Acts 18: A Vision from God When You Are Discouraged

Introduction

"A vision that changed everything." This is how the preacher of the Église Évangélique de Pentecôte de Nantes sums up Acts 18:1-11. Paul arrives in Corinth after a hard time in Athens. At the synagogue he meets opposition and abuse. Discouraged, he makes a decision: "From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." And that is when the Lord speaks to him in a vision during the night.

Before opening the Bible, the preacher shares a reason for joy: the world congress of the Assemblies of God has just been held for the first time on the African continent, in Accra, Ghana, with more than 10,000 participants. The President of the Republic of Ghana, a Christian, spoke there and announced the construction of a 10,000-seat auditorium funded by the churches.

Starting from Corinth, the message moves through Paul's sufferings and the grace that is enough in weakness, then on to 1 Corinthians 1 and 12: to this Church full of disorder, Paul first writes that it lacks no gift. For the preacher, the gifts of the Spirit are given "for the common good," and everyone must take their place in them.

Outline of the Message

1. Paul in Corinth: Opposition and Discouragement

Paul leaves Athens, where "it was not a success," and goes to Corinth. There he finds Aquila and Priscilla, who had come from Italy because the emperor Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. "Nothing new under the sun," notes the preacher. They are tentmakers, like Paul.
Every Sabbath, Paul reasons in the synagogue and testifies that Jesus is the Christ. The preacher brings it home: it would be as if a pastor went to the synagogue in Nantes to announce that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. "The reaction would be quick."
Opposition, abuse: Paul shakes out his clothes and says, "I will go to the Gentiles." The preacher reads discouragement in this, in the face of a lack of results: "It is a decision, I don't know whether it was well thought through."
According to the historians he cites, Corinth then had 600,000 inhabitants, 400,000 of them slaves, in a time of moral decline. Yet this is where the Gentiles are, and Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believes in the Lord with his whole family.
"You and I have made decisions, sometimes because we took the wrong road, and sometimes because we were discouraged. But God is the One who sees everything."

2. "Do Not Be Afraid, Speak": God Steps In

The preacher admits he would gladly have said to Paul: "Come on, take heart anyway. Paul, be a man of faith anyway." Then he adds: "It is easy to give advice when you are not the one involved."
The Lord speaks to Paul in a vision. The preacher distinguishes the dream, which comes when we sleep, from the vision, which comes when we are awake: Paul was seeking God's face.
"Do not be afraid" comes up so often in the Bible that there is, he says, a "do not be afraid" for every day and for every Christian, teenagers and young people included.
"Speak, and do not be silent, for I am with you." From his heaven of glory, God knows he has many people in this city. "But you have to speak." Paul stays in Corinth for a year and six months.

3. Paul's Hidden Sufferings

In 2 Corinthians 11, false apostles call Paul's ministry into question. Pushed to the limit, the man who had said nothing opens his heart: the beatings, the imprisonments, the dangers of death.
"Five times I received from the Jews forty stripes minus one." Why minus one? "Because if they got the count wrong, it made 41, and that went very, very badly." Then the rods, the stoning, the three shipwrecks, the dangers on rivers, from robbers, among false brothers, hunger, thirst, cold and nakedness.
The preacher returns to his first reaction: "A little faith anyway." When you open your heart, you understand better. If everyone were to stand on the platform and tell about their hard seasons, in the family, on the campus or at school, because of the name of Jesus, everyone would have something to tell.
Sometimes there is a small voice that says: "It would be better if I went back to the world, I would have fewer problems." His answer: there are real problems in the world, and he blesses God for saving him in his youth.
Paul adds the daily pressure: "Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies" (2 Corinthians 11:28).

4. My Grace Is Sufficient: Staying Humble

"By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me" (2 Corinthians 12:7). When God gives, he makes sure we do not sink into pride.
The preacher tells of his first trip, in 1985, to Congo-Brazzaville and then to Kinshasa, then in Zaire. A promise God had made to him came true, he says, "19 years later." While preaching on Bartimaeus, the Spirit reveals to him that the Lord heals: nearly fifty people testify to a healing.
Sitting at the first meeting, he tells himself: "Either I think I am somebody great and I will sink into pride, or, since I am not great, I will take this position." "I have stayed in humility to this day."
"Sometimes God cannot do much with us" because of the pride of wanting to be somebody: "I have a gift of prophecy... No, you are a prophet."
Paul prayed three times. The Lord answered him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). In weakness we are strong, because we are an instrument in God's hands.
He remembers a visiting pastor who had prophesied that the Lord would also call children. He comments: when God has no adult to serve him, it delays his plan, but he uses children, like Samuel.

