Good morning friends and thank you for joining us here on Paltalk as we continue this series on "Who Are We In Christ?" studying from the book of 1 Corinthians. Also Leanna and I want to thank A Far From Normal Faith Ministry, My Look Online and Lokey Sisters for allowing us to post on their social websites, and also thank each of you that read, listen to and watch on all the various networks.
As we continue this series, please have your pen and paper ready so that you can keep notes as we go along and also your Bibles. As she does each week, Leanna will be posting the scriptures here in the room and I thank you Love for doing that. Let's all turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. For those who joined us last week, you will remember that Apostle Paul was dealing with judging. 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 KJV (6) And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. (7) For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 GW Brothers and sisters, I have applied this to Apollos and myself for your sake. You should learn from us not to go beyond what is written in Scripture. Then you won't arrogantly place one of us in opposition to the other. (7) Who says that you are any better than other people? What do you have that wasn't given to you? If you were given what you have, why are you bragging as if it weren't a gift? Friends, I've shared with some of you that I'm not about titles. There are those in the ministry who get irate when you don't address them as pastor. To me, that person needs to earn that title. I have some on my wife's and my site, Cross Roads Fellowship who call me Pastor Jim. Usually it's from members we have from the Philippians. It's their custom to place a title before one's name. At one point I was leading these young members spiritually. When we have respect for a leader, it's natural for us to feel loyalty toward them. Paul warns us not to allow these loyalties to cause divisions within the church. Our loyalty should be to Christ, not to His human servants. Leanna and I have been under pastors that we loved, but, I find often that some of the congregations put these leaders so high on a pedestal that it's like they're worshiping this man or woman. Church, true spiritual leaders are representatives of Christ and have nothing to offer other than what God has given them. Those who spend more time debating church leadership rather than delivering Christ’s message don't have Christ as their top priority. I hope we all have an understanding of this. Like the Corinthian church, we see many of the same things affecting churches today. What are those things? The biggest problem in the divisions they were facing? And often times because of these things we see division and that was exactly what was happening in Corinth and what Paul was addressing to them and for you and me today. Glory to God! Pride being one of the first things. Clicks within the congregation will cause problems. Come on everyone, we've all seen it. Maybe been part of it. That usually leaves a group feeling left out, doesn't it? They feel like they're not worthy to even be there. They feel shunned. Seen it friends? Been part of it? On either side of the fence? Let's get away from this chapter for a few minutes, yet we're still following the guidelines of the title, "Who Are We In Christ". I want to read a post that I've shared a couple times within the past probably 6 years. I'm not sure who the actual writer is, but I usually get choked up reciting this. Why? Because I've seen much of this. Jesus will bear the sin of the Assyrians who gloated over their captives they skinned alive. Jesus will bear the sins of SS troops gunning down women and children running from burning synagogues with clothing burning ablaze. Jesus will bear the sins of child molesters making sure their victims never testify. He will bear the sins of Pharaohs sacrificing thousands of laboring lives to build a deifying tomb. Jesus took on all of this and more. He was tossed about in the endless storm of enraged fathers beating toddlers to their deaths, pimps seducing runaways into lives of drugs and prostitution, Canaanites burning their children to Moloch. Nice church ladies cannibalizing other nice church ladies over coffee. Impoverished parents in China selling their children into slavery. He will bear the sins of Bible-believing leaders praying long and loud while their wives sit in the back of many churches hoping their make-up covers their bruises. Jesus will tumble alone. He will bear the sins of embezzlers, gangsters, bullies, rapists, liars, thieves, the indifferent, sadistic, and self-righteous. It's a scene of unbearable horror, and unspeakable magma. He is the accused for us all, bearing the weight of abused children, families destroyed by adultery or apathy, civilizations decaying, and wars ravaging. So why do I bring this up? As I read and you heard, these are huge events that happened that Jesus took to the cross some 2000 years ago. Yes we heard of World War 2 events, horrific things in Vietnam , things that we can read in the Old Testament. But my friends, did we notice some of the other issues? Nice church ladies cannibalizing other nice church ladies. Is there any difference between the things I just said? What about the pimps? What about the pastor's wife who covers her face because that minister who's preaching hell and brimstone and telling the congregation they need to repent of their sins hours before slapped her silly because his toast was burnt, or his suit wasn't ironed? But ask him if he's a Christian, he would say, "Of course I am, I am a pastor." Oh yaa. Same on Christian networks, I see so much bullying, gossiping and lying, but praise the Lord that's not the normal for Cross Roads Fellowship. Friends, when we learn the truth of how we're to live our lives according to the scriptures, we need to act them out also. Resist the devil when those thoughts of slandering another brother or sister happen. Before saying things that you know will hurt them. Where is that uplifting and edifying, especially when those things said are a lie? Turn please to Philippians. I want us to look at humility. Jesus was absolutely divine, yet absolutely human. In coming into the world He did not empty Himself of His divine nature or attributes, but only of the outward and visible manifestation of the Godhead, The insignia of majesty. He had to empty Himself of His glory or He would have paralyzed the men He came to save. Although equal with God, He took upon Himself the form of a servant for our sakes, that He might meet, as God manifest in the flesh, the death of the cross. Let's see what Apostle Paul says. And remember my brothers and Sisters, while Paul wrote this epistle, he was led by the Holy Spirit in what He wrote. That is very important for us to remember. Philippians 2:5-11 KJV Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Church, I see so many that when they get saved, or born again, they want to get right into ministry. Many want to become preachers, yet they're very naive to the gospel. Everyone is called into ministry, but God has a specific plan and being a minister may not be that calling. It may be missions work. It may mean working at a food cupboard or pantry. Maybe leading Sunday school is where he has you start. We my friends need to be humble, and this is what Apostle Paul was trying to get across. Lets read 1 Corinthians from the King James and then from God's Word. 1 Corinthians 4:8-13 KJV (8) Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. (9) For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. (10) We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. (11) Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; (12) And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: (13) Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. Paul isn’t saying that he likes dealing with the brokenness, he's just saying that it's part of the deal. The path to real life often feels like death. The Corinthians could not escape this process. 1 Corinthians 4:8-14 GW (8) You already have what you want! You've already become rich! You've become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you. (9) As I see it, God has placed us apostles last in line, like people condemned to die. We have become a spectacle for people and angels to look at. (10) We have given up our wisdom for Christ, but you have insight because of Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. (11) To this moment, we are hungry, thirsty, poorly dressed, roughly treated, and homeless. (12) We wear ourselves out doing physical labor. When people verbally abuse us, we bless them. When people persecute us, we endure it. (13) When our reputations are attacked, we remain courteous. Right now we have become garbage in the eyes of the world and trash in the sight of all people. (14) I'm not writing this to make you feel ashamed but to instruct you as my dear children. Can we see the love and compassion Paul is showing, yet with instruction of how to live for Christ? The disciples of Christ, and especially his ministers, should hold fast their integrity, and keep a good conscience, whatever opposition of hardships they meet with from the world. Whatever they suffer from men, they must follow the example, and fulfill the will and precepts of their Lord. They must be content with Him and for Him, to be despised and abused. 2 Timothy 2:19-26 KJV Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (20) But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. (21) If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. (22) Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (23) But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. (24) And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, (25) In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (26) And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Someone right now I believe needed to hear this. Maybe many. Friends, when you and I go through the storms of life, we need to remember this. His incarnation and resurrection, heartily believed, Church, with all your faith, non wavering, will support the you and me under all the testings of the present life. Let's read the rest of the chapter in 1 Corinthians and we will finish up for today. 1 Corinthians 4:15-21 KJV (15) For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (16) Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. (17) For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. (18) Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. (19) But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. (20) For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (21) What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? So what's Paul telling the church in Corinth? To me he's letting them know that there aren't many good examples to follow. Paul is sharing with them that he, being led by the Holy Spirit, should be their example. He's encouraging them to imitate his life. Now, Paul is not telling these people that he's God and that he's perfect. He's saying that as he lives his life trying to follow the model of Christ, they should do that as well. Timothy has been doing this, so they can also look to him for help in this area. I don't think I've said this yet, as I guess it's been said I say amen to much, but amen someone? Do we get this? My dear friends, teaching from God's Word is not what I had planned for my life. No way Hosea. But there are those who are in my circle of friends that God has drawn to me. Praise Christ Jesus. I've shared hundreds of times when there was a terrible mess in a church that Leanna and I were part of and because I was not going to be part of that, we prayed and we prayed and 2 months later after telling God every excuse I could come up with of why I did not qualify, every single time I would pray or think of where He would have us go to church, I kept hearing "Right here and let me guide you." March 4, 2012, we started holding services here at our house. Glory to God. So I often think about, even now, "Why me, Lord? Why now? Why here in Brownville Junction of all places? I don't know why He chose me. Maybe because I asked Him many years ago to lead me where He will. Maybe because I said I want to do all He wants me to do. Maybe because I've allowed Him to break me? And anyone that knew me 20 years ago, 10 years ago and even 5 years ago, know that there's been a change in me. Nothing that I did, but what Christ has done in me. Glory to God. So why do I bring this up? Church, much like Apostle Paul, I'm hoping that God will use me as a Spiritual leader. I do study the Word of God. I try to teach you my friends in a way that you understand what scriptures say without taking away from it. I also try to teach those who've followed this ministry by example. There are those who have followed these sermons and the prayers added on many sites from other countries. Most are from here in the United States. I think if we look at how this chapter ends, we find that Paul does it in a peculiar way. Leanna, can you please post 18- 21 again please? 1 Corinthians 4:18-21 KJV (18) Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. (19) But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. (20) For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (21) What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? I see here that there are those who are causing problems and to me, Paul is writing like a father figure, if you will. Do we see that? Are you going to do what I say or do I have to sit you in a corner for a time out? I think back to my childhood and I never heard that. There were times I heard about the belt, or one time I can remember getting a yard stick and oh yea and having to choose a stick and of course I picked the thinnest one. What a mistake that was! But we see here that Paul's asking if this letter and Timothy will be enough to correct their arrogant spirit and bad behavior or will he need to discipline them when he arrives? His motive is still love but his manner will change if necessary. Friends, in closing and this is hard for me to say but needs to be said. Because of an issue that is going on and because of where we are in this chapter, it's speaking to me. Christian leaders do have the responsibility to call God’s people to repentance. Christian leaders are to exhibit spiritual power. The claims of the troublemakers simply will not hold up to this test. I shared with a friend a couple days ago that when there are those who ask for prayer for certain things, I pray that the things being kept in the darkness are revealed in the light. I do hope that each of you knows what I am saying. 1 Corinthians 4:21 KJV What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? Friends, I need you to get this message that I am about to share. God loves you. There are times that it seems like He is not only invisible, but distant and is not hearing our cry's when we run into tempests. I spoke with a woman just yesterday that shared some very personal happenings going on in her life and within her family and asked me to be in prayer. Church, God knows everything about you. Every little thing. He knows you are going to mess up. He knows there are going to prideful issues. He knows there will be temptations that come and he knows that you an I are going to fail at times. Friends, we are going to fail at times. He knows that that there is wickedness all around us. We see these things spoken in His Holy Word, but friends, that is why He sent His Son to die for you and I. It is why that gruesome picture of Jesus hanging on the Calvary's cross should be imbedded in our mind, but also should be beautiful because it shows His love for you and I. Church, you and I have to understand this, with no hesitation. No resistance. No wavering in our faith, what so ever. God loves you so much and He loves you so much that even though you have been wicked, even though you have been hatful. Even though you have lived a life of doing everything that you can against God's perfect plan that He had for your life, He wants you in His family. He will do anything to have you and I in His family. Church get this. He will pay to have you and me in His family and will go as far as paying to have you in His family. And that is exactly what He did. He bought you and I with the life of His son. His son was brutally beaten, mocked, charged with a crime that He was not guilty for, so that you and I my dear friends could be freed from bondage of sin. He took the place of our eternal damnation. Someone shout Halleluiah!! Praise the name of the the Lamb that was sacrificed for you and I. That my friends is how much God loves you. There are times that leaders of the church need to take the bull by the horns. As I've shared with you for the past couple weeks, pastors that Leanna and I were under a few years ago had to deal with me because they loved me. They knew there was something in me that God wanted to use to further the Kingdom of God. As I shared with you, there was a religous spirit that needed to be dealt with and praise God He took that from me. There have been times I've had to make tough decisions and I know there will be those times again when ministering with others. As I mentioned before, I have a terrific bunch on both our Christian social sites and I think a lot of it is they have respect for me and I have love, compassion and respect for them. As we will see next week, the things going on in Corinth were terrible, just like here, and we'll see how Paul addressed those issues. Leanna and I want to thank each of you for joining us here in the J and L Ministries room here on Paltalk and also those who read, watch and listen on jandlministries.weebly.com. We thank you who have been watching on our u-tube channel called J and L Ministries, and also those who watch on all the secular and Christian networks. We thank you so much for your support. We love you my friends, and our hope is that you take what you've learned each week and put your faith in it and live it out in your own lives. Have a blessed week our friends.
