Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend. You found it. The Bible study pod that's right here at Bayside Church and the Thrive Network of podcasts. We used to do a thing called the Bible Study. We did it kind of at the end of COVID and it was very popular. And that's because all we do here is we jump into the passages. We're teaching at Bayside Church, a church here in Northern California, and we jump into them and we just. We study the Bible.
Curt Harlow [00:00:24]:
No agenda. We're just trying to figure out what is the best way to be a Bible study. Er, and so I brought along a couple friends to help us. We're in Acts, chapter 18. It's Paul's second missionary journey. It's a great place to jump into the book of Acts and to help us figure out today's passage, I have Dena. And what do you do around here, Dena at the Bayside World, I am.
Dena Davidson [00:00:47]:
One of the directors for Thrive College, which is an internship program we have for college age students.
Curt Harlow [00:00:52]:
I call her Apologetic Savant because she has the most apologetics training of everyone. Maybe Mark Clark could be up there.
Dena Davidson [00:00:58]:
But he wrote a couple books on it, so he might have a little fancy.
Curt Harlow [00:01:02]:
Where's his lambskin degree? I want to say. You got the lambskin.
Wesley Towne [00:01:05]:
They're both brilliant.
Curt Harlow [00:01:06]:
They are both brilliant. And the very brilliant. You're not supposed to have favorites, but I got a favorite.
Wesley Towne [00:01:11]:
Oh, my goodness.
Curt Harlow [00:01:12]:
Wesley Davis. And he's my favorite Wesley Town. Wesley Town from Davis. It's not his favorite Wesley Town. This is hard for me. The reason he's my favorite is his church is right there, UC Davis, which was my old gig of working with university students. So I love what Wes does with college students. Wes, describe your church.
Curt Harlow [00:01:31]:
What? What. What's going on over there?
Wesley Towne [00:01:33]:
First of all, I'm from the great state of Oregon, which you love.
Curt Harlow [00:01:36]:
I love. Yeah. Keep working weird. Keep working weird.
Wesley Towne [00:01:39]:
I'm a pastor in a university city. It's an interesting city. 67,000 people, 40,000 college students.
Curt Harlow [00:01:46]:
Yeah.
Wesley Towne [00:01:46]:
So if you're going to reach the city, you've got to reach the university.
Curt Harlow [00:01:50]:
Come on, brother.
Wesley Towne [00:01:51]:
It's an amazing thing that's happening. I mean, we're about three years into replanting from scratch with about 20 people, and it's going great.
Curt Harlow [00:01:59]:
I got a good idea for you. See if you can apply this. If you would reach that UC Davis place, maybe we'd reach the future leaders of the world.
Wesley Towne [00:02:07]:
I think so.
Curt Harlow [00:02:08]:
Have you ever thought of that?
Wesley Towne [00:02:09]:
I think that's the way that's the key. Future thought leaders and scientists, government officials.
Dena Davidson [00:02:15]:
We forgot his podcast. Gotta mention it.
Curt Harlow [00:02:17]:
Yeah, I was gonna play it really big at the end.
Wesley Towne [00:02:20]:
Oh, and then do that.
Curt Harlow [00:02:21]:
They'll go to it if he does a good job over the next 30 minutes.
Dena Davidson [00:02:25]:
Hop over right now. Don't forget, he has no other podcast.
Curt Harlow [00:02:27]:
I want to get in the passage. We're in Acts, chapter 18. We're gonna just do a little section here. 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. 18, 9, 10, 11, 12', and 13. I'm gonna read it, and then I'm go ask Dena, then Wes to help us be good Bible studiers. And after they share, I'll give the right answer. That's a joke.
Curt Harlow [00:02:46]:
That's a good joke, but it is a joke.
Wesley Towne [00:02:47]:
I was like, okay, all right, well, we trust you.
Curt Harlow [00:02:51]:
And I might. I might need a substitute Greek pronouncer help on this, Wesley, so be ready. Okay. 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 the city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the.
