(#019) 1 Corinthians - God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

Class Outline:

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If the victor was already decided would you still fight?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

 

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God.  As Lord He is 100% Deity…He is God the Son.  He is also 100% human just like you and me.  His name is Jesus Christ.  The Lord…God the Son…became flesh…Jesus Christ...and lived among us.  He is the Sovereign God of the Universe…He is the Savior of the whole world…and He is the Jewish Messiah.  

 

Those who make Barah Ministries their spiritual home, believe in Jesus Christ.  We are Christians, and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.  The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person, not a thing or a concept.  Just as we would do with any person we love, we spend time getting to know the Lord through the study of His Word.  You can’t get to know the Lord without knowing His mind, and the Bible is His exact thinking.

 

We have an omniscient God who knows all that is knowable.  One of the things He knows better than anyone is the gap between the perfection He demands to get into heaven and our sinfulness.  As Christians we often adopt a performance mindset, choosing to think we have to close the gap between our imperfection and the perfection God demands…and we seek to close the gap in one of two ways…either by lowering God’s standards or by striving unsuccessfully to be sinless.  Neither of these ways can ever be effective.

 

God knew we would be unable to close the gap between the perfection He demands and our sinfulness, so He closed the gap for us.  God the Son, the Lord, became flesh as Jesus Christ and lived a perfect life, demonstrating that perfection in the flesh is possible.  Knowing we would not live perfect lives, the Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross to attain perfection for us.  He paid for our sinfulness with His blood and created the chance for us to be reconciled to Him.  As it says in Romans, Chapter 5, Verses 1 and 2…

 

ROMANS 5:1

Therefore, having been justified (declared absolutely righteous…declared perfect) by means of faith (in the Lord Jesus Christ) … we believers in Christ keep on having peace with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ…

 

ROMANS 5:2a

…through whom also we believers in Christ have obtained our access to God the Father by faith into this sphere of grace in which we now stand…

 

The Lord’s work at the Cross offers perfection to all who want it.  As believers in Christ we have said “YES” to God’s gift of absolute righteousness.  Since we have God’s perfection as a free gift, there is no need to strive for what we already have.  We simply enjoy what the Lord has done for us.

 

Barah Ministries makes a difference by teaching the Word of God from the Lord Jesus Christ’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective.  We search the Scriptures to learn who the Lord is as a Person, and to learn what our God has to say about Himself, about His plan for all mankind, and about His personal plan for each of us.  We are here to learn how to see our lives from His perspective.  We are here to learn to enjoy the sphere of grace in which we stand.  Welcome! 

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

 

LESSON INTRODUCTION

 

We have completed our study of the first four chapters of Paul’s first letter to the Church at Corinth. In today’s lesson we’ll review what we have studied to remind ourselves of the context of these passages and we’ll reflect on the amazing lessons we’ve been gifted with concerning rivalries and divisions. 

SONG INTRODUCTION

 

In Second Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 7 we are reminded that…

 

SECOND TIMOTHY 1:7

God the Father has not given us believers in Christ a spirit of cowardice… instead He has given us a spirit of divine power and unconditional love and self-discipline.

 

These virtues…supplied abundantly by the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit…remind us that God is always with us through the ups and downs of this life.  Is God with us, even when life is toughest?  Micha Tyler says so in his song EVEN THEN.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

EVEN THEN

Micah Tyler

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, we thank you for all the blessings of adversity and prosperity You provide…we know you use them as lessons to teach us who You are and what You have planned for us…thank you for loving us…thank you for forgiving us…thank you for being gracious toward us so that we can learn through our experiences and our mistakes under the sphere of Your perfect protection…

 

Father, we ask you to keep on opening our spiritual eyes so we can see the goodness in the resources you have provided, the people you have provided, and the divine power you have provided through God the Holy Spirit to guide us on the way to becoming conformed to the image of Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

 

God is brilliant in the way He has laid out the New Testament of the Bible.  In the first four books of the New Testament, He tells us about Himself.  Matthew describes Him as a King…Mark describes Him as a Servant…Luke describes Jesus Christ the Man…John described Jesus Christ as God.  The fifth book of the New Testament, the book of Acts, written by Luke, highlights the formation of the first century church.  Paul’s letter to the Romans, the foundational book of Biblical Christianity, lays out God’s plan for salvation and reminds us of God’s plans for Israel and The Jewish Race.  In the seventh book of the New Testament…Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians, God highlights the destructive power of sin.  We have been studying this letter for the last twenty lessons and we have completed the first four chapters of our verse-by-verse study.