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Good morning brothers and sisters in Christ. Leanna and I want to thank you for stopping by this morning and I hope that those who have been joining us here on Paltalk and reading or watching this series on the Christian and secular sites have been gaining some knowledge on this epistle that Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth.
So if you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 as we continue in this series "Who Are We In Christ?" based on the book of 1 Corinthians. For those who don't have a Bible with them, Leanna will be posting the scriptures as we go through this message, but I would suggest that you write these scriptures down and look them up later. Today we are going to look at judgment of Christ’s servants not committed to man. Apostolic example of patience and humility. I think as you follow along, you'll notice that this chapter deals much with the leadership of the church then, as it should speak to the leadership of the church today. 1 Corinthians 4:1-3 KJV (1) Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. (2) Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (3) But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. So friends, let's start breaking down verse 1. Let's look at how some churches run and then see how Apostle Paul said it should be, and remember when we're reading from this epistle, Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit. Because I've been part of different congregations. and even in leadership of some, I know that different churches have different ideas about this subject. Some church leaders have so much authority that they control the lives of their church members. Other church leaders seem to have no authority whatsoever. They must constantly obey instructions from other people in their church. One particular church that Leanna and I attended wrestled with both of these scenarios. Talk about a struggle and going through many splits. I think as we look at this passage, we'll find that Paul had a different idea. A church leader’s most important relationships are with Christ and with the Bible. To explain this, Paul used two different words for ‘servant’ in this verse. Let's look. Church leaders are servants of Christ. As we look at this verse, the word 'servant' means that they carry out personal duties for their master. They do what he wants them to do. Church leaders are stewards of God’s mysteries. A steward is a servant who has the responsibility to look after the master’s house. He must look after his master’s valuable things. The word ‘mysteries’ has a particular meaning in the Bible, which doesn't match its usual meaning today. It means the plans of God, especially His plan to save His people. We saw this back in 1 Corinthians 2:7 and then I want to look at a passage in 1 Peter verses 10 through 12. Glory to God. Remember friends, we need to rightly divide scriptures with scriptures. 1 Corinthians 2:7 KJV But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: In the past, people didn't know those plans clearly. But now, through the Gospel (God’s good news), God wants His servants to declare His message. It's for everyone who will believe. Amen church? 1 Peter 1:10-12 KJV Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (11) Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (12) Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. As brother Jeff would say "Boom boom." Church, do we get this? Glory to God!! Lets look at judging, and I know that there are those who are going to have eyes opened on both sides on how they believe, or should I say have been taught. There are those believers who take the words "do not judge so that you may be judged" to mean that there shouldn't be any judging whatsoever. We've all heard this, right? So that would mean to be "nice" at all costs, even if it means ignoring behavior that's harmful to the rest of the church. Do we get that? Now, there are those who believe the totally opposite. They believe in a judgmental attitude. These self-appointed critics wreak havoc with their harsh words, possessing a righteousness that is nothing less than mean. Been their church? And these were the things that Paul was addressing to the people in Corinth. We should be dealing with them today. As I read and studied these verses, I find that there must have been a large group of leaders. I think what was happening was that the ones that Paul had led to the Lord, and because Paul was not there to direct them, let their pride keep them from the mission that God had for them. Amen? And we see that happening today. From what I get from this chapter was that the leaders of Corinth were so full of themselves that they became boastful and overbearing in their attitude towards Paul. As we'll see later, Paul cautions them to teach beyond what is written and to teach from Paul's example. We'll see that he warns them to not forget where and Whom the Gospel message came from. Christ Himself. Amen!! In verse 3, Paul reminds the community that they're living in-between the times, just like us. Not only did Jesus come to earth to die for you and me, He's coming again. Glory to God! Christ's return has significant implications for how the community acts in the present and thinks about the future. 1 Corinthians 4:4 KJV For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Do we get this verse? Paul scoffs at the criticism of the Corinthian church declaring that "it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you" and then says "I do not even judge myself". Friends, today we see in typical males sin is arrogance and we also see that females struggle more with self-worth. I know this because many write and call and this is what I hear. There are so many in churches today and on Christian social networks who are extremely hard on themselves. They're convinced that they aren't smart enough or not thin enough. Not pretty enough. To me, they live on the edge of shame, secretly harboring the conviction that they must be some kind of divine mistake. Anyone else notice this? And there are others who are so stuck on themselves that they're unbearable to be around. I know we've all been with this bunch. Here's what Paul's saying and church, please get this. Dismissal of our ability to accurately judge ourselves can be liberating. He insists we simply lack the lenses to gain an objective picture of who we are. When you and I, my friends, spend time in our Bibles, we see the truth about ourselves only emerges from our relationship with God. Amen someone? We can't get an accurate picture on our own because we tend to over or under estimate. What does Paul say? It's the Lord who judges us. That may mean we need reminding that we're fundamentally here because God wants us here - we're created in God's image. Or for some it entails hearing that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So 'should we judge' is the question here. I believe the thought that Christians should not be judgmental of others is completely unrealistic. It would be harmful if followed literally. There's a sense in which Christians must not judge, but that has to do with our eternal destiny and not with how we're to conduct ourselves in our life together. When we look at this whole epistle we see that Paul feels it's important to judge matters here on earth. It's all about their actions. Do we get this? But my friends, and I share this often, when I'm helping other brothers and sisters who have issues with other brothers and sisters...... we need to pay attention to the way that Paul judges the church, just like we have to be careful how we judge. Paul also reminds us that there's a day coming when the Lord will return and bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God. Please turn to Romans 2: 16. We'll see that Paul saw a day of judgment coming in the future. Romans 2:16 KJV In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Also, lets look at 2 Corinthians 5:10. 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 KJV (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (11) Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Does this scare you, friends? For many of us this day of judgment has been imagined as a time of terror and doom. Christ coming at the end of time and separating the saved from the damned. Paul doesn't seem to share the feelings of dread and despair that accompany many Christian thoughts on the second coming of Christ. As we'll see in the last verse we'll be looking at today, that God will bring to light things now hidden. All of our secrets will be revealed. That might be a cause for fear and trembling. but, we are to have confidence that God will strengthen his saints to the end, so that they might be blameless. We read that in 1 Corinthians at the beginning of this series. 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 KJV (8) Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 4:5 KJV Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. Are we seeing this my friends? Paul's confidence is rooted in the fact that the end of time is in the hands of one who was crucified for His sins for you and me. Jesus. The Christ. The anointed One. The coming Judge Himself has been judged. Praise God For our sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Actually, let's look at those verses. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 KJV (20) Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Christ coming to meet us has already died our death. Thank You, Jesus! No songs of doom on the last days. There is joy in the air as earthly shadows give way to a blinding light. Praise the true Living God. Next week, God willing, we'll finish up with this chapter, and then we're going to get into the sins that were happening in the church then, same as it is right here in our day now. For some, it may open up their eyes. I'm finding it very interesting, yet disturbing, that many of those who claim to be Christians don't know that some of their choices they're making are sin to God. No joke. I've had those who ask me if dealing with horoscopes are wrong. Tattoos, piercings. Living together as unwed couples. Getting commode hugging drunk on the weekends. Then we have the gossipers and those who cause strife amongst other brothers and sisters and so on and so on. We thank all of you on Paltalk for joining and we hope that you'll join us next week and invite your friends. Thank you Lokey Sisters, Far From Normal Faith Ministry, Mylook Online for sharing these Sermons. We thank those of you who read and watch on the J and L Ministries website and both Cross Roads Fellowship sites and also those who've been following these on Google+. Our friends, we love you and hope that you have a blessed week in the Lord. Good morning friends and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms listening here on Paltalk and those reading or watching on all the Christian and secular websites this morning.
Before we continue in our study on 1 Corinthians titled "Who Are We In Christ?" I want to ask you all who have moms still living to take the time today to call or visit them moms today. For those who might have had words some time ago, this is the day that you should make amends. Praise God. Forgiveness is mentioned so many times and yet it often times is not done. Just something to consider today. Today, we are going to continue where we left off last week. So if you could please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. 1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 1965 Bible in basic English Do you not see that you are God's holy house, and that the Spirit of God has his place in you? Then the next verse reads like this. 1 Corinthians 3:17 KJV If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Does this mean anything to you my friends? It should, and should be a constant reminder every day to each of us. Glory to God! You and I, brothers and sisters in Christ should value the church because God dwells within it. Notice the question Apostle Paul asks. “Do you not know?” Paul does this ten times in 1 Corinthians. It seems to be a a favorite expressions of Paul's and I think he uses it to let his listeners to know, or should know but don’t. Friends, maybe like even today with many believers, we know, but maybe forgot what scriptures say about what, or how we should live. Or, and I think this fits better, rejected these things. Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit, asks us this, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” When we first started this series, we looked at the Greeks and found that they were very knowledgeable. We'll see the same thing in just a moment in verses 18-23. Paul asks, “Can it be that you who boast in ‘wisdom’ do not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Church, think about what Paul's asking them and think how it speaks to us right here in the community where you live. Maybe even in your own home. To me, I find this question is a stinging rebuke that centers on the failure of the Corinthians to recognize who they are. These knowledgeable people should have had this down pat, but they did not grasp this elementary truth. Not meat, but milk. And I see the same thing today. I think it's important to spend some time on these two verses and I hope that you continue to listen as I share why. When I meditated on this these two scriptures, I found something that really startled me. I had always been taught that these verses were discussing for you and me not to harm our bodies...drinking, smoking, lusts of the flesh and so on. Wow, wow and wow. This morning as I was praying for guidance on this message, my eyes were opened up. Friends, I hope you all see what I'm trying to share with you. For those who have a concordance, you can follow along with me. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 KJV+ (16) Know G1492 ye not G3756 that G3754 ye are G2075 the temple G3485 of God, G2316 and G2532 that the G3588 Spirit G4151 of God G2316 dwelleth G3611 in G1722 you? G5213 (17) If any man G1536 defile G5351 the G3588 temple G3485 of God, G2316 him G5126 shall God G2316 destroy; G5351 for G1063 the G3588 temple G3485 of God G2316 is G2076 holy, G40 which G3748 temple ye G5210 are. G2075 Paul's saying that “you” are God’s temple, the very place where God dwells. Here's what I found. The term “temple” (Greek, naos) means “the building, the house (holy place, holy of holies)”. Here we go even further. Paul says, “The Spirit of God dwells in you.” “You,” here is plural, meaning the whole body of Christ at Corinth, not the individual Christian. "Brother Jim, does that mean the Holy Spirit does not live in me?" That's not what I'm saying and if we look at other scripture, we'll see that yes He does live in us. Acts 2:38 KJV Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Romans 8:9-10 KJV But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Here's what I believe that Paul was addressing in these scriptures and I think it might help you to understand better why I'm so much about these 2 verses. Why does God get upset about someone destroying His church? First, the church is the place where His Name is revealed. When you ask someone about God, they usually think about the church building, yes? I believe that's how the world views God. Now, because I have had numerous conversations with people in person and online, who have been hurt by others in the church body and even within the leadership of the church, what happens? They blame God. I see this all the time. They feel this is the character of God and base solely on what they see in God’s people. In the process God’s reputation is damaged. Can I get an amen, church? This past week, I've seen many posts about the character nature of Christians. I've been very involved in some of these posts, because I feel my calling is to lead the unbelievers to the saving knowledge and grace of Jesus and then to disciple them to the truths of His Word. Yet within many Christian sites, I see much back biting, gossip, brothers slandering other brothers and sisters. There have been some Christian social networks that I've left because I won't belong to such nonsense, and there's another site that I may leave very shortly. I look at some of the churches in my area and I see such carrying ons and it makes me wonder where is the love of Christ in these people. I've heard tell of one denomination where 3 Pastors were fired because they taught on sin issues. So I need to ask myself as far as these congregations and Christian sites, do they know if they resist the devil he will flee? Do they take scriptures as we just read here in 1 Corinthians, or any of the verses dealing with how the church of God should be run? While Satan can never destroy God’s character, he certainly tries to damage His reputation, and he does it through the people of God. This is hard for me to say, but that was me at one time. My actions and choice of words, even though one had to read between the lines to know that it was an insult, hurt a ministry that we were part of. Let's look at verse 17 again. 