Wesley Towne [00:03:19]:
Word of God while Gallio was pro council of ikea. Maybe you didn't want to say all that. He made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. This man, they charged, is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.
Curt Harlow [00:03:38]:
Okay, so here we have Paul's second missionary journey. He's not stayed in Asia Minor, where his first missionary journey was. He takes the left turn, goes to Philippi, and then he goes to Thessalonica. They go through Berea. They end up at Athens, which is an interesting but maybe not very fruitful place. Ends up in Corinth, and by this time, a lot of dramatic things have happened to him. Dena, so how should we look at this passage? Why is God speaking about fear to the Apostle Paul?
Dena Davidson [00:04:10]:
Yeah, I mean, first 50 foot level. Not 50 foot, 50,000 foot level. Paul keeps having these ideas about what he wants to do, and then the spirit of God keeps moving him on. Paul says, I want to do this. And God says, actually, you're going to go here. And then he starts to do ministry, and it's not working. And it's like this open door goes over here. So we're in a section of Acts where in general, God is moving Paul to the areas of ministry where he wants to do the work.
Dena Davidson [00:04:37]:
And so that's A theme that Luke is harping on right now. Um, but we teed this up in last week's episode, our first episode, and we are definitely going to weigh in on it, is this whole idea that it says here that he's not going to be attacked. And then later on in the chapter, if you go and you listen to it, you read it, you try to.
Curt Harlow [00:04:57]:
Read two verses later.
Dena Davidson [00:04:58]:
Two verses later. It literally is like these people are objecting to what he says, and they come and they take him and they put him on trial. And it's like, what is happening? Has God contradicted himself? So Curt will give you the first go at this. What. What would you say?
Curt Harlow [00:05:15]:
I'll slow down here. I want to hear from Wesley. I want to give you guys a fair chance. I want to give you guys a fair chance.
Dena Davidson [00:05:20]:
He's got the Greek on his side.
Curt Harlow [00:05:22]:
I've learned Greek debate skills. I'm gonna go last. No, but. So, Paul. How many times has Paul been attacked since he was obedient? To your point? Say he was obedient to listen to Jesus and say, we're not staying in Asia Minor. We're going to be obedient and go to the more dangerous place, which. The Greek peninsula, which is actually three peninsulas. And.
Curt Harlow [00:05:43]:
And ever since he's obedient.
Dena Davidson [00:05:45]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:05:45]:
What happens, Wes? What happens to him?
Wesley Towne [00:05:47]:
Just over and over again, he has ops. That's what the young kids say. He has what Ops. Opposition. He is constantly persecuted for going into these major cultural hubs, these cities, and preaching Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:06:04]:
So it's not shocking that God speaks to him. In here, it says, paul, I know you've been harmed and injured and attacked and mobbed and arrested and physically threatened, shouted at. It says the Athenians scoffed at him, mocked him. He was mocked, and he said, listen, I want to let you know you will not be attacked or harmed. And then two verses later, it says, corinth made a united attack on Paul. So is the Bible contradicting itself? Wesleytown?
Wesley Towne [00:06:43]:
No, I don't think so. I think you could look at this two ways. One, the first term for attack means a physical assault. So that's the promise that Jesus gives. The second term can also have physical implications, but the idea is a group of people rising up against someone, and in this case, they rise up against him to bring him to the judicial council of the day and place charges against him. I think what we miss, though, is that in verse 11, between these two terms that seem like contradictory realities, Luke writes, so Paul stayed in Corinth a year and a half.
Curt Harlow [00:07:19]:
Yes.
Wesley Towne [00:07:20]:
I think if. If the possibility is true that he was physically attacked when these people rised up against him. This might be a promise that was given for a duration of time. So I had a limitation. It was like, hey, Paul, for the next year and a half, I have some incredible work for you to do in this city to make disciples, start a church, teach the word of God. And at the end of this, there's going to be some circumstances that lead you on to Ephesus. So this might be a promise that had a specific duration, a start and an end, and then God moved him on through this circumstance.
