Acts 18

In this chapter Paul is continuing his missionary journey in Corinth. Paul begins by, on every Sabbath, going to the meeting place of the Jews and trying to persuade them about Jesus. This wasn’t easy and Paul found himself being opposed by many of the Jews. As a result, Paul decided to focus on sharing the news about Jesus with the Gentiles instead. On evening, Paul has a dream in which God tells him to not be afraid and to not be silent as he has God’s protection. Paul listened to him and many Gentiles came to follow God as a result.

God has two messages for his people in this chapter. The first is do not be afraid to speak out and share the good news of him with his people. Paul listened to God, spoke out and many Gentiles came to faith because of this. God wants us to be like Paul, sharing the good news of him with the people around us. We can do this through not only our words but through our actions and the way we live our lives. Some people will have never heard of nor experienced God’s love, we as his people are in the perfect position to share this with them. We should not be afraid of rejection from people as we do not know what seeds we have sown, despite being rejected, that may start to grow later on in their lives.

The second message is, when in situations where we feel like we are making no progress and cannot see God working, to persevere. Sometimes when we are in the middle of it all it is hard to see the bigger picture, but God’s plan is even bigger than we can imagine. In these cases, we need to be like Paul, trust in God’s plan and keep on listening to him.