1 Corinthians 3:17 KJV If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. I want us to really look at this verse. I think when we really study these verses they're not to warn people about their sinful activities regarding their personal physical bodies. When I study the Greek language, Paul's not dealing with the Christian’s individual physical body, but with the spiritual body of believers in Corinth and even today during our time. Now, someone might be thinking "Whew, I'm safe, I can keep on doing the things I like to do." Not so fast my friend. Your not off the hook that easily. We'll see that Paul does deal with the Christian’s body later in this series, but those who want to check it out before hand in 1 Corinthians 6, you'll find that there Paul is warning the believers at Corinth to not use their bodies for immoral purposes, such as fornication. They must not use their physical body to sin by means of sexual sin. I hope that your eyes might have been opened this morning to what these two particular verses are saying. Like I said earlier, I couldn't believe what was opened up to me when I found this. Let's continue on to the remaining verses in this chapter. 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 KJV (18) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. (20) And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. (21) Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; (22) Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; (23) And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. For those who were with us at the beginning of this series, this might sound familiar. Paul wrote much of the same thing in chapter 1. Friends, I think from theses verses you and I need to understand this. When we read the Bible, we see from Genesis all the way through to the book of revelation, God will not be mocked. We see warnings from God all the way through and we also see the consequences, for being in disobedience. We just read what happens when we come against the church. But what we really need to fully understand church, is the only true wisdom we find is in our Savior, Christ Jesus. The Anointed One. Glory to God. I'm sure that Satan thought he won, but the Lamb of God shedding His innocent blood on that Roman cross, dying for you and me brothers and sisters in Christ and being raised from the dead three days later, brings salvation to you and me and all those who verbally confess Jesus as Lord and Savior and repent of their wicked ways. Halleluiah, Glory to God. Friends, there are those who think our beliefs are strange. There are those who think we're nuts for believing in an invisible God. Yet, without faith in God we cannot please Him. I'm not sure about you, but I see Him every day. I see the beauty He created. I hear and smell all that beauty, yet I also see, smell and hear all the filth that man has created too. Church, when we look at these verses, what the world considers foolish is actually the greatest wisdom we can ever obtain. We looked at this earlier in this series at what Jews seek in the truth in the Law and Gentiles seek truth in their own minds, Paul says the truth of God is found in the sacrificial, atoning death of Jesus Christ on a cross. What makes no sense in our pea brains is the greatest truth any man or woman could ever discover. Rejoice in this church. In closing today my friends, because some of you are probably going to spend time with your moms, and Leanna and I will be traveling 2 hours north to visit my mom, I want you to take a good look in who you are in Christ this week. Are you living a life that shows the world that Christ is living in you? If someone forgot your name will they still know you because of what Christ living in you has revealed to them? Did you leave that kind Godly impact in someone's life? For those who are visiting a mom today, or spending time with family that may not know Christ as their Lord and Savior, what impact will you leave with them today? Will they know without a shadow of a doubt that you, with no hesitation are living a life that glorifies God? I hope so, and that's been my prayer for all who have followed J and L Ministries. Leanna and I thank you for joining the J and L Ministries room here in Paltal. We thank Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters, Far From Normal Faith Ministries for allowing us to share these sermons on their sites. We thank all of you on both the Cross Roads Fellowship sites for supporting us and for all you do to further the Kingdom of God. We also thank all who visit the J and L Ministries site and for those who have taken the time to watch the videos on our u-tube channel. We love you all, we wish all the moms a very special Happy Mother's Day and we ask the Lord in Jesus' name that you all have a blessed week. A blessed Sunday is my hope for all of you this morning. Leanna and I want to thank all of you attending here on Paltalk and those who read and watch these sermons on all the various Christian and secular sites. We also want to thank Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters and A Far From Normal Faith Ministry for allowing the videos and sermons to be shared on their sites.
Let's continue where we left off last week on our series "Who Are We In Christ". We've been studying from the book of 1 Corinthians. As we've seen in the past few weeks, Apostle Paul has been addressing many issues that had been happening within the church, just as it has continued to be a huge issue since. We see there was a division, much being philosophy and the other traditions. We also see that there was much strife. As we looked into the first part of Chapter 3, we saw that there seemed to be a click happening within and again, I have witnessed the same thing in several churches that I've been a part of. So let's turn to 1 Corinthians 3:10. While you're turning there, I want to thank my beautiful wife Leanna for posting the scriptures that we read from each week. I also want to thank Tim and Leanna for moderating the room. 1 Corinthians 3:10 KJV According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. What a verse to get started with. I think, and am in hopes as we continue in this chapter, that the next verses might help you get an understanding of what was happening and why Paul had to address this. A couple weeks ago I shared why Jesus shared the things that He shared with His disciples. Why during most of His ministry, His closest friends were right there. They were to carry on His teachings. Amen someone? If there was no one to share what He had taught them, would we know now the things of Christ? No. They at that time were few, but after Jesus was ascended to Heaven, the Holy Ghost came down and filled the believers and then the church grew. Glory to God, and we see that even Peter who had denied Jesus 3 times, just as Jesus had said, preached with such boldness. I think Paul was trying to do the same... teach the things of God as the Holy Spirit instructed. Paul was speaking about Apollos and himself and their ministry to the Corinthian believers. I also believe that he was primarily speaking to ministers about the way they minister to God's people, and we'll see that as we continue. Friends, as I shared last week and the week before, we're all called to share the Gospel with this dying world. I've shared this many times and even as far as a whole sermon back a couple years ago. Now, in saying that, not all are called to be teachers, pastors, evangelists and so on. Doing what I'm doing right at this present moment was not my plan. As I share with many, I struggled for 2 months when I asked God where He would have Leanna and me go to church after there was much corruption that entered the church we were attending after our Pastors left and appointed a man to take over. For two months I heard every time I prayed or even thought about where we should go to church, "Right here and let Me guide you." You bet the doubts and fears came. I'm not a theologian. I don't consider myself a good speaker. People know that I used to be selfish, prideful and the list goes on. What about a church building? "Lord, people won't come to our house for services." I didn't see God's plan. I looked at it through my eyes. My thoughts and ideas and fear. Amen? But my friends, as we're going to see in chapter 13, those who minister under the leading and inspiration of the Holy Spirit will be like the gold, silver, and precious stones. They will stand the test. Leanna and I have stood some tests and I know that they will continue. However, those who minister carnal things that cause divisions will not stand God's test. Just like wood, hay, and stubble cannot withstand the fire, and we'll see that in a few minutes. Glory to God. 1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Here we go. Boom, boom. Church, you and I as believers in Christ have a race to run, of service and sufferings, a course of active and passive obedience, in all of which you and I, my brothers and sisters in Christ need to keep our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus. Halleluiah. Have any of you been part of building a house? A tree house, maybe? For those who have, the foundation is the most fundamental part of a building, upon which all else is built. It needs to be strong. Actually, let's turn to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Let's see what Jesus said about foundations and maybe you'll see what I'm trying to say here. Matthew. 7:24-27. It is possible to build wrongly on a good foundation, but if the foundation is wrong, nothing else can be truly right. Matthew 7:24-29 KJV Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: (25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. (26) And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: (27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (28) And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: (29) For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Friends, and I know the hate letters will come pouring in from what I'm about to say. Who is the foundation of the Church? Jesus. Yet, the Catholics theory is that Peter, or the office of Pope is the foundation of the church. Really? Do you want to see scripture that totally throws that out? Matthew 16:18 KJV And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Who died so that we could have an intimate relationship with God? Jesus. Who is the only man that shed innocent blood to not cover our sins, but to cleanse us of all unrighteousness? Jesus. Jesus is our Redeemer, Our Lord and Savior. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our defense attorney. Amen. He Is The Head Of The Church, Halleluiah. Glory to the Lamb of God. Praise the Anointed One, Church. Now Paul is not saying, that it's impossible to try to use any other foundation. We see that happening today in some of the so called faiths. He's saying that would not be the true foundation, but a false one. Amen someone? And anything built on that foundation could not be the Lord's true church. This then forever forbids the possibility that any church, including the Catholic Church, could possibly be the true church when it openly professes to be built on a foundation other than Jesus. Do we get this? I've not studied much on the Catholic Church. I have asked people who do attend these places of worship about what they believe and most can't tell me. I find that very strange indeed. Let's look at one more passage and then get back to 12 in 1 Corinthians. I think it's important to see that what Paul is saying isn't just in one place and that is what I love about the living Word. Glory to God! 2 Timothy 4:1-5 KJV I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (5) But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Friends, our salvation rests solely upon the completed work of Jesus Christ, but rewards are to be earned by spiritual service for God and will be according to the quality of our works. Friends, the important message in this is true service done in the power of the indwelling Spirit, is of eternal standing, but fleshly service is perishable and will bring the Christian loss of reward at the final day. 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 KJV (12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. What does verse 12 mean to you? (12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; I think we can look at it like this. We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the building which the preachers are building up. Amen? We saw this in verse 9 and when we get there, we'll see it in verses 16 and 17. We see something similar in 1 Peter 2:5 KJV Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. back to 1 Corinthians 3:13. 1 Corinthians 3:13 KJV Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. In recent conversations on sites, there are two thoughts here. I believe it means this. The fire refers to the day of judgment because of how it says, "the day." I believe when we look at the materials said in verse 12, we're looking at the different kinds of Christians. I asked you earlier if any of you had helped to build a building. When someone builds a house, or any kind of structure, they usually know what materials they're going to use, right? Ok, now coming into this Paltalk room this morning, or when I post these notes, or when I share the videos, I know some of you who will listen or read, but I don't know everyone. Amen? Am I laying a foundation, seeing we are talking about foundations? Let's take the J and L Ministries site. In the past 2 weeks, the day that the site was visited the most, it had 717 hits. The lowest in the past 2 weeks was 111. Most of the visits are because of the prayer that's shared each morning and then there are those who watch and read these sermons. Now, do I know who reads and watches? I may know 10 at the most. Church, what I think Paul was getting across is, unlike a real building, preachers or teachers have no clue ahead of time what kind of material the people they teach will turn out to be. Do you see this? I hope, like I'm sure Paul did, that the messages being taught are sinking in. That spiritual ears are opened. Amen someone? Some people will prove to be weak and unable to stand. They'll be destroyed like the parts of a house that burn up in a fire. Others are faithful and strong and will endure, like parts of a house that are not destroyed in a fire. Let go to verses 14 and 15. 1Corinthians 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. (15) If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Many people choose to do good things, thinking that that saves them. I know I've said this often, but it's true. They think good works saves them. We, brothers and sisters in Christ, were created with a purpose, and each one of us has a God given plan for our lives. God created you and me to have a relationship with Him and He gives us free will to do just that. Amen? Friends, many take the last part of verse 15 and argue between the idea of once saved always saved. I think we could go back and forth with scriptures all day long, and we aren't going there with that today. For those who are Pastors, leaders of Bible studies, if we're diligent in our work of teaching, then our salvation doesn't depend on whether or not the people we taught remain faithful. The final outcome of any man's salvation is between him and God. Amen? Glory to God. Brothers and sisters, if we do what Christ has us to do, we live in His obedience, keep our focus on Him, we know in faith He will bless us and we'll enter into the Kingdom of God. In closing, I ask you my friends. What is your life going to count for? That's the question. Every one of us here in this Paltalk room, or reading, or hearing this message, is investing his or her life in something. You can't live without making an investment. What is it in? Will it be permanent? Will it abide? Will it stand the test? In the great day when all the universe sees things the way they are, will you be filled with joy that your life was invested in what stood the test and contributed to the glory of the Lord? Or will you be ashamed that you wasted all these years making an impression on men and teaching and influencing others to do so, and it was all burned up in the fire. You might be saved, but is it as though you had to run through the flames and lost everything besides? I know there are people who don't like this kind of preaching, but as we continue in this study there are going to be many offended, because of what the Holy Spirit laid on Apostle Paul's heart to write. There are those who want to hear that ear tickling message. Many want to hear only about the grace of God, but the Scriptures teach us that we have some choice in this matter. Are our lives going to be lived on the basis of gold, silver and precious stones, growing out of that revelation of God by the Spirit, or are they going to reflect the empty, vain philosophies and speculations of the world around so that we live only for pleasure, fame and power instead of being an instrument of the living God? That choice is yours, my friend, but remember there are consequences for wrong choices. Friends, thank you for joining with us this morning. If this was your first time hearing us on Paltalk and you were blessed, please add this room to your list. If you read this on any of the social Christian sites, or secular sites, we thank you and please leave a comment. If you listened on our u-tube channel and want to continue hearing these messages as we continue this series, please subscribe and comment. I'm stopping this recording now, but will keep this room open for comments and questions. We love you and hope you have a blessed week in the Lord. Good morning friends and family and thank you for joining us this morning. We're about to start part 7 of this series on "Who Are We In Christ" and we have been basing this study around the book of 1 Corinthians.
