Dependency and Power
Athens
Intellectual, cultural center
Gentile philosophers
20,000
Wise and persuasive words
Few converts
Corinth
Commercial Trading center
Gentile God-fearers
200,000
Power of the Spirit
Many converts
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 9:22
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.But when they 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 innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
Acts 18:5-6
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
Paul’s Sufferings in Acts 1 to 18
1. Life threatened in Damascus. Acts 9:23
2. Life threatened again in Jerusalem. Acts 9:29
3. Persecuted and run out of Antioch in Pisidia. Acts 13:50
4. Faced possible stoning at Iconium. Acts 14:5
5. Stoned and left for dead in Lystra. Acts 14:19
6. Opposed and made the center of controversy. Acts 15:11
7. Experienced the loss of close friend/co-worker Barnabas. Acts 15:39
8. Beaten with rods and imprisoned at Philippi. Acts 16:23
9. Cast out of Philippi. Acts 16:39
10. Life threatened in Thessalonica. Acts 17:5-7, 10
11. Forced out of Berea. Acts 17:23-14
12. Mocked in Athens. Acts 17:18
His main feeling was not that it made faith harder but that it made faith more imperative: I’m not going to be defeated.
- Singer/Songwriter Nick Cave
For the kingdom of God is not based on talk but power (moral power and excellence of soul).
1 Corinthians 4:20 (AMPC)
Paul’s Sufferings in Acts 18-28
1. Taken before the judgment seat in Corinth. Acts 18:12
2. Opposed by the silversmiths in Ephesus. Acts 19:23-41
3. Plotted against by the Jews in Greece. Acts 20:3
4. Apprehended by the mob in Jerusalem. Acts 21:27-30
5. Arrested and detained by the Romans. Acts 22:24
6. Barely escaped being scourged. Acts 22:24-29
7. Rescued from the Sanhedrin mod action. Acts 23:1-8
8. Assassination plot against him. Acts 23:12-22
9. Two-year imprisonment in Caesarea. Acts 23:33-27:2
10. Shipwreck on the island of Melita (Malta). Acts 27:41-28:1
11. Suffered a snakebite. Acts 28:3-5
12. First Roman imprisonment. Acts 28:13-15
Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
Acts 18:24-26
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:3-9
Paul’s Methods of Evangelism
Simplicity – Preach Christ and Him crucified
Potency – Included signs of the Spirit’s power
Flexibility – Be all things to all people
Practicality – Supported himself through tent-making
Unity – Paul worked with a team