The Second Missionary Journey - Paul Ministering in Corinth - Part 1

- All right, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18, we are moving along in our study of the book of Acts and we are seeing the great Acts and actions of the Holy Spirit in these men and we see some women involved as well. We're gonna see that tonight. Now, last week we finished up examining Paul in his ministry in the city of Athens and we know that he was alone. He left his ministry partner Silas and Timothy. He left them behind in Berea and he had an interesting time in his ministry there in Athens and remember now, Paul's ministry there was unique in two ways.

First of all, Athens was one of the most important cities in the Greco-Roman world. Although Athens was 100 years past her political power, it was still the educational and cultural capital of the Greek world, Greek thought, Greek culture, Greek traditions and values were taught and propagated throughout the many universities and the marketplace in the city. We saw that marketplace last week and the week before. And then second, Paul's ministry in Athens was unique because of the sermon he preached on Mars Hill, some will say, before the great philosophers, those great thinkers and those religious pagans of the city.

Now last week I said I would quickly revisit this sermon and I wanna offer a few reasons why this is one of the most important sermons in the book of Acts. Some could say this is one of the most important sermons in all of the scripture. But first, Paul shows us how to evangelize a totally pagan people in his sermon. Paul shared the gospel to people who did not have and believe in the scriptures, nor did they know of the one true God. Then Paul's sermon was in his God-centered, not man-centered. Paul began with God and continued with God throughout the entire message.

Remember he presented God as creator, Lord sustainer of all things and the judge. He boldly confronted their idolatry. He exposed its emptiness and foolishness. He showed them that they were worshiping things that were made by man. Then Paul met them where they were. He found common ground from which to engage them. He used their altar to an unknown God to meet them where they were and that set him up to be able to deliver the gospel. Then Paul demonstrated how to engage with philosophers and intellects. He talked, he reasoned, he debated, he shared the gospel with a, in a very intelligent manner without being intimidated by those men.

He clearly exposed the total futility of man-made religion. He told them that they were deeply religious but totally ignorant of true religion, which is knowledge of the one true God. He declared God's complete and total sovereignty. He declared that God created the nations, governs all of human history, and even determines the circumstances of all men and man. Paul confronted them with their accountability before God. He told them that all men everywhere were commanded to repent and believe and that all would be judged accordingly, of course, according to the light that they had. And Paul made the resurrection central to his sermon.

He pointed to the resurrection of Jesus as proof that he was and is God's appointed judge over all men. And then last, he demonstrates for us that success is not determined by results. Faithfulness and truthfulness was his success and that's to be our success. Remember, the results are up to God. Now, you may say, "Pastor, you should have included that in last week's message." I probably should have, but that message was long enough. We really didn't have enough time. It was a big part of me that wanted to include things like that and make that a part one, two, and three.

But tonight, we have Paul leaving the great city of Athens and he's going to Corinth. And Corinth was no small city or village either. Paul really went from one big city to another. Scholars tell us that Corinth had a population of over 200,000 in Paul's day. I was curious about a comparison we may can relate to to give us an idea of that size. The city limits of Jackson, Mississippi has about 150 to 160,000 people in it. That's a big city, Corinth that is. But here we have Paul and he's still alone now and he's making his way from Athens to Corinth. And we need to see the kind of city that Corinth was, the kind of city he was heading into.

Corinth was similar to Athens but at the time, it had replaced Athens as the political and commercial center of the Greek world. Of course, Rome held all of the political power in might. It was just that Rome gave certain cities and regions the freedom to govern themselves. So a city like Corinth did possess a certain amount of political power. But Corinth was in a key location on the Isthmus, which is a narrow strip of land of Corinth. And if you look at your maps, you may see that. I did a little looking this week and some of my maps were a little hard to pick up on.

But this location meant that almost all of the north-south traffic in Greece passed through Corinth. Because it was a 200 mile trip by ship around the peninsula, some of the ships were literally pulled over on rollers across a land bridge about four miles. I thought that was interesting. Another thing I ran across is that in 67 AD, Nero started building a canal across the peninsula, but it was not finished until 1893. That was a long building project. But being a major trade city brought good and it brought bad. The good was great economic opportunities that brought great wealth. But spiritually, this was a bad circumstance.