Before we get started, I want to thank all of you joining us here on Paltalk, for those who read and watch on both of the Cross Roads Fellowship sites., Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters, The Far From Normal Faith Ministries site, J and L Ministries, u-tube, and the list goes on and on. Thank you all for your support. I also want to thank Leanna for sharing the scriptures in the chat box and thank her and Tim for keeping an eye on this room as administrators should. It makes my job so much easier. Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians and we'll start this morning with Chapter 3. As we read this chapter, we're going to see where Apostle Paul discusses hindrance of a carnal state to spiritual growth, and also Christian service and its reward. Praise God. 1 Corinthians 3:1 KJV And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. What was Paul saying here? For those who have been following along in this series, there were many key scriptures that I believe shows what he was trying to get across. The first was: 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. As we'll see in the next verses, many of them in the Corinth church were not ready for meat. They were baby Christians as a pastor that Leanna and I were under at one point would say. And then like now, there were most likely those who thought they were saved and were not. Amen someone? Paul couldn't share the real meat of the Gospel with these Corinthians. So someone might be thinking to themselves, "What is a spiritual Christian"? Anyone? Very simply put, spiritual Christians are believers who are being led and obeying the Holy Spirit. Amen? 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 KJV But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Glory to God. Amen everyone? Lets look at another passage explaining this. Romans 7:18-22 KJV For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (19) For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (20) Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (21) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Through these verses, we can see that spiritual people are the opposite of carnal people. Carnal people are living their lives (whether good or bad) through their own ability. Amen someone? Spiritual people would be the ones who are depending on God's ability instead of their own understanding. Yet, we can see even in many religious circles, and the key word is religious, that they teach of their own understanding and not being led by the Holy Spirit. Amen? Do we get this friends? Our salvation and walk with God are not based on religion. "Oh boy brother Jim, you just confused me." My friends, it's based on a personal relationship with Jesus. We looked at this last week. You and I are not saved because of a church building, a pastor, or someone who may have shared the gospel with you and may have led you to pray for salvation. Yes, these people may have helped you get to that decision, but it's the relationship that you now have with Christ the moment you asked Him into your life. When you admitted you were a sinner and you believed that He came as a sinless man to die a sinless man for you and me. Shedding His sinless blood to cleanse you from your sin. And that He was resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day and now is in Heaven at the right side of God almighty and now is your defense council, if you will . Glory to King Jesus. Salvation isn't about religion, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow, as I'm preparing this message, it's evident to me we could study just this one verse through this mornings service. I don't think we'll do that, but there are some more key points that I think we should get an understanding of. Praise God! Let's look at carnal. Being carnal are those who are dominated by their physical senses. Everyone understand this? It's those who base everything on what they can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel, and their own understanding. Spiritual people are more dominated by God's Word than by their own feelings. Church, true spirituality will eventually affect every area of our lives, but we must be sure that we're not using our personal convictions to judge anothers spirituality. The issue that Paul was using to evaluate spirituality is people's ability to discern spiritual truth as we looked at in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 and what their relationships with others are like as we'll see in the next verses. It doesn't matter how often people go to church or what their dress code is. If they're contentious and not able to discern spiritual truth, they aren't spiritual. Please turn to John 6:53. I know we read this last week, but I think it'll bring a better understanding to some of you. Let's see what Jesus said. John 6:53-58 KJV Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (54) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (58) This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. Leanna, can you post 1 Corinthians verse 1 again, please? I want us to look at the last part of 1 Corinthians 1 and we will move to verse 2. Notice what was said here. even as unto babes in Christ. To me, I think this has led some people to believe that our born-again spirits start out as infants and must grow or mature in Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying here? For those who think this way, I think you may have an incorrect understanding, and I hope what I share next will help. I used to think this, and scriptures showed me differently. Amen someone? Colossians 2:8-10 KJV Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: As brother Jeff from A Far From Normal Faith Ministry would say, "Boom boom." Do we see this, church? As Christians, our spirits are completely mature at the time of salvation. Praise Jesus. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we're not to try to mature our spirits, but mature our souls through the renewing of our minds so that they will allow our born-again spirits to function. Glory! I do pray you're all understanding. Romans 12:2 KJV And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Friends, our new spirits already have the mind of Christ. We're now in the process of educating our minds to the truths of God's Word that are already present in our spirits. If we look at Romans 12:3, you and I have the same measure of faith that Christ has. This faith is in our spirits. We don't need more faith; we just need to renew our minds with the Word of God so that we can use the faith of Christ that is already present in us. Romans 12:3 KJV For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Let's get back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and go to verse 2. We kind of looked at this with what we read in verse 1. I know we spent a lot of time on verse 1, but I felt there were things that we all needed to understand to carry on by rightly dividing scriptures, and there were many others we could have looked at, but I hope we all got this. 1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 1 Corinthians 3:2 Amp However, brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [[a]unable to talk yet!] 1 Corinthians 3:2-3 GW I gave you milk to drink. I didn't give you solid food because you weren't ready for it. Even now you aren't ready for it (3) because you're still influenced by your corrupt nature. When you are jealous and quarrel among yourselves, aren't you influenced by your corrupt nature and living by human standards? Wow! And friends, this is a major issue today. All of Paul's teaching about unity isn't deep teaching. It wasn't meant for just the spiritually mature. He was saying this was "milk," not "meat." Therefore, those who think that unity among the believers is impossible because we're too immature are wrong. Paul made it very clear that these Corinthians were "babes in Christ," but also notice he commanded them to be of the same mind and judgment and to be perfectly joined together. 1 Corinthians 3:3 KJV For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? Are we beginning to see where Paul was going in this chapter? Are these things that Jesus taught us through His Word to be part of? Absolutely not. They were following their own understanding. They were acting in the flesh, and this is what I see happening in the world today. We see it in denominations today, or at least I've seen it, and it should not be if we are operating in the Spirit. Glory to God. Paul mentions envy, strife and divisions as signs of carnality. Friends, what I notice happening in churches, and even on some of the Christian websites, is the church today has focused its attention on the sins of immorality and many ignore things like unity among the believers. Romans 8:5-8 KJV For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. As we'll see as we get further into this study, the church at Corinth had the wide range of sins present among its members. Apostle Paul mentioned some of the sins of immorality in 1 Corinthians 7, but here we see his emphasis was on the division among the believers. James 3:14-18 KJV But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. (15) This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (16) For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Friends, strife opens a door to every evil work that the enemy wants to do in people's lives. Envy, strife and division within the body of believers can be even deadlier than the sins of immorality. And what did we just read in verse 18? (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Let's read the next few verses and we'll finish up for today. 1 Corinthians 3:4-9 KJV (4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? (5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (8) Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. (9) For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. What was Paul trying to get across in theses verses? He kind of started this in the first chapter of this epistle. It should also be a warning to the church today. Amen someone? As long as people promote one denominational persuasion over another, the body of Christ as a whole is still carnal. Do we see this? Many believers don't understand what I'm going to say next. All Christians are ministers. You and I and all believers are called to share their faith with others. 1 Peter 3:15-17 KJV But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (16) Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. (17) For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. Now in saying that all Christians are ministers, not all Christians are called to one of the five ministries listed in Eph 4:11, where it becomes their vocation to minister the Gospel. Let's look at what's said in Ephesians 4 and starting with verse 9. Ephesians 4:9-13 KJV (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? (10) He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. I love these scriptures. As members of His Body (Christ Jesus), the Holy Spirit will endue us with spiritual gifts for His service that we might confirm and build up others in the faith and that we might dispense the saving doctrines of His grace to the unsaved. Praise Jesus! We also see in Corinthians verse 7 that Paul was saying that God is the one who used Apollos and him to touch these Corinthians lives, and God should get the glory. Amen? That's an important message for the Corinthian church at that time and for you and me to get, even today. We, my friends, are nothing without God. Yes, we can do great and wondrous things, but can you bring them to Heaven when our time is through here? We can preach a message that sounds all religious, but if it didn't come from God, what good does it do? Who does it touch? Oh, it might puff up the person preaching it. They may think to themselves, 'Look at me, I'm a godly man. I preached a message." No, my friends. When we do something good, we're proud of what we've done, but this passage says that even our best, most noble works are like "dirty rags" when it comes to earning us a place in heaven--they're useless and good for nothing. They're certainly not enough to bring us into a right relationship with God. For that my friends, we need Christ. So in ending this message today, I ask you my friends to ponder on what you've heard, or read today. Chew on it during the week and not let it just go in one ear and out the other, as I believe Paul was acutely aware that it was God working through him. This is a important lesson that I and every true minister of the Gospel must learn. We see in John 15:5 KJV I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. I hope that this message has blessed you today. I hope that there was something that each of us can use to further God's Kingdom. For those who joined us on Paltak, thank you for your support and we look forward to having you join next week. For those listening on u-tube, any of the Christian and secular sites that the u-tube video or notes may be posted, again we thank you and ask that you leave comments, subscribe and please share with your friends and family. We love you, and may the Lord bless you this week. Good morning friends and family and thank you for joining J and L Ministries for part 6 of Who Are We In Christ from the book of 1 Corinthians. We thank those joining us live on Pal talk, those who may be reading this message on Cross Roads Fellowship sites, Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters, J and L Ministries site, our new u-tube channel, or any of the other social media sites. Glory to God!
