Overcoming Discouragement (Chantilly Sermon)

Proverbs 17:22 CSB –  A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Acts 18:1 CSB –  After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

2 Corinthians 1:8,9a CSB – We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death…

1 Corinthians 2:3 CSB – Paul says when he came to them… I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling

Acts 18:9 CSB – the Lord appeared to Paul one night and said, “Don’t be afraid, keep on speaking.. don’t be silent.

1. What Causes Paul’s Discouragement

• The Prevalence of Sin
• Loneliness
• Fatigue
• Frustrations

Acts 18:2 CSB – he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.

Acts 18:4-6 CSB – He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

… [they] testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads!

2. How Does God Help Paul When Discouraged?

• God provides encouraging friends

Acts 18:2-3 CSB – [In Corinth Paul] found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, ³ and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

Hebrews 3:12,13 CSB – Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

Proverbs 18:24 NKJV –  A man who has friends must himself be friendly

• God Gave Paul Work to Accomplish

Act 18:3 CSB – since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

Genesis 1:28 CSB – “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.

• God Led Paul to Make Disciples

Acts 18:5 CSB – When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

Nehemiah 6:3-4 CSB – I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing important work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? Four times they sent me the same proposal, and I gave them the same reply.

Acts 18:6-7 CSB – When they resisted and blasphemed,…

So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus…whose house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

Galatians 6:9 CSB – Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

• God encouraged Paul personally

Acts 18:9 CSB – The Lord said to Paul in a night vision,“Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

Psalm 127:1 CSB – Unless the Lord builds a house,
its builders labor over it in vain;