go back to verse 10, "For I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you.

For, for I have many people in this city." Here we see that the Lord lets Paul in on his plan to convert many people in the city of Corinth. This is none other than God's predetermined plan to save sinners. This is the doctrine of election. God is telling Paul that he has set apart sinners for salvation. And what is He saying? Now you go find them and go preach to them. And understanding God's predetermined plan does not release Paul from his responsibility. No. No way does it release him from that responsibility. Understanding God's predetermined plan energizes Paul to go and to preach.

And then our third observation, Paul stayed with great success. Look at verse 11, "And he settled there a year, a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." So here we see that Paul had a very long and successful ministry. If we study Paul's ministry, we see that other than Ephesus and Rome, Paul stayed in Corinth longer than in any other place. Simply Paul settled down in Corinth, teaching the word with great success. And what took place through this ministry? Jews and Gentiles or like were converted, and the church was born, and the church was established. So in summary, what do we see here?

Paul enjoyed a great open door ministry in Corinth. Yes, it was a horribly sinful culture. It was a terribly sinful city. Yes, the Jews vehemently opposed Paul, and they opposed the message of Christ. Yes, Paul had fears, but God worked in Paul to prepare him for this lengthy and successful ministry. And I want to explain this word successful. This was not because of Paul, but what God did through Paul. Paul was obedient. Paul was submissive to the will of God. The success was because of the Lord working through Paul. Now, I want to move away from dividing the verses, and I want to move to applying what we see here.

We see in Corinth, see in Paul in this ministry example. Now, we are on the cusp of the new year. Earlier I said that we were a little over 12 hours away from 2018, but now we are right at 12 hours away from 2018. And what we see here in Acts 18 is a good start for the new year. So let me apply this to our lives in our day in our church. First, we must prayerfully and purposefully engage people in the culture in which we live. Now, I say this prayerfully and purposefully on purpose. We must pray first. We must be a praying people, because if we go out to engage people in our own strength, in our own energy, it will be a work of the flesh.

We need a work of Christ in us, and we need to be led of God to the people that God has to put before us. So we must prayerfully and purposely engage the people in our culture. Specifically, we must engage the people in our workplace. Do you think it's coincidence that you work with the people that you work with? No. None of this happened by coincidence in Paul's life. None of this happened in Corinth by coincidence. No. This was all part of the providence of God, and God has us working alongside and with certain people. We must engage people in the marketplace.

Now, I'm using my imagination here, but how many people did Paul come in contact with by making tents? How many tents did he sell? How many tents did he repair? If I can use this language, how many customers did he engage with? You see where I'm going? And we must engage people in the marketplace. When we're in Walmart, when we're in the feed store, when we're at the gas station, no matter where we go, we must engage people. We must engage people in our neighborhoods. Seems like the text is saying that Paul lived with Priscilla and Aquila. Maybe Paul began to share the good news of Christ with their neighbors. You see where I'm going?

We must prayerfully and purposely engage people within the culture. Now, what is our message? Is our message the church? Now, I don't believe it's wrong to invite people to church. Is our message a better life? You know, if we talk to people very soon, we will find out that they have marriage problems, they have problems with their children, they have financial problems, job problems. No, that is not the message. The message is Christ. Look at the end of verse 5. He was solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. The message that we preach is Christ. That is why Christ Centered Evangelism was so timely.

That is why we will pick back up with that study and we will go a little deeper and a little deeper. Why? Because we must preach Christ. Second, we must be engrossed with kingdom work. We must be engrossed and pour our life into the work of the church. And some of you need to examine your past commitment to kingdom work and prayerfully seek to serve in a new and better way in 2018. Now, some of you are like Paul in verse 4. Verse 4, he is part-time. Some of you serve a little, but some of you, that is all you can serve. And I do not mean to minimize that in any way.