Leanna and I just came back this past Friday from a weeks getaway just off the coast of Maine. It was a time that we did not hear phones ringing non-stop or a dog barking at every person that walked by the house. It kept me away from hours of computer chores and it was great. Leanna and I had a chance to enjoy each others company without the everyday distractions. It also gave me a chance to try to hear what direction the Lord would have us go with this ministry He has blessed Leanna and I with. I say try, because even though I did pray, I did not hear anything. It does get frustrating at times when you get all excited thinking that God is going to open up new doors and you wait and wait and think, "Ok, now is the time" and you hear nothing. So I'm thinking that maybe what He has had us do is still the plan. Praise God. If everyone could please turn to 1 Corinthians 2:9. We'll pick up with the last verse where we left off last week and verse 10. For those who joined us or read or watched last week's message, we read where Apostle Paul talked about his preaching. We saw that Paul was addressing the Corinth church and us. The true believer needs to be careful of what and who we listen to and as we continue, Paul will go deeper into this. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 KJV (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. I think it's important for us to notice that Paul didn't stop with his statements in verse 9. It's true that we've never perceived the glorious things of God through our own knowledge. Praise the Lord, but that doesn't mean that we can't walk in the wisdom of God. We can, if we allow the Holy Spirit to give us revelation knowledge. I want us to look at a couple of verses in the gospels. If you could please turn to Luke 2:26 and John 6:44. Luke 2:25-26 KJV And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. (26) And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. John 6:44-51 KJV No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (45) It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. (46) Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. (47) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (48) I am that bread of life. (49) Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. (50) This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. (51) I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Jesus Christ, the true Bread, is that to the soul which bread is to the body, nourishing and supporting the spiritual life. Our bodies could live better without food than our souls could without Christ. Those who have received this Bread are to be the distributors of it to other hungry souls. Jeremiah 10:23 KJV O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Church, we learned from the beginning of this series, the Lord didn't give His wisdom to man. Instead, man was made to be dependent on God to impart His supernatural wisdom as needed. Amen! People on their own are incapable of receiving the wisdom of God, as 1Co 2:9 describes, but those who submit themselves to God have access to the wisdom of God through the Holy Spirit. If we look back a few weeks ago, we saw what Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit, said about the unsaved. 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Friends, is anyone getting where we're going with this? You and I are nothing without God. How many times have we tried to go about life on our own? I ask even those who might be involved in ministry. What happens when we try to go about things that sound like it might be of God, but when we pursue that thing we fall on our backsides? Is God speaking to anyone? I've been there. We want to do all the things that we can for God, but it isn't where He has led us. Amen someone? 1 Corinthians 2:11 KJV For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Paul was saying that in the same way that no one really knows the deep thoughts of others except those individuals themselves, likewise, no one really knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Therefore, people must be dependent upon the Holy Spirit to receive the wisdom of God in their lives. Think of it like this. Often times when I am away from the computer, away from friends that may be visiting and I am just staring into space, usually I'm thinking about a sermon I'm writing, possibly a prayer request, things that might make one of the sites better, the garden, a surprise for my beautiful bride, or whatever the case may be. Leanna will notice that I'm quiet, or know that I'm in deep thought about something. She can't read my mind, although there are times that it seems she has, as we come up with the same questions or statements at the same time. Praise the Lord. Turn to Acts 19:1. Church, I'm going to bring up some verses this morning that I want to help us all get a better understanding of what Paul was getting across, but not going to go into great lengths on these scriptures. I do urge any of you who are seeing this for the first time or those wanting a better understanding, to read on your own this week from the verses we'll be reading from. Or drop me a note. Christians who have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit can have some revelation knowledge, but it will be limited. One of the greatest evidences that people have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the tremendous amount of God's wisdom that becomes available to them. Amen someone? Acts 19:1-7 KJV And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (7) And all the men were about twelve. Is anyone getting a revelation of these passages we've looked at of where Apostle Paul was teaching the people of Corinth? What God is teaching us today? Anyone? Praise God! Check these next two verses friends. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 KJV Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. As I read these scriptures, I think about many churches that I have attended throughout my life. Remember last week we discussed dynamic churches and dynamic preachers and the same with the music, light shows and man-made atmosphere that it seems most church goers love. Where's God in all this? Now don't tune me out and hear me saying that God isn't in any of these churches. I didn't say that, but for me, I want God's presence around me always. I know that I know that it doesn't take fog machines, music blaring, fancy light shows and a pastor dressed to the hilt yelling, "Shundi, Rundi, Who tied the bow-tie". Now for those who are thinking that I'm against music. Wrong. I was a disc jockey for a radio station and had my own DJ service with a collection of CD's that many would be envious of. I had the state of the art lights and trusses and fog machines with different flavored fog juice. And church, do you know what? I never felt God's presence during these events. Not once! The truths of the Gospel and the power of God that these truths release can only be imparted through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of man, regardless of how eloquent it is, cannot convey the life of God. As I said last week, are these preachers teaching about our Lord and Savior and the cross He died on? Are they teaching His blood that washes our sins away? Are they teaching on sin? What about the power of His resurrection? Much of the preaching of the Gospel today is done in man's wisdom. It's impressive to the carnal mind, but it leaves the spirit starving for the touch of God. Can I hear an amen someone? A sermon message that I'll never forget is from the late David Wilkerson called A Call to Anguish. If you've never heard this sermon, I strongly urge you to listen. You can find it on u-tube. For those who have heard it, maybe another listen is what's needed. Church, what you and I need to understand is the greatest need among ministers today isn'nt to have more education, but to receive the revelation knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Only words spoken by the Spirit of God can reach the spirit of man. Spiritual thoughts have to be spoken with spiritual words. Glory to God! This next verse is very familiar to what we read in the beginning of this series. 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. These two verses seems to get tempers to flare. What do you suppose Paul was saying here? To me it's obvious. Amen? Who is the natural man that's mentioned here? The natural man includes, but is not limited to, all people who are not born again. It literally means "a human being governed by his own natural, human powers and not by the Spirit of God." God can't be criticized for carnal man not having His wisdom. God has made His wisdom available through Christ, but the carnal mind won't receive it. Do we get this? Turn to John 3 please, and we'll see what Jesus said. Spiritual truths can only be perceived by a person's spirit. John 3:1-18 KJV There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: (2) The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. (3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (9) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (10) Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (11) Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. (12) If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (13) And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Church, do we get this? Therefore, it's impossible for those who are walking in the vanity of their minds to ever understand the things of God. The Word of God is a spiritual book, written under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't written to the head, but to the innermost part of the heart. This is why some people find the Bible so hard to understand. They're trying to comprehend it using only their minds. The Word of God has to inspire our hearts before it can enlighten our heads. Praise Jesus. I'm going to read only five verses of Ephesians chapter 4, but I think each of us during this week need to study the whole chapter. Glory to God. Ephesians 4:17-21 KJV This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (18) Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (19) Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (20) But ye have not so learned Christ; (21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: Let's look at the last 2 verses of Chapter 2 in Corinthians and we will finish up. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 KJV (15) But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. I love these next two verses, but I think it's important that we get a thorough understanding of what they're saying. When Paul says the natural person in the previous verse, this is describing people who aren't governed by their own natural human powers, but are filled with and governed by the Spirit of God. "But brother Jim, doesn't the Bible say we should not judge"? We could do a whole Bible study on this, and maybe soon we'll get there. Matthew 7:1-2 KJV Judge not, that ye be not judged. (2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The word judge can mean a variety of different things. When we look at the verse in 1 Corinthians , according to Srong's Concordance, it means to "scrutinize" or determine. Paul was stating that a spiritual person is someone who is operating with the wisdom of God and is therefore qualified to discern people and situations correctly. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us why that's so. It's because no one understands the way God thinks except for the Holy Spirit and those whom the Holy Spirit teaches. This is the same thing that 1Corinthians 2:11 says. Therefore, no unspiritual person is able to judge a person ruled by the Spirit of God. Friends, there are many who just don't get this and to me, it's milk. Someone hearing this or reading may be asking, "What should you do after hearing a message like this"? But if you're still among those who don't embrace the cross as the very wisdom of God and who don't welcome the things of the Spirit into your life, then the point of the text for you is an urgent warning and invitation. Amen? Friends, before we close this morning, I want you to consider what a hopeless condition you're in without Christ. Consider how perfectly suited the gospel is to your need, the Lord of glory dying in the place of sinners, you and I. Consider how dangerous it is to be held back by pride, the unimaginably glorious future that God has for those who love Him. Friends, those who belong to Christ need to forsake pride, drop the props of self-exaltation, look to Christ, believe, and be saved. I know someone needed to hear this. If it was you, I do hope that you'll contact us. Friends, I sure hope that this message today spoke to someone. I know that we looked at many verses this morning, but there are times that we have to compare scripture with other scriptures to rightly divide the truth. Next week as we continue with this series in 1 Corinthians, we'll look at some of the immorality that was creeping into the church as it has landed in many of the churches here in America and seems to be just part of the norm. For those here with us on Paltalk, thank you for joining and as soon as I stop this recording, I'll open the room for questions and comments. For those reading or watching this video, we thank you and ask you to please share this and would like to hear comments from you. May the Lord bless you, Jim Good morning brothers and sisters in Christ. Leanna and I are on a little get-away on the coast of Maine. I've had some discussion with a few whether or not I should hold this service this week. Though it would have been nice to hear someone else teach today, I would have to search for a church here where we're spending the week that hopefully was teaching a biblically sound doctrine. Besides, we've had those who faithfully join us every Sunday and that means a lot to me. Glory to God! We want to thank those, and you know who you are.
We also want to thank those who have joined us on Paltalk to listen live. We thank those who read, listen and watch the videos posted on both of the Cross Roads Fellowship sites, Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters, Google+ and other sites that others have been sharing these messages. Glory to God! If you would please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Last week, Resurrection Sunday, we concluded chapter 1 of this series we have been reading titled "Who Are We In Christ?" from the book of 1 Corinthians. We will begin today with chapter 2 of our 5th study on this epistle. Friends, as I sat down to prepare this message and knowing that Leanna and I would be away from home and that how we would not be set up the way we normally are, I thought about all the what ifs that could happen in this Paltalk room. There are those who do come to learn. There are those who come to support Leanna and me. There are those who periodically come to stir up strife, and either Leanna or Tim have been able to defuse those situations quickly. Leanna has been right on top of posting the scriptures that I read from and I think about that, because I don't want anyone just taking what I say as the gospel. I want all to read for themselves and get that word in their hearts. Praise the Holy Spirit. I think about how world-wide there all sorts of people going to church this morning. Some of them are church shopping. They're walking into churches they've never attended and finding out what worship is like. They’re coming with expectations. They’re coming to see if this church will meet their needs. Do they have children’s programs, a preschool, or a grade school? Do they have support groups, social activities, and people like me? Many people may be checking out a church this morning to see what it has to offer, but many are also checking out a church to see what the pastor has to say. What is his message all about? Is he eloquent, or does he trip over his words? Is he persuasive, or will he be unable to convince me to listen? Is he liberal or conservative? Is he calm and quiet, or fiery and energized? Amen someone? Been there? I have, and I admit it. Is he real and relevant, or is he boring and stuffy? I hear from many, and it seems that most are looking for a church that is Dynamic! Because I build websites for churches and other ministries I hear, "If your church wants to attract people today, you need dynamic members carrying out a dynamic ministry and you most certainly better have a dynamic preacher." I ask you my friends and we'll see this in what Paul writes in this epistle. What should I expect when I go to church and hear the pastor speak to me? What should I take home from the message? Is the best spiritual message for my soul always dynamic, or should I be looking for something else? Let's see what Paul says in this 2nd chapter. 1 Corinthians 2:1 KJV And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Church, I've been blessed to listen to some of the great preachers. Charles Surgeon, Paul Washer, David Wilkerson, Carter Colon and Billy Graham to mention a few. But friends, other than Jesus Himself, if there was anyone who could tell us about preaching, I think the apostle Paul would be near the top of my list. Of course he was led by the Holy Spirit to write these letters to the churches. I find through reading Paul's letters to the churches, he was always teaching, whether it was in the Jewish synagogue or out in public. He’s the author of 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. Anything that the apostle Paul had to say about preaching should bear lots of weight with us today. Amen? So I ask you friends, to you was Paul that dynamic speaker and personality? Surely he would advocate the popular, exciting preaching trends in the Christian church today. Right? What did we just read about what Paul had to say about his own preaching and witnessing? “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.” Years ago, I found this verse and the next ones kind of odd to speak of himself. Can anyone relate? I found it the exact opposite of what you would expect the leader of the church to say. Now before someone blasts me for saying that, I know Christ is the Head of the church. I fully understand that, but through Christ, Paul was planting and discipling the church at that time. Please turn to Matthew 18:3. To me what Paul was saying in this verse is that he kept it simple. He was saying he didn't go to school to learn fancy words. He didn't teach using clever words. Paul believed that preaching wasn’t about dynamic speech. Yet we see people make the Gospel so complicated. Matthew 18:3-6 KJV And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. (6) But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. What Jesus was saying is when someone puts their faith in Christ, whether it be in Him for their salvation, healing or answered prayer, and we all have seen it happen. In fact/ someone hearing my words, or reading them at another time may have been one of them to sow doubt into another's life and try to tear down their faith. Jesus is saying to them, "Better for you would be that a big old rock be tied around your neck and you be thrown in the water. Better for you to 'bloop' be thrown in to the Pacific Ocean , than trying to talk someone out of having faith. Someone hearing me? Amen all. Then Paul said in 1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Friends, I consider myself to be humble and I believe a good preacher should be humble, and some would consider Paul to be humble. We can see that Paul wrote another letter, 2 Corinthians; where Paul talked about people who had complained about him because he was a mild-mannered speaker. In 2 Corinthians 10:10, Paul describes his critics’ complaints when he wrote this: “Some say, ‘His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.'” Pretty harsh criticism? Let's look at Acts 20:7-12. Here we see Paul preaching to a group assembled on the third story of a building. Paul went on so long and he was so “boring” that someone sitting in an open window actually fell asleep and fell out of the window. Acts 20:7-12 KJV And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (8) And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. (9) And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. (10) And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. (11) When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. (12) And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. I think God used Paul's simple message and his humble style to bring the gospel to more people than any one person has ever done in the history of the Christian church. I have shared before that during this time, most of the followers of Jesus were meeting in homes, or in the courts outside of the temple in Jerusalem. I think you will see more and more house churches happening right here in the US, like it is in China, South Korea, and other places of the world. I believe that many of the ones leading these churches won't be theologians, but I do pray that they are hungry for more of God and that they don't get puffed up and try to teach to bring glory to themselves, but willing to be led by the Holy Spirit and to bring glory to God. Praise Jesus! I also hope that they will take James 3:1 very seriously. James 3:1 KJV My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Anyone want to preach the rest of this message now? Church, I find more and more that want eloquent preachers dressed to the hilt, for entertaining worship with all the lights and glitter, for slick presentations, for moving music and messages, but is that the number one thing we need in our churches? Now, hopefully those who may be hearing this or reading, don't turn me off before reading that I believe that God calls people into ministry of all races, education, personality, financial status. Wow, typing this paragraph, I could do a whole sermon on these topics. What I want to say is that God has given us each gifts. There have been dirt-poor preachers that God can use to preach a message and see souls won. Same as the more prosperous. Some who use higher than average words can reach a group, as someone like me that uses simple words can reach who God calls to listen. Praise God. I ask you this my friends. When Jesus returns at the end of time, if He were to ask you why He should let you into heaven, will an answer about dynamic sermons get you there? “Well, Jesus, I really felt pumped up when I came to church. That pastor’s sermons really set me on fire! I learned all sorts of neat, practical advice to live a happy and successful life.” And Jesus will say, “Wrong answer!” Then hell is in your future. 