(29) Spiritual Encouragement for Ministry

Does it ever seem that you are running without resting? Do you feel stretched, inching closer to a breaking point? Do you need encouragement for the life of service God is calling you to lead? I think Paul, prior to arriving in Corinth, would have answered "yes" to these questions. He faced steady persecution, being chased from place to place. The spiritual opposition must have been draining. `

And while ministry in Corinth wasn't easy either, it offered him spiritual encouragement for his ministry. Luke introduces the Corinthian ministry with an uncommon transitional phrase—"after this." He's alerting us to a shift in the story. "Before he went to Corinth Paul probably spent no more than half a year in any one place. The pattern now changed." Paul spent at least eighteen months in this city. Here's how Luke summarizes the ministry: "And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized" (8). We would expect the next verse to say that Paul traveled to another city (cf. 17:12; 13:48; 9:42). But Paul stayed.

Paul enjoyed at least four blessings in Corinth that can encourage us too.