Take Advantage of Opportunity for the Gospel - 1 Thessalonians 1-3

1 Thessalonians 3:1-3 (ESV Strong's)
1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.

Take Advantage of Opportunity for the Gospel

In the above passage the Apostle Paul is writing a letter back to the Church of the Thessalonians about what he heard about them.  He was in much persecution having been run out of every town where he preached the Gospel.   To make sure the church he started was growing he was willing to be left alone in Athens (the center of Greek thought) while Timothy was sent back to the Thessalonians to see how they were doing. Timothy will report back that they were indeed growing a very positive way.   However, while Paul awaited this news, what was he to do.  Being left alone and under extreme persecution, most of us with shelter in place.   We would seek a place to be low key and what for our friends in the ministry to return.   But, not Paul. Paul was in Athens.   When in Athens, you do what the Athenians do.  Not the story from Acts 17 about Paul’s conduct:

Acts 17:16-18 (ESV Strong's)
Paul in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

This is what you do when you wait!!  Paul created a ministry to the Greek thinkers.  He was not afraid of the Gospel of Christ and he believed in the power of the resurrection.   Remember what he had already stated about the “wise” of this world (and the Athenians considered themselves the “wise” of this world):

1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV Strong's)
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The wisdom of God is foolishness to the “wise” of this world.   Paul, however, did not allow that to stop him.  Even in the midst of being alone and persecuted Paul preached the power of the resurrection; the truth of the Gospel.   When we are in a foreign place we need to make sure those who live there are not foreign to the Gospel.