History tells us that Corinth consisted of a transient population, so that turned it into a very sinful city. And nothing symbolizes the sin of the city like the temple of Aphrodite. Some 1,500 feet above the city on top of the Acropolis set the temple of Aphrodite. And Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love. Now there's really no way for us to grasp the great sinfulness of the city and situation really without spending hours on the subject. But one detail will kind of give us a hint. In this time, scholars tell us the temple housed some 1,000 temple priestesses who were actually ritual prostitutes. Now think about that.

The temple of Aphrodite was dedicated to the goddess of love now. And every evening, those temple prostitutes would go into the city to practice their trade, which was prostitution. And this was not just gross immorality, but it was mixed in with all of their pagan religion as well. One commentator describes Paul's transition from Athens to Corinth saying, "In shock contrast to the sedate intellectual "and cultural center of Athens, "Corinth was undeniably a rip-roaring town "where none but the tough would survive." That's a very good description. Jim Boyce describes Corinth using three words. He says it was a cosmopolitan city.

That's a compliment. He says it was a commercial center. That was a compliment. And then he goes on to say it was corrupt. And it was very corrupt. Someone smarter than me could do a detailed comparison, I believe, but maybe the city of New Orleans and the French Quarter and Bourbon Street and all that goes on during Mater Graw and other times in the city, maybe that would be kind of a fair comparison. Now that leads me to the title of the message. This is all about the second missionary journey, Paul ministering in Corinth. Paul ministering in Corinth.

And this will be a part one because it will take us more than one message to cover verses one to 17. Now, let's read the verses, verses one to 17. We're not gonna cover them all. I'll explain how we'll approach the message, where we'll start and stop. Verse one, "After this, Paul left Athens "and he went to Corinth. "And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontius, "recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla "because Claudius, that was the Caesar, "had commanded all of the Jews to leave Rome. "And he went to see them. "And because he was of the same trade, "he stayed with them and worked, "for they were tent makers by trade.

"And he, thus Paul, reasoned in the synagogue, "every Sabbath had tried to persuade Jews and Greeks." When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out of his garments, he shook out his garments and he said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads, I am innocent. "From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." And he left there and he went to the house of a man named Titus Justice, a worshipper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and they were baptized as well. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking "and do not be silent, for I am with you "and no one will attack you to harm you, "for I have many in this city who are my people." And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them and to them.

But when Gallio was pro-cancel of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying this man is persuading people to worship God, contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing "or vicious crime of Jews, "I would have no reason to accept your complaint. "But since it is a matter of questions "about words and names and your own law, "see to it yourselves. "I refuse to be a judge on these things." And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sothanese, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.

But Gallio paid no attention to any of this, to any of this. Now this is how we'll approach all of those verses. We will see first Paul's condition. And to see Paul's condition, we really have to look at quite a few other verses. Then second from verses one to three, we will see Paul's new ministry contacts. Third, we'll see Paul's ministry in the city, verses three to five. That's where we'll stop tonight. And then next week, we'll pick up with fourth, the great gospel ministry success in verses six to eight. Fifth, Paul's assurance from God in verses 10 to 11.

And then sixth, obviously, we've seen it time and time again, persecution from verse 12 to 17. So number one, I want us to see Paul's condition. Paul's condition. Now verse one is clear, Paul made it to Corinth. And it seems that he was battling discouragement, even great discouragement. He had had very limited gospel success in Athens. And there are some scholars that say that this was very discouraging to Paul. He had experienced lots of persecution, even torture, even having to hustle out of town at times for fear of his life. Some say that he was struggling physically because of the abuse.

And he was alone and without his ministry partners and friends, and he had been alone for quite some time. And now he's headed right into Corinth, which was certainly a daunting ministry assignment. It's safe to say that he was discouraged, that he was even battling depression because of what he wrote. In first Corinthians two, three, Paul said that he arrived in Corinth in great weakness and even fear. Listen to how the amplified reads. In first Corinthians two, three, Paul says, "I came to you in a state of weakness and fear "and great trembling." See his weakness? Then there's more.