 

Let’s review what we have learned in the first three passages of this letter, before we move on to Chapter 5, to remind ourselves of the context of these passages and to reflect on the amazing lessons we’ve been gifted with concerning the problems plaguing the Corinthian Church.  

 

CHAPTER 1

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:1

Paul, called (by God as a “sent man”) to be an apostle of Jesus Christ BY THE WILL OF GOD…and Sosthenes our brother…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:2a 

…to the church belonging to God that is in Corinth…to those who have been sanctified (those set apart as possessions by God…placed) into union with Christ Jesus…called to be saints (thus, no longer sinners) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:2b

…together with all those in every place who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…their Lord and our Lord…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:3 

…grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:4 

I (Paul) thank my God the Father always concerning you believers in Christ at Corinth…I thank Him for the grace God the Father has given to those of you (at Corinth) who are in union with Christ Jesus…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:5 

…that in everything you were enriched in union with Christ Jesus…enriched in all of the Word…and enriched in all knowledge…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:6 

…even as the testimony (the gospel message…I gave) concerning Christ was confirmed in you (because you believed) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:7 

…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift…AWAITING EAGERLY the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (at the exit resurrection of the Church…the Rapture) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:8 

… (The Lord) … who will also confirm you to the end (your salvation is

 secure…confirming you as) blameless (free from condemnation and accusation) in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:9 

God the Father is faithful (even when we are faithless) … this Father through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:10 

Now I (Paul) exhort you fellow believers in Christ, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree…and that there be no rivalries among you…instead that you be made complete…in the same mind and in the same purpose.

 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:11 

For I (Paul) have been informed concerning you, my brethren (in the church at Corinth) … by Chloe’s people…that there are rivalries among you.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:12 

Now what I (Paul) mean by this is that each one of you is saying, “I belong to Paul” … and “I belong to Apollos” … and “I belong to Cephas (Simon Peter)” … and “I belong to Christ.” 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:13 

Has Christ been divided (into parts)? Paul was not crucified for your sake, was he? You weren’t baptized in the name of Paul, were you?

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:14

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:15 

…so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:16 

Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas…beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:17 

For Christ did not send me (Paul) to baptize…He sent me to preach the gospel message…and not in smooth, slick speech so that the Cross of Christ would not be emptied of its effect.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:18

For the Word…especially the Word of the Cross (the gospel message)…is foolishness to those who are perishing (unbelievers)…but to us…believers in Christ…who are being saved by it…the Word of the Cross (the gospel message) is the power of God the Father (divine omnipotence in action to accomplish our salvation).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:19 

For it stands written (in Isaiah 29:14), “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise…and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.”

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:20 

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God the Father made worldly wisdom foolish (with the wisdom of the Cross…the gospel message)? 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:21 

Because of God the Father’s wisdom, the world did not come to know God through wisdom (the intellect) … (instead) God was well-pleased to save those who believe (in His Son, Jesus Christ) through the foolishness of the gospel message we preached.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:22 

For indeed the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks chase after wisdom…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:23 

…but we preach about a crucified Christ (not a resurrected one) … to Jewish unbelievers this is a stumbling block and to Gentiles unbelievers (the Greeks) this is foolishness…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:24

…but to those who are the called ones (believers in Christ whose eyes were opened by the call of God) … both Jews and Greeks… Christ is the power of God the Father and the wisdom of God the Father.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:25 

Because the foolishness of God the Father is wiser than human wisdom… and the weakness of God the Father is stronger than human strength.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:26a 

For consider your calling, fellow believers in Christ … consider it that not many of you are wise according to the flesh (you’re not very learned by the world’s standards) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:26b

…consider it that not many of you are powerful according to the flesh (you’re not socially and politically powerful by the world’s standards) … consider it that not many of you are well-born according to the flesh (you’re not blue bloods by the world’s standards) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:27 

…but God the Father has chosen the things (and the people) the world regards as foolish to shame the wise…and God the Father has chosen what the world regards as weak things to shame the strong…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:28 

…and God the Father has chosen what the world regards as both insignificant and disdained…the things (and the people) that are nothing… so that God the Father may nullify (make into nothings) the things that are (“something”) ...

