One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent.The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:And the Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace:
3 sermons cite this verse
… other parts of Acts. You come to Acts chapter 16, and they are praying that God would open people's eyes to salvation. See how the sovereignty of God affects the mission of God. In Acts chapter 18, verse 9 through 11, Paul is in Corinth, and he's really struggling. He's wondering if he needs to stick around there anymore because it's a really tough mission field. And Jesus comes to him, and he has an encounter with Christ, and Jesus says to him, stay where you are, Paul. Keep preaching. Don't be silent because I have many people in this city. I want you to think about that statement for Paul to hear from Jesus in this encounter with him. I have many people in this city. I'm in control here. And there are some people, I know it may seem tough, but there are some people in this city who are going to come to faith in Christ. You stay here. So the next verse says Paul stayed and preached for a year and a half and many people came to faith in Christ. …
… In Acts 18, this is how I know that the response to fear is doing the opposite of what fear tells us in Acts 18 verses 9 through 10, Paul is afraid. Paul has been beaten. He's experienced the ridicule, the violence of being a follower of the way. And in a rare moment of vulnerability, we learn that Paul is considering silence at a time where his ministry could just be taking off and it says now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision and he says do not be afraid but speak at a time where you're tempted to be silent because you're afraid of what could happen if you use your voice. The Lord says, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. How, how, how, how am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to overcome the fear? I'm afraid that something's going to happen to me. I'm afraid that they'll talk about me. I'm afraid that it'll all fall apart. And then the Lord says, for I am with you. …
… and he was so low that God had to come to him in Acts chapter 18 verse 9 and particularly appear to him and say I am going to show you that I'm still with you and I'm going to do a major work I'm going to plant a church in the biggest baddest, woolliest city in the world I'm going to show you the gospel can change anybody I am going to give you a bunch of converts. I'm going to give you a church in this place. The last place in the world you think people would turn to the Lord. Corinth. I'm going to take the Corinthianizers. And you know, in the early part of this book, 1 Corinthians, Paul writes something that's pretty interesting. Paul was extremely amazed, I think. I think the church at Corinth was a unique church in his ministry because it was a sign to him that the gospel can change anybody. And at one point he writes in chapter 6, and he's making a list. …