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.
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