Curt Harlow [00:08:01]:
So, by the way, you might catch a little giggling because the three of us all participate in a thing here at Behold. I called the sermon prep meeting. Happens on Wednesdays. There's about 20 is in the room. All the communicators for every campus are there, plus a bunch of folks that communicate occasionally, some people that are trying to learn to communicate, interns. We let anyone come in. And I was leading this meeting one week, and I said, wow, look, God says you won't be attacked. And then there's a united attack.
Curt Harlow [00:08:29]:
And I think this means that God's not promising to take him out of attack, but that no permanent harm will come to him. And I used the reference when the apostles were sent out and they came back and Jesus said, how'd it go? And they said, even the demons submit to us. And Jesus said, oh, no, that's the wrong take. You shouldn't rejoice that you've been given authority by me that demons submit to. What you should be rejoicing about is the fact that your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life, that you belong to me, that you're in my family, you're my brothers and sisters, and there's a. There's a place for you in my house, my Father's house. That's what you should rejoice about, not demon busting. And then Jesus says this.
Curt Harlow [00:09:12]:
You are like a lamb among wolves. But do not worry, nothing will harm you. Now, if we take that at its face, the apostles would leave there and never endure injury ever again. But we know that's not true. And we know that's incredibly naive. And we know that even through the rest of their time going into Jerusalem with Jesus, while he was there with them bodily, they experienced harm and ridicule of all sorts. And of course, then 11 of the 12 of them, or 10 of the 12 of the originals, die martyr's death. And one of them, John, came as close as you can do to die a martyr's death without dying a martyr's.
Curt Harlow [00:09:52]:
So they all experienced harm. So I have always taught that. That God is saying, eventually my safety and security over you will overwhelm every opposing force. That's great. There is no permanent harm as we follow Christ. It doesn't mean that there is no suffering, because Jesus said one thing. I'm going to promise you, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you and guarantee their suffering in this world. And then you can go into all the writers of the New Testament, affirm that these two immediately rose up against me.
Dena Davidson [00:10:23]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:10:24]:
We.
Wesley Towne [00:10:25]:
It was a harm.
Curt Harlow [00:10:27]:
First of all, he knows every Greek word. He knows Greek words that Paul didn't know.
Dena Davidson [00:10:31]:
Wes is literally like.
Wesley Towne [00:10:32]:
Like.
Dena Davidson [00:10:32]:
Well, in the Greek. Let's just resolve this right here.
Curt Harlow [00:10:35]:
Yes, yes, but you started it, Dana.
Dena Davidson [00:10:37]:
I did, I did.
Curt Harlow [00:10:38]:
You did start.
Dena Davidson [00:10:39]:
It was Brandon. He's not here.
Curt Harlow [00:10:40]:
I'm 60, and both of you are, like 20 years old. And I, in my elderly wisdom, said, here's how you look at this passage. And then. Okay, Dena, make your argument one more time for why do I got this wrong?
Wesley Towne [00:10:51]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:10:51]:
So honestly, we talked about afterwards, and I think we're like, 50. 50. It actually, you could. You couldn't. You could read it both ways. And that is the beauty of conversation to what we shared about on the last episode. The best Bible study happen, happens in conversation with other people. You.
Dena Davidson [00:11:06]:
You take the Bible in and then you talk about it with others. You should have no original thoughts. Right. This is. We want to be faithful to what?
Curt Harlow [00:11:14]:
You're not discovering the newest way to look at this.
Dena Davidson [00:11:17]:
No, no. Right.
Curt Harlow [00:11:18]:
You're grounding each other into a real exegetical attitude, which means I'm not bringing my agenda to it. I am seeking God's truth.
Dena Davidson [00:11:26]:
Yeah. So where I was coming from, and I think Wesley as well, like, my background is philosophy, and so we. We live in contradictions. So when I hear about contradiction, like a contradiction is a. And not a. It's something very specific. And I was trained as a philosopher that when you encounter a contradiction, it's your duty, your responsibility to avoid making a strawman argument against the person that you're reading. What you have to do is give them the benefit of the doubt that they're not contradicting themselves.