5. A Church That Lacks No Gift

In 1 Corinthians 1:4-7, Paul gives thanks for the Corinthians: they were enriched in everything, the testimony of Christ was firmly established among them, "so that you come behind in no gift."
"It's funny," remarks the preacher: despite all the scandals in Corinth, Paul begins by giving thanks. He does not put the preaching of the cross first, nor divine healing, which he barely mentions (2 Corinthians 12:12: signs, wonders and miracles). He speaks of spiritual gifts, and he devotes a whole chapter to them.
Christ is the head of the Church, he loved it and gave himself up for it (Ephesians 5:23-25). He loves his Church.
"I am convinced that each one of us has received a spiritual gift in his life."

6. The Gifts of the Spirit for the Common Good

"Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant" (1 Corinthians 12:1). For the preacher, ignorance is the greatest obstacle to faith. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit, and to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given "for the common good," that is, for the good of the Church.
He distinguishes speaking in tongues, the initial sign of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, from the gift of tongues.
Beware of the spectacular: he reports the testimony of a pastor whose elder announced a revival based on prophecies given in a private meeting. Coming incognito, the pastor was threatened with death by the woman who was "prophesying": it was a spiritist session. "God's people are thirsty for the spectacular."
The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. The gift of faith: "To manage a full treasury, you need wisdom. To manage an empty treasury, you need faith." When the church built its place of worship, the treasury was empty, and the building was paid for in seven years.
The gifts of healings: in Nantes, a brother had this gift, and he was accompanied so that he would not pray alone. The working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, "not the discerning of characters." The preacher likes to lay on hands, including on unbelievers: within seconds, God gives revelations about illnesses, evil spirits or situations.
Different kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues: it is not normal, he says respectfully, for it always to be the same brother or sister who speaks in tongues. "You have to take your place." He tells of a convention in Elbeuf where a pastor spoke in Hebrew without knowing the language, with an interpretation of extraordinary quality.
"But the one and the same Spirit produces all these, distributing to each one separately as he desires" (1 Corinthians 12:11). In the midst of the assembly, he says, all nine gifts have been exercised and still are.

7. A Prophetic Word That Shakes the Unbeliever

A woman, at the end of her rope with a husband who was "as mean as can be," buys a knife to kill him. Passing a church, she hears singing and walks in. A prophetic word reveals that she has just bought a knife and what she is about to do. God reveals himself and this woman repents.
"When there are clear, sharp, precise prophetic words, it shakes the unbeliever": God is truly among you. Many were touched because things were uncovered in the depths of their hearts.
Back to Acts 18: discouraged, we would say "I'm going back to the world." Thankfully, God knows our hearts and comes to meet us.
"In these end times, we need a prophetic message," the exercise of spiritual gifts and the path of holiness. The Church must make its voice heard, "not on the political level but on the level of hope."
In the closing prayer, he invites each person to be renewed in their speaking in tongues, and to ask God's forgiveness if a gift has been left to fall asleep, because this gift "is not your property," it is given for the common good of the body of Christ.

Key Takeaways

God sees the discouragement of his servants and comes to speak to them: "Do not be afraid, speak, for I am with you."
Hardships endured because of the name of Jesus are not a sign of failure: Paul knew them far more than we do.
God's grace is enough, and his power is made perfect in weakness. Humility protects what God gives.
Each person has received from the Spirit a manifestation for the common good: the gift is not our property, it is for the Church.
A Church that exercises the gifts in holiness becomes a voice of hope for those who do not yet know God.

Personal Application

What decision have you recently made out of discouragement, and have you let God speak to you about it?
In which place (your family, your campus, your school, your workplace) is God telling you: "Speak, and do not be silent"?
What small voice is pushing you to "go back to the world," and what does "My grace is sufficient" answer you?
What spiritual gift have you received, and are you exercising it for the common good or have you let it fall asleep?
How can you take your place in the Church this week, without seeking the spectacular or recognition?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Lord say to Paul in the vision in Acts 18?

During the night, in Corinth, the Lord says to Paul: "Don't be afraid, but speak and don't be silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10). Paul then stays there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God.

Why was Paul discouraged when he arrived in Corinth?

The preacher recalls that in Athens it was not a success, and that at the synagogue in Corinth Paul meets opposition and abuse. Faced with the lack of results, he declares: "From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." That is when God steps in with a vision to encourage him.

What are spiritual gifts for, according to 1 Corinthians 12?

Paul writes that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). The preacher insists: the gift received is not our property, it is given for the good of the Church. He encourages those who have received a gift, in particular the gift of tongues, to exercise it and to take their place.