When you examine when Paul wrote his letters and where he was when he wrote them, we can see that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians while he was in Corinth. And he told the Thessalonican church that he was going through great distress and affliction. In first Thessalonians three, six, he says, "For this reason, brothers and sisters, "during all our distress and suffering, "we have been comforted and greatly encouraged "about you because of your faith." And there's more. Many say Paul was still struggling with physical problems and even physical sickness. Some speculate he was still suffering from the punishment he endured in Philippi.

Besides being thrown in prison, Acts 16, 22 to 24 tells us he was beaten with rods with mini blows and his feet were fastened in stocks. So it seems he was saying that to the Thessalonians. So when we piece a few things together like this, we see that the great Apostle Paul was just a man. He was like other men in that he was prone to emotional and spiritual discouragement. We could even say a type of depression. And as we will see, as Paul entered the city, as he entered Corinth in this daunting ministry assignment, all alone, down and discouraged, maybe depressed, maybe even sick and hurting, God met him where he was in a unique way.

Now, a couple of questions and application here. What can we learn right here? First of all, all believers will have times where they are emotionally and spiritually down, discouraged and maybe depressed. Listen, you show me a Christian who has not gone through a period of time where they have been emotionally and spiritually down, discouraged and depressed. I'll show you someone that hadn't been a Christian very long. Think about it. Paul went through that. Paul was emotionally, spiritually, down, discouraged, maybe depressed. Paul went through that. Are we any better than Paul? Well, what do we do?

When we are emotionally and spiritually down, discouraged and depressed, what do we do? We put one foot in front of the other, spiritually speaking. We put one foot in front of the other. We just make ourselves pray and read the scripture. We just make ourselves spiritually speaking one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. We say, Lord, I'm down, I'm depressed, I'm discouraged, but I'm just gonna walk with you and I'm gonna pick myself up by the nap of the neck and put one foot in front of the other. And look, we don't become reclusive. That's the worst thing we can do. Did Paul become reclusive? No.

We faithfully attend everything in the life of the church. You see? The worst thing we can do is to back away. We just obey what we know to do no matter how we feel and the good feelings and the joy will come. I can take you to times in my life when I just did not feel like picking up one foot and taking one more step. I can take you to times where I had to just force myself to take one step, one more step. I had no joy, I had no happiness. Happiness comes from circumstances. Joy comes from the Lord. And I had to literally pray for joy. So, Paul's condition here, but let's move on.

Next, number two, I want us to see Paul's new ministry contacts. His new ministry contacts. We see this in verse one, two, three, and four. But here we see that when Paul arrived in Corinth, he met a Jewish couple named Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila being the man, Priscilla his wife. And we need to see how these new friends became ministry contacts as he ministered in the city and they even became ministry partners for life. But first, who they were. Luke tells us they were natives of Pontus who recently came from Italy. He goes on to say that they were living in Rome, but they were run out of town.

And that was because Claudius, who was Caesar at the time, drove out out of the Jews from Rome. And this banishment is well known historically. Roman historians of the day wrote how Claudius banished the Jews from the city. Well, it seems that since Corinth was located on the main route from Rome, they stopped at Corinth because all types and even foreigners were accepted in Corinth. And the text says they set up shop there as tent makers. So this husband and wife, they were Jews from Pontus. They were driven out of Rome and they landed. They arrived in Corinth. But notice it seems that they were Christian when they met Paul.

There's no record of Paul evangelizing them. There was a church in Rome at this time, so it is not a stretch to speculate, many scholars do, that they were Christians who were cast out of Rome, but they were cast out because by blood they were Jewish. But second, how they connected with Paul. And I want us to see they connected in two ways. We clearly see that Paul connected with Priscilla and Aquila because they were all tent makers. They were of the same trade. Now in their day, tent makers were sometimes called leather workers. And they were true artisans. Artisans were workers who possessed a much needed valued skill or trade.