1 Corinthians 2:2-3 KJV (2) For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (3) And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. This is the message that Paul preached and should be the message of preachers world-wide. This was what Paul based his messages around. The Cross. The blood and Jesus resurrected. We praise You Jesus. 1 Corinthians 2:4 KJV And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: To me this verse speaks volumes. I don't think Paul was all about those listening, though he was the best preacher, teacher, or what have you that ever was. I think Paul was very clear that the message was about our Lord and Savior. He preached the cross, the blood, salvation and His resurrection. Church, I don't want to be part of any church that's about men's pride. All about the music and all about smoke and lights. Leanna and I are filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, yet I don't want to be part of a church where people run around yelling out gibberish causing confusion and without any interpretation. And we'll look into that when we get further on in this study. I pray that J and L Ministries is about Jesus Christ, His finished work at the cross, His resurrection and the power in His blood. I will preach that Jesus came to die to save people of the sins of the world and brought forgiveness to all who turn to Christ in faith. Seeing lives saved and discipling them for God's glory. This is what I see reading through Paul's epistles. Amen someone? It was all about a dying Savior whose death brings you and me peace with God and eternal life in Heaven. Someone shout halleluiah! 1 Corinthians 2:5 KJV That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Oh boy, do we get this verse, friends? Brother Jeff would say, "Boom boom." Leanna and I have been to a few churches where there were those in the congregation that put the pastor, assistant pastor, worship leaders, and even those who led small groups so high on a pedestal that to hear some of them, it was like they found a new god. We had a man who stayed with us for a few weeks back a while ago that was so knowledgeable of God's word. He didn't just know the word, but he lived it. He was such a mentor to me during a crucial part of J and L Ministry. Anyways, Leanna would say it was just like having Jesus living with us. I had to tell Leanna to stop saying that. I knew what she meant. Peter knew the scripture and he lived it, but he was far from Jesus. I love this man and yes, I see Jesus living in him more than most professing believers, but he is a man and has his faults. Friends, the point I want to get across in this verse is that we should not put our faith in the speaker, church, music, lights, man-made atmosphere that many places create, but that our faith is God Himself. Amen? Church, not I, or any other preacher that you will ever hear was ever crucified for you. Amen someone? Jesus was. For those who hear a message preached by me, or anyone else, just because the sermon is based on the Bible doesn’t mean that the preacher has pointed you to Jesus. The Bible-based sermon needs to point us to the cross of Jesus. “Christ crucified” is the sole, simple message that we need to hear week in and week out. Jesus Christ was born into this world only to die for you and me, who were born with a sinful condition. Jesus lived a sinless and Holy life only to die for all the sinners on earth, and among those sinners are you and me. Jesus became a human being like you only to die as if He was a sinful human being, yet He was innocent. Jesus Christ is the One who died on the cross but who was raised to life on the third day to prove that his death really did pay for all your guilt and sin. Praise His Holy name. 1 Corinthians 2:6 KJV Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: As we saw earlier in this series, part of the many problems that existed in the Corinthian church was the failure of the Christians to break with human philosophy. They were a very immoral and humanly intellectual people. It seems they based everything upon the reason and the lusts of men, and when they became Christians they dragged this kind of immorality and this kind of rationalism into the church. And this is why Paul wrote this letter, to try to get them to escape from their former worldly life. Sound familiar today, church? 1 Corinthians 2:7 KJV But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Church, think about when you were first saved. Did you understand fully what you read? Even now, are there times that scripture doesn't really bring a revelation to you? The Holy Spirit offers God's wisdom to all people, starting with the revelation of their need for Christ as their Savior. If they receive that truth by putting their faith in Jesus, professing Him as Lord and Savior, then they receive the mind of Christ in their hearts. Amen all? 1 Corinthians 2:8-9 KJV (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. The wisdom of God is supernatural. Glory to God! Friends, The Pharisees and all the religious leaders and the Roman rulers responsible for the death of Jesus didn't understand the purpose and significance of the cross. They had no clue what would happen even though the religious leaders had OT scrolls to read showing that there would be a Messiah coming. The Roman's were threatened that there might be a king who would go against their beliefs. So they crucified Jesus. In a made-up trial, and done very quickly and with much secrecy, they flogged and crucified the Lord of glory. The phrase “Lord of glory” implies the divine fullness. It also ties in with the saints’ glory (2:7). It is through union with Him that we will experience glory. Paul explains that the reason these authorities crucified Christ was because they lacked the supernatural wisdom of the Spirit. Then, and I found this so awesome, Paul adds Isaiah 64:4. Isaiah 64:4 KJV For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Church, God has so much that He wants to reveal to you and me. He has done so out of love. Trusting Him for understanding and cultivating this love relationship with Him means that we'll grow in greater and greater understanding of wisdom. Yet, and listen up friends. Without the light of God’s Spirit, we’ll be in the dark. I'm going to end here, but I want to encourage you all to dig deep into the Word of God. There's so much that God wants you and me to get for our lives and what He has called each of you to do for His Kingdom. You see my friends, there's a very important passage that I take very seriously. It is found in the book of Matthew. Matthew 28:18-20 KJV And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. That, my friends, is the whole purpose of me sharing these truths with you. I've heard and seen so much on winning souls for Jesus. Yes, that's important. That's a big part of what I feel you and I are called for, but if they don't have the tools to do the same, what good is that? Let's read from the Amplified version. Matthew 28: (AMP) Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them a]">[a]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Church, The main reason Jesus came to earth was to die as the Lamb of God to restore the broken relationship with God and to rise from the dead to bring eternal life to you and me. Glory to the Lamb of God. But I want you to think about this my dear friends. What good would His sinless life, His brutal death and His miraculous resurrection be if no one knew about it? Do we get this church? To me, the best friends He had on earth and His true followers who trusted Him and witnessed all He did. All the miracles. His teachings. What and how He would die on a cross. That He would be risen from the dead in three days. That the temple would fall. If no one saw these things, if no one heard His teachings and heard about how He would die and be risen, who would carry on this ministry He started? I believe it would have been in vain. God chose these men that would be His followers. The same as I believe Judas was chosen to follow to allow the enemy inside him and that he was chosen to turn Jesus over to the Pharisees. God's perfect plan. If we were to look at Matthew 10: 1-42, we would see that Jesus sent His disciples, His apprentices to go share the very, very, very good news. Amen everyone? Unlike us today with high speed internet to share the Word, unlike, oh what was it in the 1960's about the fastest way to get a message out that I used to hear my grandfathers say? Telegraph, telephone, tell a woman. No, it was all done by word of mouth or a messenger who traveled by foot, camel, or donkey. Then if we research the Bible there were 70 who shared Jesus' message that He (Jesus) was the Messiah and they performed miracles. Jesus gave them all the tools they needed to start to become the founders of the earliest church. After this, as He promised, the Holy Spirit entered them. We see this in John 14. John 14:12-21 KJV Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (13) And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (15) If ye love me, keep my commandments. (16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (17) Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (18) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (19) Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (20) At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:25-31 KJV These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. (26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (27) Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (28) Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. (29) And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. (30) Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (31) But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. So my friends, if you are saved you have that Holy Spirit in you. You are called to proclaim the name of Jesus to the world. It is what my whole goal through these messages is to do. Share my faith with the world to win new souls for Christ and to equip you with the world. Glory to God. To all of you listening here on Paltalk, reading this message on either of Leanna's and my Cross Roads Fellowships, on Mylook Online, Lokey Sisters, Leanna's and my ministry site, J and L Ministries, Far From Normal Faith Ministry, or any of the other social networks, google + u-tube, facebook and twitter and any other sites that friends have been sharing these messages. Please share these messages and and do let us know how they have blessed you. We love you and from our home away from home here in Ellsworth, we say God bless you and have an awesome week in the Lord. Good morning friends and family and a blessed and Happy Resurrection day to you. Glory to God. I pray that you are all in good health and eager to dive into today's message. We want to thank all who are here at our house, those joining in live on Paltalk, for those who have read the sermons, listened, or read and shared. Thank you, and I praise God.
Last week, we ended part 3 of our study Who Are We In Christ from the book of 1 Corinthians with verse 25. We looked at verses showing us that there was division amongst the home churches in Corinth. We saw that the Greeks had issues and the Jews also. We see that Apostle Paul made a statement that I'm sure upset many during that time and I know bothers people today. 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Let's get on with this series. 1 Corinthians 1:26 KJV For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called So what do you think Apostle Paul meant by this? Anyone? Friends, to me, when we are born again, saved, we are changed. Nothing that we did, other than made that most important decision. It's what Christ did in us. Our flesh tells us we're something special. Do we get this? And we are, to ourselves. There's no one else in here, in my skin, except me! I feel me like I feel no other person. I'm aware of my thoughts and desires like no other person's thoughts and desires. My flesh tells me I'm unique and special. The world around me tells me that it's not so. And the Word of God tells me that the world is right. I'm nothing special - except that God has laid hold of me with His grace, and claimed me as His child, and connected me to Christ. Let's look at verse 27 and I think you'll understand what I'm saying. 1 Corinthians 1:27 KJV But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty Friends, when we look around at those who are truly saved, do you see many rich people? Not many, right? Before we go much further, let's look at the story about the rich young ruler found in Matthew 19, starting with verse 16. Matthew 19:16-26 KJV And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? (17) And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (18) He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, (19) Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (20) The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? (21) Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (22) But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. (23) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. (24) And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (25) When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? (26) But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Most seem to think this passage meant for this man to sell everything and give all to the poor. That's not what Jesus said to him. Anyways, we see where ones who are caught up with money are not saved. Money is an idol to most of them. I know, the hate mail will come rolling in now. Before we go on, I want to look at what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount. Matthew 5:2-14 KJV And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, (3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (5) Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (6) Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (7) Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (8) Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (9) Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (10) Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Friends, God chose us, and we are the foolish, the weak, the base things, the despised, and the things that are not. We are not the worst of the lot, but our own experience tells us that we're not the best, or the brightest, or the most successful, or the best loved, or the most admired. We want to be, but we just haven't made it. And hearing the truth can be a painful thing. But the good news in that whole scenario - the silver lining in the difficult truth of how God sees us is the first words in that verse I quoted, "God has chosen us"! Instead of the condition of our lives revealing for us how God thinks about us, it simply tells the world how little worldly stature and public opinion means to God. God chose us, and we're nothing special, except for His gracious choosing of us and separating us from the world. We are a peculiar people. Amen? 1 Corinthians 1:28-31 KJV (28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (29) That no flesh should glory in his presence. (30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. These last scriptures should excite you. Not by anything you and I have done but by His doing, you and I are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. By God's choice, and through His work in and through the Word, you are a Christian. You know Jesus Christ and trust in Him. Glory to God. We're a new creation. We've been set apart. Praise Jesus. Church, by God's doing and choice, not your own, you've come to know how He redeemed you from sin and death. Friends, think about what I'm about to say, and consider your own life. I had little to say about my relationship with Christ right from the start. The best things anyone can say about me, and that I can find to say about myself are, because God chose, and God worked, and I am in Christ Jesus by His doing just as I hope each of you are. Because of Jesus' life and because Jesus willingly died on the cross in mine and your place, our sins have been forgiven. You're righteous in the eyes of God because Jesus was righteous in the eyes of God, and He has given that righteousness to us. Amen someone? You are not so holy in and of yourself. God has made you righteous in Jesus Christ. In fact, every good thing you do, every God pleasing thought you have, is Jesus at work in you. Please turn to Galatians 2:19. Galatians 2:19-20 KJV For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (20) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. We're nothing special except that Jesus is our righteousness and our sanctification. Amen? Brother Jeff who leads a Bible study here on Paltalk has discussed this numerous times. We still want to sin, but Jesus works in us. We're nothing by ourselves, and when we tend to think that we're something in and of ourselves, bad things happen. Do we get that? When you try to correct the sin in your life on your own you fail, and you fail miserably. So many just don't get this. We stumble into great sins. We get so proud, we think we know more than God and begin to spout foolishness and false doctrine. We begin to do things that harm the body of Christ, or draw us away from it, or both. Only when we know that we're nothing special, except that God has saved us, do we have hope. Only when we realize that it's by God's doing and not our own in the slightest do we finally walk in Him and boast not of who or what we are, but in God alone. Leanna and I take communion each morning before we start these services. We used to have ones following us on Skype join with us, but because there are so many who come into the room at all times and because there are those who have different beliefs, I have chosen not to continue. You, our friends can take communion on your own, if you choose, but what I want to get across to each who are considering this, take it with the right heart. Only when God is taken at His Word and we trust Him, do we know what it is in truth, and only when we believe do we receive all of the blessings of forgiveness and life and salvation in this blessed Supper. Glory be to God! Here is Christ's body and blood. It's medicine for the soul, and for the body. For the soul, it's life and strength and forgiveness and peace and joy to all who believe. For the body, it's preparation for the grave and for resurrection unto life everlasting and full of glory. This is the medicine of Immortality, and the holy Supper of the Lord, and the perfect fellowship of those who believe. It's for sinners, not for those who think that they don't need forgiveness. It's for the weak, not the strong. It's for those who are nothing special, but who depend on His giving and His grace and His goodness. It's for those who have nothing to boast about, except God's grace and love. Glory to God. