Some say we live in terrible times and suggest we cannot win souls in such an environment. We can learn some valuable lessons from the establishment of the Corinthian church in the midst of a very wicked city.
Paul was a preacher so dedicated to proclaiming the truth that he supported himself through making tents beside a husband and wife team named Aquila and Priscilla. The tents were made out of either leather or goat hair cloth (Acts 18:1–3). He did not insist on his right to be supported in the preaching of the Gospel because he did not want to hinder anyone’s obedience (1 Corinthians 9:11–12; 2 Corinthians 11:9).
Paul reasoned publicly with the Jews and the Greeks who came to the synagogue on the Sabbath (Acts 18:4). He also taught in the house of a man named Justus (Acts 18:6–7). He followed the same course in Ephesus. He reminded the Ephesian elders that he did not hold back anything “helpful” to them, “but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20 NKJV).
Paul’s preaching centered around the fact that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 18:5). He reminded the sanctified in Corinth of the Gospel he preached. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
The Lord added people in Corinth to the church because they heard, believed and were baptized (1 Corinthians 15:1–2; Acts 18:8). Paul said, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
The Gospel seed can grow in difficult soil. We, Christians, must be determined to proclaim the good news. We must remain on subject by proclaiming Jesus is the Christ. We can be assured God will bring forth the increase when that Gospel seed springs up in the hearts of those willing to follow His plan.
[Editor’s Note: The immorality of the world today resembles the immorality of first-century Corinth, and church members have something in common with the Christians in the first-century church in Corinth. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11). The Gospel was the cure for sin by non-Christians and Christians alike then, and remains so today. ~ Louis Rushmore]