If you are serving according to the leadership of Christ in your life, and you might say, "I can only do a little, Pastor." If you are doing that because that is what God has led you to do, do not overlook it. If you think it is just part-time, do not move past it. Because if you are doing what God has led you to do, you be obedient to that. Some of you work a lot. Some of you are like Paul after Silas and Timothy came. Paul poured more and more of himself into the work. And some of you give a lot. And you are at a place in your life where you can give a lot of yourself. And I say, "Praise the Lord." Because we receive what God gives us.

We take the opportunities that God allows. But there are some people in our church, they serve very little. And they really need to evaluate their life, their commitment to the church. They really need to pray over little things in their life, commitments in their life, how they relate to their family, and time, and hobbies, and monies, and things such as that. We always need to examine how much we are giving. Now, I want to share with you, this is not a guilt trip from you, Pastor. I am not trying to guilt trip you into doing more. I am calling you to pray over what we are seeing here in Paul's life and ministry.

I am calling you to pray over your service in the new year. You must be led of God and equipped of God and enabled by God. I never looked down on someone who does a little, when it's obvious that they are led of God and they are equipped of God, and it is what God has called them to do. What did I say earlier? Paul was obedient. Then third, an application. We must see that there will be rejection and success. Not all will accept the message of Christ. And if they reject the message of Christ, they will reject you. But you know, the funny thing is, sometimes we are not rejected because our message is not Christ.

Now, I am not advocating being mean and rude and hateful. You can tell people about Christ and be as mean and hateful and dogmatic and arrogant as can be. And that is turning people off. But what I am sharing with you is, is if your message is Christ and Christ alone, there will be some who will reject the message and reject you. But yet the success is in the Lord's hands. We don't measure success by the standards that we view success. We trust in the Lord. We are prayerful and we are obedient and we let God take care of the results.

And then lo and behold, if we engage in this work, being led of the Spirit, we will begin to see Him working through us. And that is success. And then fourth, we must see that God has put before us an open door of ministry. Before God showed Paul the open door, Paul saw nothing but obstacles. Isn't that what we see? He saw rejection, hostility, threats of violence. What seemed like opposition really was opportunity. Why? Because the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. And all Paul had to do was be obedient, to be faithful, to be true to the call that God had on his life. He was to be obedient and that's what he did.

And those obstacles really weren't obstacles. They were opportunities. We have obstacles that are before us in our church. But what must be seen as obstacles, we must see that they are opportunities. Why? Because any obstacle that is before us, the Lord has put it there for us for a purpose and we must see that that is an opportunity to engage in the open door of ministry that He has for us. I'm thankful that our obstacles are not like many churches' obstacles. I don't say that in arrogance. I say it in humility. I'm thankful that we don't have uncalled and possibly unsafe ministers to contend with in our church.

I'm thankful that we do not have a carnal deacon body that runs the church. Now I'm not against deacons. But many churches are run and governed by carnal deacons who are not qualified and many are not even converted. I'm thankful that we do not have a certain group or certain families that run the church. I'm thankful that we don't have doctrinal and theological issues that are eating away like cancer within the church. Our obstacles are primarily with growth. Our obstacles are primarily with organizing the way the Lord wants us to organize. We don't have to tear down. We have to build according to the leadership of the Spirit.

One of our obstacles is our facility. We're out of education space on Wednesday night. We're out of fellowship space anytime we meet. And this is all tied to vision and purpose. And we must ask ourselves, "What is the purpose of the church that God has given us?" We must ask ourselves, "Is the church given for us or is the church given for others?" Isn't that what Paul did when he went to Corinth? It wasn't about him, it was about others. Even those who seem to reject him. So what are we looking at this morning as we are stepping into 2018, a challenge for the new year. This is just the beginning. We're looking at Paul's ministry in Corinth.

He engaged people in the culture. He engrossed himself with kingdom work. He experienced rejection and he experienced success. And he enjoyed, and I use that word enjoy purposely, an open door of ministry. I believe the Lord has given us an open door. You hear me pray that often and speak of that often. Brother Keith and I are prayerfully seeking to be all that God wants us to be and all that the church, God wants this church to be. Let's pray and then we'll conclude this part of the service. Lord, I thank you.