And these were skills and trades that took a good bit of time to learn. It took a lot of training to learn the trade. And in their day tradesmen were very proud of their work despite the long hours they had to invest to succeed. Tent makers were higher than peasants socially and in income, but they were looked down upon and even despised by the higher classes. And the higher classes really thought it was degrading to work with one's hands. Really nothing's changed. And we need to understand something about Paul that some may not know. Paul was a tent maker by trade. He possessed skills working with leather. So he possessed a trade.

He was a tradesman. That is because all Jewish boys in Paul's day were expected to learn a trade no matter what profession they may go into. And Jewish rabbis, that would be Jewish teachers did not take money from their students. They were expected to earn their own living through their trade. So when Paul met Aquila and his wife Priscilla they connected rather than competed. That is because people of the same trade did not compete with one another in their day maybe like we are accustomed to seeing. People of the same trade usually live together in the same part of town. They formed these trade guilds.

We would see them kind of as trade unions. And their trade guilds would often adopt a patron deity and they ate sacrificial food at their regular banquets together to this deity. We're gonna see that when Paul goes into Ephesus. So notice how Paul connected with Aquila and his wife. They connected vocationally. Notice they connected vocationally and that would have brought them a connection socially. And they also connected spiritually as well. They were of the same trade. They were also all Jews and they were all believers. So they had quite a lot in common, quite a lot in common.

One historical source I read noted how the tradesmen spent long hours working together in their shops. That helps us see that Paul must have spent lots of time with Aquila and his wife. No doubt they were an encouragement to Paul and no doubt Paul was an encouragement to them. Now there is a point of application here I wanna make and I don't think I'm stretching it. What if Paul in his suffering, in his discouragement and depression had just stopped in his ministry? What if he had just quit for a little while? Now think about it.

Someone could have said, Paul, you're still suffering physically, you were beat with rods, put in stocks, you were in prison, you've been all alone for a while, you need a vacation, you need to stop. Now is there anything wrong with a vacation? No. But what if he would have quit if he had not just kept obeying God and God's leadership? If he had not just pressed on serving God as God was leading him to Corinth? Well he would have missed out on Priscilla and Aquila. And in many ways connecting with Aquila and his wife may have been a bigger encouragement than reconnecting with Timothy and Silas. Think about that. Now here's my point.

If you, if we take a break spiritually when we're down, if we stay at home from church and stay away from the fellowship of the believers when we're down, if we take a break from ministry in the church when we're down and discouraged and depressed, we may miss our Aquila and Priscilla. See? Look folks, if we are right where we're supposed to be in the midst of our discouragement and trial, even if we're the most depressed we can ever be spiritually, if we are where we are supposed to be, God will bring us the Aquilas and the Priscillas we need. I can testify to that. I've seen it. And I've also seen some withdraw and suffer from it.

Third, their ministry partnership in Corinth. We see that in verses three to four. Here we see that Paul worked with Aquila and Priscilla and notice he was doing that to pay the bills. And he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath to share Jesus and the gospel. The ESV says he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath. The Amplified says he reasoned and debated in the synagogue every Sabbath. Now I'm gonna come back to that in a minute. But fourth, I want us to see their ministry partnership for life. Now we do not see it here in Acts 18. To see this we have to go elsewhere in the scriptures.

As a matter of fact, Warren Wiersby points this out beautifully. Wiersby points out how they faithfully served and risked their lives for Paul as seen in Romans 16, three to four. They assisted Paul in Ephesus as seen in Acts 18, 18 to 28. They seemed to host a church at their home according to what we see in 1 Corinthians 16, 19. Ultimately, they became, they were a very important part of Paul's ministry. They were a part of his ministry team because throughout Paul's ministry, he teamed up with Aquila and Priscilla quite a lot.

Wiersby goes on to say, and I'm quoting him here, they are a good example of how lay ministers can help to further the work of the Lord. Think about it. They were lay ministers who helped Paul further the gospel work. And Luke Church, notice we have many faithful lay ministers in our church besides our elders. We have many men who minister, many husbands and wives as a team, they minister together. We have many lay ministers in our church. And I'm very thankful and I'll come back to that definitely at the conclusion. So notice what we have here as Paul starts off in Corinth.