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:29 

…so that no flesh may boast before God the Father.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:30 

From the source of God the Father…and because of Him…you believers in Christ are in union with Christ Jesus, who became for our benefit the manifestation of wisdom FROM GOD THE FATHER…and who became for us righteousness, and sanctification (also known as holiness), and redemption…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:31 

…so that, just as it stands written, “Let him who boasts, boast about his union with the Lord (Jesus Christ).”

 

The conclusion of the first chapter for those who cause rivalries and divisions?  If we think we are something when we are nothing, we deceive ourselves.

 

CHAPTER 2

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:1

And when I (Paul) came to you, brethren (believers in Christ in the Corinthian Church), I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God (the gospel message) with eloquent speech or with human wisdom (indicative of high social status)...

 

 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:2 

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ…and Him crucified.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:3 

I was (interacting) with you in (my own) weakness and in (my own) fear and in much trembling (the attitude of an obedient slave in awe of God) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:4 

…and my message and my preaching were not (delivered) with the persuasive art of words and in human wisdom…but (my message and my preaching were delivered) as a demonstration of the spiritual power of God the Holy Spirit … (in divine) power (providing heavenly proof) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:5 

…so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but (that your faith would rest) on the (divine) power of God.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:6 

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature…a wisdom, however, not of this age…nor a wisdom of the rulers of this age, who are passing away (soon to be dethroned) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:7 

…but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery (the doctrine of the Church Age)…the hidden wisdom which God the Father predestined before the ages for our glory…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:8 

…the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age comprehend…for if they had understood the mystery doctrine, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:9 

…but just as it is written, “Things which (the unbeliever’s) eye has not seen and things which (the unbeliever’s) ear has not heard, and things which have not entered the heart of (unbelieving) man, are all the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (believers in Christ).”

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:10 

For to us (believers in Christ), God the Father revealed these things through (the enabling power of God) the (Holy) Spirit…for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God the Father.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:11 

For who among humans knows the thoughts of a human except the spirit of the human which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God the Father no one knows except the (Holy) Spirit of God.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:12 

Now we (believers in Christ) have received, not the spirit of the world, but

the (Holy) Spirit who is from God the Father, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God the Father…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:13 

…the things we speak about, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:14 

But a natural man (the unbeliever) does not accept the things of the (Holy) Spirit of God…for they are foolishness to him…and he cannot understand them…because they are spiritually examined.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:15 

But he who is spiritual examines all things…yet he himself is examined by no one.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:16 

For who has come to know the mind of the Lord?  And who will instruct the Lord?  But we (believers in Christ) have the mind of Christ (in the Word of God…in the Bible).

 

The conclusion of the second chapter?  God and His Word are at the center of our lives…eyes on man is not the answer…and to reinforce the point, God always puts the weakest people in leadership positions.  When we return from our five-minute break, we’ll take your offering, and then we’ll continue to reflect on the lessons of the first four chapters of First Corinthians. 

 

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

NOBODY

Casting Crowns

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

 

When you’re giving, what’s important to God is your attitude.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 9, Verse 7…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 9:7

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart…not grudgingly or under compulsion…for God loves a cheerful giver.

 

When we give, God wants us to give voluntarily, thoughtfully, cheerfully, prayerfully, generously, and enthusiastically.  Check your attitude as you give, believers in Christ.  Make sure your attitude is an EXACT reflection of the voluntary, thoughtful, cheerful, prayerful, generous, and enthusiastic sacrifice that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, made on your behalf at the Cross.  Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:10 

Now I (Paul) exhort you fellow believers in Christ, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree…and that there be no rivalries among you…instead that you be made complete…in the same mind and in the same purpose.

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

David Bauer, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

 

SONG INTRODUCTION

 

In Psalm 139, Verses 7 and 8, David reflects…

 

PSALM 139:7

(Lord)…Where can I go (to hide) from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence? 