Dena Davidson [00:11:58]:
And so my philosopher brain was going, I was like, is there any possible way to resolve this contradiction? Now you actually gave one of the ways to resolve this contradiction is that we read, no harm will come to you, and we interpret it one way. No attack will come to you, and we interpret it this way. But this was actually the intention of God. So I'd say that's a really solid hermeneutical principle. Whenever it seems like God is contradicting himself, he's saying one thing here and then it's not coming to be. We gotta give him the benefit of the doubt and say, God, what I understood you to say. Is that what you were intending to communicate, or did I misunderstand what you were saying?
Curt Harlow [00:12:37]:
Sure, sure. So this is kind of the. The trap of past history bias. So. Oh, these people were so dumb back there, they could write, you won't be attacked in one verse and you, you will be attacked. And two verses later, Luke's not that dumb.
Dena Davidson [00:12:51]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:12:52]:
So clearly Luke is. You have to give him the benefit of the doubt. What did he really mean? Because he wouldn't do that. So obviously.
Dena Davidson [00:12:59]:
Yeah. And so then I think another. Another possibility is. Is what Wes. The idea Wesley was camping on is that these two ideas, these are different kinds of attack and harm. Paul is. He's in this season where he's been attacked and attacked and attacked. And I think what I read when I read this passage is that Paul was in this critical moment.
Dena Davidson [00:13:21]:
Perhaps he was losing heart. For some reason. God felt it necessary to come to him and say, do not be afraid, for I have many people in this city. He essentially said, this time, Paul, it's going to be different. And as we read the rest of Acts 18, it actually does go very differently. He's not stoned, he's not physically harmed, he's not beaten, he's not thrown in jail in these ways that he was in the previous and the later chapters. So I. I read this as, hey, God really came through on this physical promise.
Dena Davidson [00:13:52]:
And that's how I read it.
Curt Harlow [00:13:53]:
So how do you pronounce the pro counsel's name again, Wesley?
Wesley Towne [00:13:57]:
Galio.
Curt Harlow [00:13:57]:
Galio does do something none of the other authorities do. He walks away.
Wesley Towne [00:14:01]:
Yeah, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:14:02]:
So in that sense, even a year and a half later. But I love your duration. Sometimes God makes promises that are universal. They're for everyone, for all time. They'll never. God makes promises that are conditional. If you do this, I'll do that. God makes promises that have time limits on them.
Curt Harlow [00:14:17]:
In this season, I'm going to. So I think it's very smart. When I brought this up, you immediately went to the Greeks. So here's my question for you. And you do this a lot in sermon prep and we love it. Where is the.
Dena Davidson [00:14:30]:
No one else.
Curt Harlow [00:14:31]:
Where is the tension between, oh man, I shouldn't even study the Bible because I don't know any Greek and I'm never going to catch any of this stuff. And you got to have all these degrees and know all this Greek and have Greek aptitude, you know, which I don't, to be honest with you. You, I do not have foreign language aptitude. Whenever I pronounce a Greek word, I get laughed at. I had a Greek student in my ministry and I said the word koinonia in a sermon and she came up to me and said, here's how you say that word. And I said, well, I was pronouncing the ancient Greek. And she said to me in a very thick Greek accent, no Greek person has ever said that word the way you say it ever has to occur. So anyways, my point is how do you deal with that tension? Do we need to all be fluent in Greek and where do we put too much emphasis on parsing the Greek and where is it really helpful if we're going to be good Bible study people?