He gets to town bruised, battered and beaten down, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He even testifies to that now himself, but he was pressing on in the Lord. He was pressing on in the Lord. He just obeyed what he knew he was supposed to do no matter how he felt. And he makes contact with some great ministry contacts. Notice who became friends and then they became partners in his gospel ministry. Luke Church, two more things here before we move on. We need to pray for the Aquilas and Priscillas in our church. Look around now. We should pray for the Aquila and Priscillas serving in our church.

And then we should pray for more Aquilas and Priscillas to come into our church. So what do we have here? Paul's new ministry contacts, friends and partners for life. And no doubt 20 years from now, we'll look on Aquilas and Priscillas who have been faithful laymen and laywomen ministering in our church. Then number three, Paul's ministry in the city. Paul's ministry in the city, verses three to five. Now we have touched on this some, but we see that because of his different partnerships in ministry, he was able to be part-time in ministry.

And then in time, at the right time, we'll see he was able to leave tent-making and to be full-time in ministry. Let me read the verses and you'll see exactly what I mean. Verses three to five. And because he, Paul, was of the same trade, he stayed with them, Aquila and Priscilla, and worked. For they were tent-makers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. Verse five, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. Now, notice what we have here. First, Paul ministered part-time. We've already seen it.

But as he worked with Aquila and Priscilla, making tents, Paul was able to earn a living and minister part-time. He worked all week and on the Jewish Sabbath, he went to the synagogue and he reasoned and debated with the Jews. And he shared the gospel and the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Now, I did not mention this before, but here it appears to be the first time he had to provide his own living in ministry. It's the first time we have this on record. What a question to think about. How did he get the funds to live on before? We are not told, but no doubt those who had sent him out provided for his needs. I'll come back to that.

Now, this leads me to ask a question. Is bivocational ministry bad? Paul was bivocational, making tents, reasoning in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Is bivocational ministry bad? Does it have its strengths and weaknesses? Yes. Of course, there are times when bivocational ministry is good and necessary. In my early years, when I went to Nola Baptist Church, there was no way the church could pay me very much. I really didn't care how much the church paid me. I provided my own living and I just served. I provided my own living and I just served. And think about it. There are times when pastors must be and should be bivocational.

As a matter of fact, there are times when missionaries go on foreign fields and they have to have a job to kind of get into the country. And so it's kind of as a cover. But yet they are also providing for their needs. But if a ministry is full-time work, then bivocational ministry is a hindrance. I know there came a time when pastoring part-time became detrimental to me and my family and the work of the church. I'm thankful for our partnership with Anchoring in Truth and they made it possible for me to lead bivocational ministry and be full-time in those days. And I'll come back to that. But then second notice, Paul ministered full-time.

Here we see that when Silas and Timothy finally caught up with Paul, his ministry commitment changed. But before I go there, take note of one more thing. Paul had been down, obviously discouraged, even depressed I would assume. But God brought him encouragement in Aquila and Priscilla. Now God adds to his encouragement by bringing his friends, his ministry partners back into his life, Silas and Timothy. Now what a great encouragement. Think about that. I wanna say this before I move on.

In my experience, when you go through the lows of discouragement, spiritual and emotional discouragement, even depression, when the Lord brings you out of that, the high that he will bring you to will be equal to the low that you went through. Just let that sink in. And notice how Paul's ministry in the city changed. We see this in verse five. Listen to the amplified. But when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, that's Northern Greece now, Paul began devoting himself completely to preaching the word and solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed. Now this is really, really awesome.

The text does not say it, but we can see that Silas and Timothy brought support so that Paul could devote himself full time to the ministry there in Corinth. Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 11, verse nine, he said to the Corinthians, and when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrain and will refrain from burdening you in any way. What that means is this. Paul didn't take any money from the Corinthians. Timothy and Silas brought him support.

Simply Paul was reminding them that he was not a burden to them and that the churches from Macedonia supplied his needs so that he could minister to them and among them. I love what Jim Boyce says here. He's using kind of his imagination and I do that at times, so I love this. Let me read it. It's word for word. Boyce says, "The churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and perhaps Berea too must have said Paul is out there on his own. I wonder how he is getting on. What if he doesn't have enough money to live on? If he can't even buy food to feed himself, he'll have to go to work if that's the case and that will take him away from his preaching.

