Daily Devotional Sunday 17th May 2020
by William MoodyActs 18:1–8
Paul in Corinth
18:1 After this Paul1 left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
Footnotes
[1] 18:1
Greek he (ESV)
As Paul moves on to Corinth, he links up with Aquila and Priscilla (v2-3). The great apostle was not too proud to work with his hands to earn his keep. He also was not too high and mighty to accept that he needed to work with others. Paul worked through the week and preached on the Sabbath (v4). Paul’s preaching was trying to persuade with reasoned Biblical argument. It was not just an emotional message with a few gospel clichés.
With the arrival of Silas and Timothy, Paul now had the resources to daily preach and seek to proclaim Christ (v5). Paul’s great desire was to preach at all times but he adapted to what his situation was.
As was in the case with Jesus, Paul faces opposition mainly from religious Jews (v6). But again there is the combination of those who oppose and those who believe who are mainly to be Gentiles (v7-8).
In Gospel work we need to realise that sometimes we need to move on from keeping a focus on the same to people to reach out to others. Take time to consider and pray about who might be some of the unexpected people that God wants to reach with the Gospel.
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