Wesley Towne [00:15:24]:
Yeah, I think there's few people that have a gift and a calling to learn the original languages. Not everybody. But I do think it's a layer of context as a Bible teacher that I wanted when I was pursuing understanding the Bible. There's multiple layers of context, history, culture, understanding layers of context in the text we read in English. But also the linguistic context I think brings things to light sometimes that maybe for a Bible teacher is really helpful rather than just relying on a commentary or something somebody else said, but actually being able to go into the original language, the original time and writing and language that Paul or Jesus used and study the Bible out of that layer of context. So for me it's incredibly helpful and I have a bent for it, so I love it. But I, you know, for me I wanted to understand every layer of context I possibly could so that I could teach the Bible.
Curt Harlow [00:16:24]:
Well, great answer. I got a follow up question on that. So when why is this problem that there's two different Greek words here? And by the way, right now I'm going to recorded on the podcast the Bible says, I'm going to acquiesce to you guys opinion and say you were right. And I was mostly right. The key to this is that Luke did choose two different words for the word attack. That's the key. So that to your point, it shows Luke saying, I want to create a Distinction. And it's even more than that because this is the only.
Curt Harlow [00:17:03]:
The second word attack in verse 12. It's the only way, the only place in the entire Bible that Greek word for attack is used. So he's being very deliberate here. But. But Wesley, how does this happen? Why. Why don't we have a different word in the second attack? Why is it there's so many different choices in Greek words and it seems like English is stuck in. We got one version, it's called attack. What do we do about that and why does that happen?
Wesley Towne [00:17:30]:
Yeah, I mean, I think with all language, there's elasticity with word meanings, right? Like you. You talk about the word, you know, preposition up. Like you type up a document, what's up, you know, slang.
Curt Harlow [00:17:45]:
I fill up.
Wesley Towne [00:17:46]:
I fill up my tank, whatever it is. Like, I think words in general have a very, like, evolutionary elastic reality to them. So I wouldn't get caught up too much on that. I think, you know, there's multiple words that mean similar things in all languages, including Greek. And I think because of Luke, we gotta understand Luke is a doctor, he is brilliant, he's specific, he's a historian. He is writing with the utmost detail and nuance. And so I think that that's actually a great thing if you study how Luke writes, Luke and Acts, which were originally meant to be one work, one about the life of Jesus, one about the work of Jesus through the church. And I think it's interesting to note that Luke is not haphazardly using words or historical references.
Wesley Towne [00:18:43]:
He's being painstakingly careful as he is writing down the story of Jesus and the story of Jesus church. So I think maybe knowing that, it's helpful to say, oh, he differentiates here. But I would also add some narrative to the context. Paul had just been run out of Thessalonica. The people in Thessalonica who opposed him followed him to Berea, ran out of Berea, went to Athens, had a little bit of protection, got to talk about the Gospel in a unique cultural way. Then he gets to this new place, the city of Corinth, which is not a Christian city, like, not a very Jewish city. I would suppose that this would be a lot like Miami or New York. This is a hub of culture.
Wesley Towne [00:19:35]:
And the people here are not necessarily, like, attuned to the Scriptures and the way of Jesus and somebody like Paul coming in the city. So he comes in and he goes to the Jewish synagogue, which was a part of his philosophy of church planting, and he preaches. This is Important. He preaches that Jesus is Messiah. So he takes time telling the people in the synagogue, the Jews and the Greeks who were understood the Old Testament, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises and all the covenants that you have longed to find fulfillment in the Old Testament, he's your Messiah. They oppose him. So he leaves and he goes next door to another guy's house.
Dena Davidson [00:20:15]:
Literally next door.
Wesley Towne [00:20:16]:
He goes next door and he starts a ministry next door. And I just can't. I can't help but think that he has fear. He's like, they're going to do the same thing to me that they did in Thessalonica. They're going to do the same thing to me that they did in Berea. And Jesus comes to him, knowing what he's emotionally feeling and saying, hey, I want you to know you don't have to fear. And he says, I'm with you, presence. I'm going to protect you.
Wesley Towne [00:20:42]:
Protection. And I've got a lot of people in this city. There's going to be a spiritual revival, so stick around. Don't bail out of town. Even though there's some ops next door, it's not like he had, like, a huge geographical distance. He had his opposition next door. So Jesus had to come to him in a vision and say, don't be afraid. Keep preaching.
