Finding Ways To Build Your Strength Series

SERIES: ACTS 18:1-11

TEXT: ACTS 18:1-11

TITLE: “FINDING WAYS TO BUILD YOUR STRENGTH”

INTRODUCTION: A. Maltbie Babcock:

Be strong!

We are not here to play, to dream to drift;

We have had work to do, and loads to lift;

Shun not the struggle – face it; ‘tis God’s gift.

Be strong!

Say, “The days are evil. Who’s to blame?”

And fold the hands and acquiesce – oh, what shame!

Stand up; speak out, and bravely in God’s name.

Be strong!

It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong.

How hard the battle goes, the day how long;

Faint not – fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.

B. Three important historical events happened in 51 AD:

1. The Jews started to riot in Rome, so Claudius (45-54 AD), the fourth Roman

emperor, had them all banished from the capital.

2. This expuslion forced the Jewish couple Aquila and Priscilla, natives of Pontus who

were in the tent-making trade, to move to the city of Corinth.

3. At the same time Paul was on his second missionary journey with his associates

Silas,Timothy, and Luke.

a. They had preached in northern Greece, established churches in Philippi and

Thessalonica, and visited Berea.

b. Then Paul went into Athens alone and had an opportunity to share the good news

of Jesus on Mars Hill. Afterward he walked some fifty miles west and arrived in

the pagan city of Corinth, where his disciples again joined him.

C. Corinth was a seaport city on the southern tip of Greece with a population of a half-

million people from every walk of life.

1. It was known as the cradle of pleasure and a showplace of architectural beauty.

2. The hill of the Acropolis towered above the city, and on top of the hill stood the

great temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

a. One thousand priests and priestesses who were religious prostitutes were attached

to that temple.

b. Every evening they would descend from their perch and come into the city

looking for worshippers of the goddess of love

3. The town had such a bad reputation that it became a slang term to call someone

who had very low morals a “Corinthian”

4. We sometimes think of Paul as being so bold, so fearless -- yet he suffered just as

we do from apprehensions, forebodings, and fears.

a. In fact in a letter to these very Corinthians he admits his trepidations

b. 1 Cor. 2:3 – “3 came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

c. He was very much in fear of what could happen in this particular city.

D. Acts 18:1-11 – “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew

named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife

Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see

them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to

preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when the Jews

opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to

them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now

on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the

house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his

entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him

believed and were baptized. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be

afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to

attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So Paul stayed for a

year and a half, teaching them the word of God.”

E. If faith is what we need and strength is what we lack, we need to find ways to build

our strength so that we’re able to be God’s servants in the time when He calls.

--Let’s see what we can find in this passage to see we can build our strength

I. SEEK OUT SOME CLOSE FRIENDS

--Acts 18:1-5a

A. Aquila and Priscilla

1. Jewish believers who left Rome under edict of Claudius

2. Shared trade with Paul – tent-making.

--ALL Jewish males trained in a trade starting around age of 13

3. They’re spoken of highly in every scripture passage in which they’re mentioned

B. Silas and Timothy

1. Paul’s co-laborers (yokefellows) in this missionary journey

2. Men who had already proven faithful to the cause of Christ and as Paul’s friends