All over the world, there are cities, towns and villages with little or no Christian witness. There are places of great sin and spiritual darkness. Many sound churches in these areas struggle, and members may sometimes wonder, “What is the point? Can my town/city ever be changed?”
In Acts 18, Paul was in a city of great spiritual darkness. The whole city served false gods, eagerly and sinfully. Sexual sin was glorified and was part of “religion.” There were NO churches and even many of the Jewish people in the city rejected the message about their Messiah and were seeking to stir up opposition. What hope was there for Paul and the gospel?
It is into this situation that the Lord speaks:
‘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 in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.’ (Acts 18:9-11)
Notice the phrase in v10: “I have many people in this city.” They were not yet believers, but they would become believers. God had chosen people in that city and they were waiting to receive the gospel. What about where you live? Where I live? God is sovereign and he is able to save. The place where your church is located is a mission field. Our neighbours who oppose the gospel can be changed in a moment. Perhaps the Lord has many people in your town and city just witing to hear the gospel.
On the basis of this assurance, the Lord encourages Paul – and us:
- Don’t be afraid. Often, we are held back from sharing because of fear of rejection, or of not knowing how to answer people. We need His help to overcome our fear, and to speak. We need His help to admit when we don’t know the answer and to go and find out what the answer is. So, let’s pray for that.
- Go on speaking and do not be silent – don’t give up. Don’t be terrified into silence. Cry out to God for opportunities to share the gospel – that He would open the door, as Paul prays elsewhere, for the gospel and help us to declare it boldly.
- Be assured of God’s ultimate protection. This is not freedom from persecution or opposition, but it is security from ultimate loss and encouragement to keep going until the Lord takes you home.
If we are to persist like Paul, we need to be a people of prayer. We need to pray for freedom from fear, for courage to keep on speaking. We need to pray that our words have power from heaven. We need to pray for the convicting work of the Spirit to awaken those who are going to be saved.
The best is yet to come 