Wesley Towne [00:21:05]:
But I do want to say something. Can I add something to this narrative? This is something you're going to note that I think is helpful as we think through the book of Acts, he goes to the people that know the Old Testament and he preaches. But when he goes often to the people that have no basis in Christianity, the Old Testament, the Bible, the story of Jesus, he spends time teaching because they have no foundation. And I think that's a really important philosophy of reaching people that don't know Jesus. When I was. I didn't come from a Christian home. Maybe like. Like you, Curt, maybe you did come from Christian.
Curt Harlow [00:21:45]:
Yes. And Dena came from the most Christian home I have ever known of. And yeah. Yeah, I was definitely as Christian as 30% more saved than most Christian homes.
Wesley Towne [00:21:54]:
Yeah, that's great.
Curt Harlow [00:21:55]:
So that's why we're all such a good team.
Wesley Towne [00:21:57]:
When I started Redeemed heathens. Yes, yes. Redeemed heathens.
Dena Davidson [00:22:01]:
And then I had my little time in philosophy, but I'm still saved.
Curt Harlow [00:22:05]:
Yes.
Wesley Towne [00:22:06]:
When I started hearing the gospel in Jesus, people would say, oh, Jesus died for you on the cross for your sin. I was like, who's Jesus? What sin?
Curt Harlow [00:22:14]:
Who's Jesus?
Wesley Towne [00:22:14]:
And why did he die on a cross. Like I had no basis, no foundational knowledge about the story of Jesus in the Gospel. So teaching to those types of people is really helpful. Yes, you're explaining things, you're filling in the blanks and the narratives, you're defining terms. And I think this is actually so brilliant that he stated, stayed for a year and a half, one of his longest church planting missionary stays, and he taught them day in and day out. And by this time he wasn't tent making because the Philippians had sent him a monetary gift so that he could full time teach the Bible to the.
Curt Harlow [00:22:52]:
People in Christ showed up. So they were probably helping out Quill and Priscilla with the tent business. So here's, here's what I want to jump on with that DePaul. So campus ministry, our old campus ministry background. Forgive us, Dena. I would always ask myself this question based on Paul's statement that said the Gospel is a stumbling block to the Jews and it is confusion, foolishness to the Gentiles. And I would always ask myself this question, okay, who am I speaking to? Am I speaking to a person who's biblically literate, these are the Jews. Or a person who has no understanding that there's even one true God, or who Jesus is, or Old and New Testament, which was my background.
Curt Harlow [00:23:38]:
I didn't know the difference between the Old and New Testament. One of the first little Bible studies I went to, they said, go around, tell us what you're reading in the Bible. And I said, the Book of Job. And they all, they all laughed at me. And I said, what are you laughing? Well, it's not pronounced that way. It's spelled that way. J, O, B. Why would I know that? It's, why would you know Job? It's Job, the book of Job.
Curt Harlow [00:24:01]:
Go get a job. Among the Ninevites, I thought it was perfect. So the point is we oftentimes speak to people like they are, that the Gospel is a stumbling block to them because they have preconceived learning about the Bible that we have to undo. This is Paul saying, you've missed all these verses. Listen to what Jesus said. Listen to what the Old Testament prophets said. Said you, you have them, you've looked at all this and you've wanted a conquering Messiah to come and free you from the Romans and give you political and earthly liberation. And the Isaiah is clear.
Curt Harlow [00:24:37]:
He's a suffering servant who's come to die in your place, just like our temple sacrifices. This is the appeal to people that understand the Bible. The Old Testament and have gotten it wrong by their own bias. Then you do that same sermon and teaching. You know, the blood of Christ redeems you. Meant nothing to me. I'm like, what is this? Being covered with blood was the most. I don't like.