So let's take a collection and have Silas and Timothy take it to him so they sent Paul the money." I think Boyce is spot on. So notice what we have here. Not a description of Paul's ministry in the city, no. This is a description of Paul's part-time ministry and that was changed to full-time ministry because the other churches supported Paul and the ministry there in Corinth. And Luke Church, there is a direct connection between this move and support to full-time ministry and the great gospel success in the city. We'll save that for next week. But in verses six to eight, we see great gospel success.

Many were saved, the church was birthed in Corinth. And as I was finishing this part of the message up this week, yes, this was a great work of the gospel and the church was born, but oh, they were a problematic church. And Luke Church, all that I have described here, this is what we see in "Anchored in Truth." It's so wonderful. Churches partnering with churches, "Anchored in Truth" and partner churches helping pastors and missionaries and other churches. And look, there are some of you here, you saw this in the early years. Our elders saw this. Christian Clarissa Travis were here in the early years.

But when God, through "Anchored in Truth," enabled me to go full-time and leave bi-vocational ministry behind, God blessed our church in a great way. We were able to move. We were able to attain this building. We grew and we reached people and we reached families. Now at this time I wanna pause and next week we'll pick up with the rest of the verses. We'll examine the ministry success, verses six to eight. We'll see Paul's great assurance that he got from the Lord in verses 10 to 11. And now that you know how he was down and out, this encouragement may ring in your ear as it did mine.

And then of course we'll look at the persecution they endured, verse 12 to 17. Now I wanna close by circling around back to a few things. And I just wanna take a couple of things a little further. I have said that I would do this through the message. I am very, very thankful, very thankful for the husband and wife lay minister teams we have in our church. As your pastor, I see it. I see Aquila's and Priscilla's in our church. You bless me. I never wanna take you for granted. Thank you. But look church, as we look around and see husbands and wives serving, let's pray for them. Let's pray for them.

But I do wanna ask you, do you need to step up and be more like Aquila and Priscilla? Now I mean that as encouragement. Do you need to step up and be more like Aquila and Priscilla? I tell you church, a church can't make it without men and women like Aquila and Priscilla. Next I'm very thankful for the salary and the support I received from you. That enables me to minister full time. And I try to work real hard in prayer, in study, in preaching the word. Two expositions takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of time to pray over and mull over and write and study. I try to work really, really hard.

I try to work real hard to shepherd and pastor you as needed. This reminds me of something from last week. One of the men in our church called me and we spent quite a bit of time on the phone just dealing with spiritual matters that pertain to some decisions in life. And I bet he apologized to me five times. "I'm sorry I called you pastor." I said, "This is what I'm here for." Look church, if you need me, call me. I'll meet you, I'll meet you for breakfast, I'll meet you for lunch, you can come to my house. I mean, if you need me, call me. One of our anchored in truth churches, a good church.

The pastor sometimes will say, "You know, I have a lot of people that just wear me out." And it sounds like high maintenance people. It sounds like people that are just very, very needy. Now, I'm not being critical. But in that conversation that I have with him sometimes, I will say, "Our church is not like that." But look, I'm here for you as your pastor if you need me. I'll give you all the time you need. And then also I try to work real hard in pastoring and planning and leading and governing the church. An example of that is our Deacon's ministry, which we will wrap up here soon.

I have led the way in that ministry, our elders too, and the timing of those things. And also the direction of our church, and I'm thankful for our elders who are a part of that, and our church body you who affirm me in that. But you know, I'll think about it like this. This is the last thing I'll share before we close. I pray that the day comes where we are supporting, monetarily sending people. We are supporting a church like we used to be, maybe missionaries, maybe pastors. Many of you remember that when we were struggling with some difficult budget times, one of our anchored in truth churches just wrote us a check. Bless this.

He said, "It's not that big of a deal." I long for the day when we are that type of church, and we have been in the past. We're not greedy by no means. So this is Second Missionary Journey. Paul, he was by himself, now he's not anymore, ministering in Corinth. And we'll pick up with our part two next week. Let's pray.