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:31 KJV That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now that we've finished the first chapter of this very important epistle to the Corinthian church and before we close this sermon for today, I ask you...where is your faith in God? Mark 11:22 KJV And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. What did this verse just say? Let's all say it together. Have faith in God. Hebrews 10:38 KJV Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. You'd be amazed at those claiming to be followers of Jesus when you start discussing faith. Many will say they have faith in God, but when you discuss it further in some situations, you find that their faith is in so many things. You have those who base their faith in getting out of calamities. 2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) Friends there are many who try to make the Bible so difficult. They make it so complicated. Complex. For the past few months, I've shared the verses from two different passages. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 KJV And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 4:1-3 KJV I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; That day is at hand my friends. I pray each of you is only interested in the truth. 2 Peter 3:16-18 KJV As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (17) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. Church, I know many of you don't want to hear these scriptures again and again, but until we're stable in our faith in God, you're open to all kinds of junk the world throws at us and not even aware of. Friends, the Bible is not complicated, and some of us need to get that junk out that's been planted in us to realize that. When you get the junk removed and the truth remains, and the light is there, it's not confusing. When we get the right interpolation of the Bible in us, it's simple. Amen someone? Friends, if our first parents could have kept it simple. "Don't eat the fruit of the tree. Eat the fruit, you will die". Is that confusing or complicated? "Don't eat the fruit". I don't care if it's 2 words, the devil will make it confusing if you let him. Satan will twist scriptures and confuse them if you let him. That's his specialty. That's what the slimy crooked legged enemy will do is make something simple complicated. Friends, we need to look for the truth. My Bible says in John 8:32 KJV And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. When we get this truth my brothers and sisters in Christ, it will free your mind. It will free your soul. It will free your body. It will free your life. It will make you absolutely free. Glory to Jesus the Anointed One. Because this room has gotten so quiet, I see I'm going to need to do a study on this. Amen? A study on faith? Church, as we close this morning and some of you spend time with family members eating dinner and enjoying family time, will your mind be on Jesus who died for you and me and was resurrected 3 days later? Will that be part of your conversation? Maybe some of you are entertaining friends today. Will you share your faith with them and for the ones that you spend time with, who don't know Jesus, will you be a witness to them? And then my friend, if they do, or don't accept Him as Lord and Savior, will you still be there to mentor them in the ways of Christ? Let me ask you this, friends. Some of you may have heard the gospel message most of your life and you might be feeling like your life hasn't changed. You might have heard what I said, "Have faith in God," but you don't know how. You believe in Jesus, you believe in the cross, you believe in the resurrection, but you still live the same old life as the world. Maybe these words right now are tugging at your heart. What, my friend, are you going to do about it? Are you going to just let it slip by, like before? Let it slip by like thousands of others on this same day that will hear the words, "Come to the cross"? Will you be the example to the world that Jesus has set you to be? Will you today put aside the things that you know are not pleasing to God that you remain part of? Friends, there seems to be a message that many denominations are preaching that does not line up with God's Word. Repentance. For those of you who have been taught, or you have taken upon yourselves to believe that it means saying sorry to God for the things that you have done wrongly, you're wrong. Repentance means turning away from. You stay away from those things. It's a renewing of your mind. Praise Jesus. For those who are trying to get rid of addictions, don't try to do it on your own. It won't work. Pray and ask Jesus to rid it for you. I don't care what that addiction is. It may be alcohol, drugs, porn, lying, stealing. Give it to Jesus. Pray to Him and ask Him to deliver you from it. My dear friends, we were not meant to live a life in bondage. When you give your life to Jesus, He will free you of this trash, but you need to be willing to let Him. I know my friends, because I've been there. We my friends, need to stop playing church and be the church. There are preachers out there who know scripture like the back of their hands, but do they really know Jesus? Do they really have an intimate relationship with Him? What about you, brother and sister? If you were to die tonight, do you know that you know that when you take your last breath here on earth, that you'd be in heaven? So friends, as we celebrate Easter, Resurrection day, I ask you to keep your focus on Jesus, the cross, His innocent blood shed for you and the power in that blood. May we remember the cross and all it stands for. Redemption, forgivness, His uncondional love. I remember a pastor many years ago, and I can't remember his name, ask this question. "If you were ever accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Church, thank you for being with us here on Paltalk. Thanks to those who have read these messages on the Cross Roads Fellowships sites, Lokey sisters, Mylookonline and J and L Ministries. For those watching this on u-tube, again we thank you and ask that if this was a blessings to you, please share with others and subscribe to our channel. We love you and wish you a very Happy Resurrection day. May the Lord bless you. Good morning brothers and sisters in Christ. Spring has finally come to Maine and I'm loving it. We still have huge mountains of snow, but each day it seems to be melting a couple inches and I hope we will have bare ground by the end of April.
Leanna and I want to thank all who have joined us here today on Paltalk, and also for those who have read these sermons on Christian and secular sites. Also we want to thank all of you who have been watching these sermons and listening on the new u-tube channel that I created a couple weeks ago and I see they have been re-shared from some. Praise God! We continue today on this series "Who Are We In Christ" from the book of 1 Corinthians, and if you will please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1:18 which is the verse where we left off last week. I purposely ended there for a couple reasons. One, because verse 19 I figured would have to be explained in more than a few minutes, but 2, I wanted to see what replies I would get out of this very important verse. I got a few, but not as I expected. Before we read that verse, I want to recap a bit on what we looked at. We saw a big part of why this epistle was written was because Paul had received word that there were some very strange things being taught. As we get further into this study, we'll see that there were people from all over bringing their own flavor of what should be allowed in Christian living and including much immoral behavior. 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. This verse stirred up a few discussions after the message was posted in written form and through the video. Of course it was mostly with the so-called atheists. I think with what I just said and what verse we are looking at, it speaks for itself. Amen someone? To discuss the Bible and the miracles, and especially that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead sounds crazy to someone who isn't saved. It's not like anything that we're used to in this world. Amen? Turn if you will to John 15: 12. What about you? Do you that share the gospel message to the unbelievers? Do they ridicule you? Maybe mock you and especially mock Jesus? Does that really surprise you? It shouldn't, and we'll see that in this passage we are about to read. I was only going to have us read a couple of verses in this passage, but there are so many key things in what we are about to read that we'll read more. Praise the Lord! John 15:12-21 KJV This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (13) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (14) Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (15) Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (16) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (17) These things I command you, that ye love one another. (18) If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. (19) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (20) Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. (21) But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. Wow! This is so powerful. Christ proved His love to the world by laying down His life for it in redemption work. His love to us should always be the standard of measure of our love toward others in service for Him. Amen everyone? Let's look what Jesus says in Matthew 10:39. Friends, Jesus is our friend. He's a friend that will never leave us when the tough times come. We are His servants and He stands with His servants in all their trials. He takes notice of every insult we're called upon to endure. He honors you and me in this life for our witness of Him and will abundantly reward us in the next life for all our faithfulness. No cross, no crown. No gall, no glory. No pain, no gain. Amen? I'm not ashamed of Christ. Are you? I'll proclaim Him as my Lord and Savior even to my dying day. Praise Jesus! Romans 1:16 KJV For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Matthew 10:19-23 KJV But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. (20) For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. (21) And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. (22) And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (23) But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man become. We're now seeing pictures on the secular news channels and hearing of the horrors that Isis is doing to Christians throughout the world. I almost every day am sent news clips of these barbaric acts, and it does many things to me. It disgusts me because no human life should be treated like that. It sickens me because I hate to see anyone suffer, and especially to death. It worries me because there are those who I know that would throw eternal life with Jesus away to not go through it. But friends, for me it strengthens my faith in Christ. We just read what Jesus said some 2000 years ago what would happen. Amen? But friends, why did Paul say "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness?" I think we'll see in the next few verses. 1 Corinthians 1:19 KJV For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. So let's look at where Paul got this statement from. It can be found in Isaiah 29:13-15. Isaiah 29:13-15 KJV Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (14) Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. (15) Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Here's what was happening during this time in a nut shell. There was a man named Sennacherib who was a very mighty king in Assyria. And He wanted to conquer Judah, the land of Israel. And so they decided to attack Judah. God, through the prophet Isaiah, says to Judah, "Don't worry, you won't be delivered to Sennacherib as he will fail in his conquering". But God said, "It won't be because of your wise men. It won't be the strategy of the political advisers to King Hezekiah who was the king of Israel at the time or the king of Judah. It won't be because of the political cunning and the secret trickery of these wise advisers. You're not going to escape the hand of the Assyrians because of your wisdom". Listen to this, church. God says, "I will do it Myself because I want to demonstrate to you that when you rely on your own strength and your own wisdom, you fail. When all of your wisdom has run its course, I'll just destroy it all. I'll put it down to nothing and by Myself I will do what all your wisdom couldn't do". Do we get a picture of what was happening some 700 years before Jesus was born and even after Jesus died and was resurrected? And even now, and especially now during our time? Let's continue in 1 Corinthians. Let's look at some more of what Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit, had to say about wisdom. 1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Catch this, friends. Paul answers this with a tremendous word in which he shows that the wisdom of men is of no avail. He sets it aside completely, and he says that in the church these insights of men are always partial and untrustworthy to a great degree, and that the Corinthians will never learn anything until they give themselves to the wisdom of God. Praise Jesus! Paul says by wisdom on their own understanding they will never know God. They will never get to the heart of their problems by trying to pursue the insights of current popularity or secular philosophers. The same goes for you and me today. Amen someone? Church, there are so many books out there about how to become godly, how to have the marriage that God intends, and the list goes on and on. Church, in your Bibles you have all you need to know about God. There are so many doctors and theologians that have all the answers, yet do they follow the Bible? Many think the big mega-churches will solve personal problems. Many of those churches have their own internal problems and now you run to them to help you? The church will never solve its problems as long as it constantly pursues this writer and that writer, this man and that speaker, thinking that it will gather from the efforts and knowledge of men the insights it needs to understand its problems. Friends, we're nothing without God. If not for our Creator, you and I would not exist. The world would not exist. It's all because of Him. Amen someone? If not for Jesus, the Savior of the world, you and I would be lost. We would be doomed to eternity in hell, but many church buildings that you go to won't allow the preacher to say that. Don't mention hell. Don't preach too much about sin, you might offend somebody. Do we have to hear about the cross and the agony Jesus went through and hear about the blood of Christ? Redemption, my friends, is all about these things. If not for the blood of Christ that was shed at Calvary, you'd be lost in your sins. Glory to Jesus. The blood needs to be preached. Hell needs to be mentioned, because Mathew 7 tells me many are going there. Sin does need to be discussed because this world is full of it and you and I, brothers and sisters, can be washed free of it. Church, when you and I get an understanding of this, we realize that we'll never begin to learn until we first learn that we don't know anything. When we come to know and appreciate the word preached of the cross, we understand that in the cross of Jesus Christ, God took his only begotten Son to die for you and me. As Leanna and I and some of you have been attending another Bible study on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights on Paltalk, we've been discussing whether Jesus lived in a way that He could not sin. What I mean is, was He capable of sinning? And through much conversation, I think everyone concluded that He could have sinned at any time, but He did not. "Why bring that up, brother Jim?" I bring that up because Jesus was here as a man. He ate, drank, breathed just like you and me. He had feelings and we can look at times where the Bible tells of those feelings and emotions that He had. Jesus identified with us in every way, yet there are those who will fight us on this. Then there are those who will say a man dying on a cross, if He did, because they never found His body, is useless as far as solving any of the problems of mankind is concerned. Do we get this? This my friends is part of what Apostle Paul was addressing to the church in Corinth and for you and me today. That the preaching of the cross, being saved by the blood of the Lamb, is why it looks so foolish to the natural man. Do we get this, friends? It isn't natural to the world. Even to the average mind, creation doesn't make sense. These things don't fit into man's understanding. And when we accept that, the apostle says we begin to discover that true secret. Hidden wisdom that unfolds little by little the answers to the problems of life. 1 Corinthians 1:21 KJV For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Church, It's all about our faith in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6 KJV But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. While we just read this verse, let's look at Hebrews 11 starting with verse 1. You and I can't see a physical God. We didn't see Jesus nailed to a tree. But do we believe? That's what we put our faith in. Amen? Hebrews 11:1-5 KJV Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a good report. (3) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. I love this chapter and book. So how do we get our faith? We spend time in the Word of God. Romans 10:17 KJV So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Last week we looked at scripture showing we should study it. Amen? 1 Corinthians 1:22 KJV For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: Again, Paul is sharing part of the division here. let's look at the next 3 verses, and I think it will sum up where Paul was going with all this. 1 Corinthians 1:23-25 KJV (23) But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (24) But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. The Jews couldn't understand the work of Jesus on the cross as to what they expected of the promised Messiah. They considered Him a failed attempt at a Messiah. This is hard for me to understand, why they didn't believe, as they had all the writings of earlier prophets. Yet, here the Jews were slaves to the Romans and this Man (Jesus) who professed to be the Messiah but couldn’t deliver on the expected holy war. To them, His death was an act of weakness, where they believed the Messiah was to operate in strength. For you and me who believe, we know He did. Amen, church? Then you had the Greeks who were so infatuated into wisdom. The death of Jesus in this barbaric way offends the sensibilities of both parties, one who sees his work as foolish compared to the wisdom of the world, and the other who sees Him as weak compared to the strength of the world. Why did Jesus come to earth? Why did He die? What Christ did on the cross took care of that separation from God. It dealt with the sin that separated us from God. Glory to Jesus. He attacks and defeats the root of what causes the world’s trouble, sin, evil, rebellion and deceit, and because of this, He allowed people to be free of the evil which bound them. Glory to God! And now we can live under the love and in the light of the God who created us. Do we get this, friends? Hebrews 10:10 KJV By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 2:9 KJV But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Revelation 1:18 KJV I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. In closing, I want to challenge each of you this week to read and meditate on the Gospel of John. I know some of you are involved in other Bible readings, but if you can, make time to read and spend some time studying these 21 chapters. Friends, we love you, and our desire is to see you grow in Christ. To be all He has for you. Next Sunday is Easter, and God willing, we'll be here same time, same place. As far as I know, we'll be continuing on in this series. If this has been a blessings to you here on Paltalk, please invite a friend to join in. For those listening or reading on one of the sites that I post these sermons on, again, please share, subscribe and comment. We love you. We thank you for joining in with us and may the Lord richly bless you. Good morning and I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Sunday. Leanna and I want to welcome everyone who has joined us on Paltalk. Also, for those that read or now listen and watch these sermons on the J and L Ministries site, both Cross Roads Fellowships sites, Google +, Utube, Mylook online, and because brother Marshall has been sharing, Twitter and Facebook also.