Curt Harlow [00:25:04]:
Why would you ask someone to be covered with blood? It was so odd to me, all this Christianity. So, you know, not even with traditional, historic Jewish people versus Gentile. I just asked that about individuals. Am I talking to someone who already has preconceived knowledge and good learning in the Bible, but doesn't agree with me, or am I talking to someone who has no idea? Okay, now, I wanted to get that out because I love what you said. I want to go back. We're doing something right now. By the way, guys, that is a big Bible study trap. Big Bible study trap.
Curt Harlow [00:25:37]:
And that is. This passage is not about the difference between one attack word in the Greek and the other attack word in the Greek.
Wesley Towne [00:25:45]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:25:45]:
It's not even about Paul's strategy to go to the Jews first, then the Gentiles. It's a little about that, and it's a little about the pattern that he's gone through. But what it's really about is what you brought up. And I want to go back to. Which is the great Apostle Paul, who had the courage to speak in front of such hostile audiences and to press in. If I had his experience in Thessalonica and Athens, I'd have went home. I'd have went home. I would have went back to Tarsus or back to Jerusalem and said, okay, of you all that knew Jesus, actually for three and a half years, longer than me, me, some of you go down there.
Curt Harlow [00:26:23]:
I'll sit back here and take care of the Hellenistic Jews, Jewish widows for a while. You, Those guys go out there, but Paul doesn't. From Athens, he presses into Corinth. Just incredible, incredible bravery. But in that bravery, he was afraid, and rightfully so. So the point of this is you can't escape fear. And the more obedient you are, probably the more faithful. Like, his obedience invites this fear.
Curt Harlow [00:26:58]:
He doesn't. God doesn't give him a straight path of joy and laughy, laughy joy. Joy. It's hard. And so if Paul can't avoid fear, you and I are not going to avoid fear. We're going to have to. To. We're going to have to deal with it.
Curt Harlow [00:27:14]:
Two weeks from now, we're going to have Morgan May on the podcast, and I'm going to ask her to tell this her Story of being afraid at her wedding, which is just a beautiful story, so you have to come back for that. Okay, Wesley, here's my question, and we're getting close to out of time. How did God told him, don't be afraid. And then he specifically offers him specific comfort. What is it that God is saying to Paul that allows him to step over his fear and keep going, in your opinion?
Wesley Towne [00:27:45]:
Yeah, I think three things, really. I think knowing that God is with us in the midst of the adversity is incredibly comforting and helping, helpful.
Curt Harlow [00:27:57]:
Paul had seen miracle after miracle. Still, God wants, you know, I'm with you.
Wesley Towne [00:28:01]:
He would be the source of strength, support, encouragement, hope along the way, and I think just the anchor of his calling. Like Paul, although you're experiencing all these. All this adversity throughout every city you go to, including in Corinth, by the Jewish people who basically kicked you out of the synagogue, so you had to go next door. I am still with you, and I'm going to protect you. That might have been helpful.
Curt Harlow [00:28:29]:
Yes, yes.
Wesley Towne [00:28:30]:
In the midst of all of the physical altercations he had got into, or at least people who were his opposition. And then I think, you know, sometimes in the midst of opposition and persecution, to know that God's still using us and we can be effective, keeps us in that place. Like, oh, wait, I've got all of these enemies. But look at the revival that's happening. Look at the people that are coming to Jesus. Look at the people who are getting baptized. Like, he essentially was saying to him, you're going to have a really, really successful fruit, spiritually fruitful ministry in the city of Corinth. There's a lot of people that are going to get saved and become disciples of Jesus through your ministry in Corinth.
Curt Harlow [00:29:13]:
I'm with you. I protect you. More people are going to have your back than you. Yeah, that's really good. All right. I've used up so much of our time, so we got to go quick here. Let's go to application. And I'm just going to ask you, Dena and Wes, tell me what I should do about this, and be as specific as you can.
Curt Harlow [00:29:30]:
What should I do tomorrow morning? Because I've been looking at this passage right here.
Dena Davidson [00:29:35]:
Yeah, well, I think the best question you can ask is, am I coming to the Bible with a generous spirit or a hostile spirit? Because I think when we come with a hostile spirit, we will find errors, we will find problems, we will find contradictions, we will find God not living up to who he says he Is there's all these flaws that we are liable to see in the Scriptures when we're coming at it with a hostile point of view. But that that doesn't mean that the Bible actually is full of flaws, that it is full of imperfections, or that God doesn't live up to who he says he is. Are you coming with a generous spirit? And if in honesty you can say, God, I've really been holding a grudge against you. There's. There's an offense in my heart against you that me read your word with a lens of dissatisfaction and I'm looking for the problem, then I just say confess it and ask God to overrule that and help you to see his word as he has communicated it and to know him as he really is.
Curt Harlow [00:30:40]:
Very good. So be curious, not hostile.
Wesley Towne [00:30:44]:
My implication would be the longer we follow Jesus, the more immersed we get in the story of the Bible and Christian understandings, theology stories. We forget that there's outsiders that don't get it. So I think that it's really important when you are around people that don't know Jesus to define insider language. That's our language. It's our subculture. It's the story of God, it's the story of Jesus. It's the Bible. It's terms in the Bible.
Wesley Towne [00:31:18]:
And learn outsider language. Learn to relate to people in the language that they understand. I think that's a really important concept in sharing the gospel, in reaching people that don't know Jesus to realize that everybody doesn't know what we know and everybody doesn't know the definitions that we have because we've been immersed inoculated in Jesus in the Bible to really explain the gospel. Understanding that there's people that have no understanding of what the gospel is. Redemption.
Curt Harlow [00:31:50]:
You have real riz when you teach that, bro.
Wesley Towne [00:31:53]:
Oh, thank you.
Curt Harlow [00:31:54]:
Real risk. Here's my thought. When fear comes, and it will, if it came to Paul, it'll come to you. I want to encourage you to try to find the people that God has already placed around you that you don't know of yet, that have your back.
Wesley Towne [00:32:12]:
That's great.
Curt Harlow [00:32:12]:
God is a provider. He provides his son to forgive our sins. He provides our daily bread. But you know what? He also provides, and it's a gift of grace. We think, I have to go find all these friends and make them and get them to. No, God's already preparing them. Who is it that is around you? How can you resist this idea? Oh, I'm so alone. And go, no, God's a provider.
Curt Harlow [00:32:38]:
There are people that have my back more than I know. And by the way, I'm going to reciprocate. I'm going to have their back so, so good, you guys. Wes, we're going to have you back very, very soon, even if you disagree with me. And further firm and further sermon press. By the way, please go check out all the content Wesley has. He's one of the best communicators and I don't say that lightly. And experts on the area of Christianity, the Bible and emotional mental health.
Curt Harlow [00:33:07]:
Just trying to find out what that means to integrate the Bible in our life and become emotionally healthy. Where can they find that content at Better Days?
Wesley Towne [00:33:15]:
You can go to our website Better Days fmly co or you can just type in Better Days with Wesleytown on Google and you'll find our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and hopefully it's an encouragement to you all the place.
Curt Harlow [00:33:30]:
He's part of the Thrive Podcast Network as well. By the way, this is our second episode here in the Book of Acts. Stay with us. Stay with us. We did this thing called the Bible Study before. Like I said, I really need your help right now. We want to get the word out. We just think everyone does a lot better no matter what age or stage place you are at spiritually.
Curt Harlow [00:33:50]:
If we just ask this question, what does the passage actually mean? How does that apply to my life? And so that's what we're doing here at the Bible Study Pod. Please, right now, before you forget, share this with someone and absolutely subscribe. Also, look for all the other great content that the Thrive Network here at Bayside Church puts out. Mark Clark's got a great one, Leslie and Morgan, who Morgan's going to be on. I mentioned Leslie Johnson and Morgan. Have a wonderful, wonderful one. Go check it out. The Thrive Podcast Network.
Curt Harlow [00:34:24]:
You'll see all of them on there. And thanks so much for being here. We really do appreciate it.