I want to say this before we get into this message, God gets all the glory for whatever He has me do with the prayers I share, these sermons, when Leanna does her devotions, and everything through this ministry. I love doing this, but the praises go to Him, as without Him all this would not be possible. Praise the Lord. Last week we started this sermon series with more of an introduction, if you will. We looked at Saul's life before he became Paul from the book of Acts, then what happened to him on the way to Damascus. To me, when witnessing to someone, I often use Paul as an example of how God can miraculously change someone's life. Glory to God. So let's dive right into today's study. If you can all open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we'll pick up where we left off with verse 10. Last week we noticed that Paul dictated this epistle, but it was not penned by him, other than his signature. Paul also opened this message to the Corinthians much like all the others epistles. Uplifting, and always giving thanks to Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:10 KJV Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. I often use this verse when commenting to those who have twisted scriptures. Actually, there are many that I use, but this one fits when speaking to the many, many denominational differences. Why do you suppose Paul said this to the people in Corinth? Anyone? Paul, I believe loved Jesus at this point in his life with all his heart, mind and strength,and he was doing what Jesus commanded you and me to do in Mark 16:15-19. Mark 16:15-19 KJV And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (19) So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. How many of us are sharing the Gospel with the world? To our unsaved loved ones? Sharing our faith with ones we work with, or our best friends? Does their eternity matter? God says He wishes no man perish, shouldn't we? So friends, I ask you again. Why this verse? Why was Paul being led by the Holy Spirit making this statement? "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." Let's see if the next verse gives us a clue. 1 Corinthians 1:11 KJV For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. As I mentioned last week, the believers at that time were not meeting in big congregations. The only large meeting place was in Jerusalem, and the ones there who followed Jesus were meeting in the temple courts. Now in other places like Corinth, they met in homes just like Leanna and I lead services here in our home. I think that we'll see more of this right here in the US. As I also mentioned last week, Corinth was a major trading port and there were ones coming from all over. It was a wealthy city. There had been pagan worship. Sexual sin and drunkenness was the norm, much like this area I live in and most of the US. You don't have to look far to see it. In these houses, there would be ones who led these services, and as we will see, there were all kinds of stray things being preached and there seemed to be a competition amongst the congregations. All this stuff was being allowed into these congregations, just like it is in our time. "Wow brother Jim, how can you say that?" Well, let's see. Not so long ago, there was a type of church, if you want to call it that, that if a young girl or a unwed woman was found to be pregnant, an abortion was performed. With all the states voting for same sex marriage, you have denominations welcoming them in not to teach them the word, but to perform these marriages. Not sure how your Bible reads, but mine says love the sinner, hate the sin. That doesn't mean to perform this abomination. To me that's like embracing that sin. Amen someone? We're going to look at many of these things that Paul warned the Corinthians about. If it was against God's will then, isn't against His will now. Again, my Bible tells me that God is the same today as He was back then. Amen? Please turn to 2 Peter 3:16. Try this on for size my friends. If you go out and ask people randomly in a mall or the park, or if you dare, on a busy sidewalk if they are saved, and then out of 100 of the so-called believers, I'll bet you at least half would say that abortion isn't really that bad. Same-sex marriage should be up to the individuals. Drugs really aren't that bad are they. Really? Church, I know you've heard this passage many times in my messages, but my brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to get this. 2 Peter 3:16-18 KJV As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, (friends what he is saying here is they are graduating from milk to meat.) which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Don't post the next verse yet, Leanna. Church, get this. Speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood. (The Meat) which they that are unlearned and unstable (Church, who are these people?)wrest, (Wrestle) as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Am I painting a picture here? This was the same thing that was happening in Corinth. The same thing that was happening in Colosse. The same thing that's happening in many churches today. These false teachers were and are teaching themselves into the pit. But let's see what the next verse says. (17) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, (He is now talking about the believers. The saved) beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. My dear friends, you and I need to cling to this verse. We won't go there today, but in 2 Timothy 2:15-16 KJV Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (16) But shun (Hear that my friends? Shun. stay away from). profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. I'm not sure about you, but there's enough ungodliness in my community. Why be around anymore? Amen? Are we getting this, church? Preaching Christ, the Anointed One crucified is more powerful than all the oratory and philosophy of an unbelieving world. Glory to God. Getting back to verse 11 in 1 Corinthians. Messengers had reported to Paul what was happening. As I said, it was a very busy, filthy with sin place. You had Greeks who have always been known for their intellect, and they were very prideful of their knowledge. You had other groups with their strange ways of inter-operations and there was division. Again, just like the churches today. I praise God He led me away from organized religion. 1 Corinthians 1:12 KJV Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Paul mentions parties, Paul, or Pauline parties, clinging to the founder of their church; a party of Apollos, who were probably carried away by their admiration of his Alexandrian philosophy; a party of Judaizer, who claimed to be following Peter, called here by his Hebrew name of Cephas; and a fourth party, who claimed to turn away from all these human leaders, and to be only of Christ. Sound kind of familiar in our age? Oh my, I don't know if I could count all the denominations and then their splits and then the break offs from that split. And that, my friends, is not counting all the cults and new cults that seem to arise every day. Want to know the will of you Father in Heaven? It's the book that I hope each of you have right in front of you. Glory to God. Right from Genesis to Revelation. 1 Corinthians 1:13 KJV Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I think Paul's getting his point across in this verse. I don't think he was happy at all. He shows his bitterness by first rebuking those who had used his own name as one of the groups. I think often that happens in churches today. So many put the pastor on such a high pedestal, it's like the congregation is worshiping him instead of the Savoir, Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:14-16 KJV I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; 15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. I think these two verses speaks for themselves. 1 Corinthians 1:16 KJV And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. Now some may look at this verse and say, "He doesn't remember who else he baptized?" As we'll see in the next verse, Chris didn't call Paul to baptize, but to preach the gospel message. Think about this, do we have anywhere in the Bible saying that Jesus performed water baptisms? 1 Corinthians 1:17 KJV For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. What does this verse say to you my friends? I think it's very important. Paul wasn't preaching from his head. It was his own understanding. God living in him gave him the words. Again, for those who are reading this or hearing this and it is your first time hearing from this ministry, I share often that if a preacher isn't preaching about the innocent blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb, if they don't preach about the Cross that my Savior died on and shed His innocent blood for you and me, if they don't bring up His resurrection and hell, I think it might be time to find a new church home. To some that may sound harsh, but friend, without the cross, blood and His resurrection, there would be no salvation. I would be wasting my words. Amen someone? He did die on an old rugged cross, and there were witnesses. He was that sinless man who came, just how the prophet Isaiah said He would In that same chapter, it was foretold how He would be rejected and died just like it was said some 700 years before his birth. Praise God. He shed His innocent blood so that you and I may be saved. For those who say there is no hell. I'm not sure where you got your Bible, but it sure isn't the same one I read. And then there are those doubters, just like Thomas. How can someone die and then come to life again three days later? I won't believe it unless I can put my hand on the wounds. But He did. Glory to God. John 20:27-29 KJV Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. (28) And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. (29) Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. Jesus was also seen many times by many before He ascended to Heaven. Glory to God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Glory! Hallelujah for us that are saved. Now my question for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, the Anointed Ones. We saw what the first part of this verse said. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Does knowing that you have loved ones who don't know the preaching of the cross bother you? Does it bother you that they will perish? I know it bothers me. It bothers me because I know that they won't just spend eternity in hell where they will suffer for all of eternity, but they also will be separated from God. It bothers me because they will thirst forever and not one drop of water will touch their tongue. Friends, what about that best friend you know that you know that God has been tugging on your heart for you to share the gospel message with? Does it not bother you that they will be separated forever? So many say that they want all that God has for them, yet when it comes to being in obedience to Him, we choke. "Oh but brother Jim, I don't have the guts to share my faith with my parents. My friends at work will laugh at me. I won't be the cool guy any more." Really? Maybe you should check your own priorities. "Brother Jim, I admit it, I'm scared to share my faith. I've tried so many times and I just can't get the words out of my mouth." Maybe it's the same at work with a continuous customer or patient. You want to say something, but your heart pounds so hard and you get all sweaty and then you choke. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Friends, I once was there too. I tell you that if you lean on God to give you the utterance, you can do it. I always pray first. Greater is He that is in you that he that is in the world. You can do all things through Him that strengthens you. For those because of strict rules at school or at a work place where you can't share your faith, make a friend and maybe go to lunch or coffee. Pray on it my friend and God will open the doors for you. Friends, we're so glad that you joined us today. These sermons are now on video and audio format on the J and L Ministries site and also on U-tube, Cross Roads Fellowship, and Mylook online. Please stop by our brand new U-tube channel made specifically for these sermons, and if led, please comment and please do subscribe and share with your friends. Also, please invite people to this Paltalk room. We start the messages at 11:00 AM EST time, but usually the room is open at least by 10:45. I'm going to keep this room open for a while to let ones comment and share what's on their hearts, but will stop the recording. We love you and may the Lord bless you. |
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