 

PSALM 139:8 

If I ascend to heaven above…You are there…if I make my bed in Sheol (in hell below)…behold…You are there as well.

 

Our God is omnipresent…He is everywhere at the same time…He is not contained by time or space.  Therefore, He is ALWAYS with us through the ups and downs of this life.  His presence in our lives at all times gives us hope, and Danny Gokey sings about it in his song HOPE IN FRONT OF ME.  Let’s listen…

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

HOPE IN FRONT OF ME

Danny Gokey

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Has a Message for Those Who Sponsor Disunity

 

Let’s continue our reflection on the first four chapters of First Corinthians at…CHAPTER 3

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:1a

And so I (Paul), brethren (fellow believers in Christ), could not speak to you (Corinthians believers) as I would speak to spiritual persons (those with the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit…believers in Christ) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:1b

…but (I have to speak to you) as (if I am speaking) to men of flesh (those without the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit…unbelievers) … as if I am speaking to infants in union with Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:2 

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food…for you were not yet able to digest solid food.  Indeed, even now you are not yet able to digest solid food…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:3 

…for you are still (acting as if you are) fleshly…(acting like unbelievers). For since there keeps on being jealousy and strife (persisting) among you, are you not fleshly (acting like unbelievers…being selfish) … and are you not walking (in lifestyle) like mere men (as if you are not spirit-filled persons)?

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:4 

For when one of you says, “I am of Paul,” and another of you says, “I am of

Apollos” … are you not (acting like) mere men (unbelievers who thrive on rivalries)?

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:5 

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul?  (We are)…servants through whom you came to) believe, just as the Lord gave the opportunity to believe to everyone (through the gospel message).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:6 

I (Paul) planted…Apollos watered…but God was (the One) causing the (spiritual) growth (in the mission field).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:7 

So then…neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything… but God who causes the growth (is everything).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:8 

Now he who plants (the plow hand) and he who waters (the water boy) are one (in unity because each is a member of the body of Christ) … but each will receive his own (individual) reward according to his own work.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:9 

For we (Apollos and I) are co-workers under God’s direction…you are God’s cultivation (a field analogy) … you are God’s construction (a building analogy).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:10 

According to the grace of God which was given to me (Paul) as a skilled master-builder, I laid a foundation (with the gospel message), and another (teacher) is building on it. But each teacher must be careful how he builds on the foundation.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:11 

For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which has already been laid…the foundation known as Jesus Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:12 

Now if any teacher builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones (with valuable biblical messages) … or if any teacher builds on the foundation with wood, hay, straw (with worldly messages…and of course he does) …

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:13 

…the quality of each teacher’s work (note the singular) will become evident…for the day (of judgment) will show the value of the work…because the value of the work is to be revealed with fire…and the fire itself will reveal the quality of each man's work.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:14 

If any man’s work which he has built on the foundation remains (and for some it will), he will receive a reward.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:15 

If any man’s work is burned down (and for some it will be), he will suffer a loss of reward…but he will be saved…yet only in this way…as if he has escaped through a fire.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:16 

Do you not know that all of you believers in Christ (in the congregation at

Corinth) are a temple of God the Father and that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you? 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:17 

If any man teacher destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him…for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you believers in Christ are to God…(holy).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:18 

Stop lying to yourself (don’t give in to internal deception). If any man among you presumes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool (to the world), in order to become wise.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:19 

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. For it is written, “God is the one who catches the wise in their cunning schemes …”

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:20 

…and again it is written, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the “wise,” that they are useless (futile).” 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:21 

So then stop boasting about humans. For (in God’s plan) everything belongs to you (believers in Christ) … 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:22 

…whether it’s Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or

things present or things to come…all things belong to you (believers in Christ because they come to you from God) … 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:23 

…and you belong to Christ…and Christ belongs to God the Father.

 

The conclusion of the third chapter?  As possessions of God, keep your eyes on God and off of men.  Chapter 4…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:1 

Think of your teachers in this way … (regard us) as (fellow) servants (executing the orders) of Christ…and as stewards distributing God the Father’s mysteries (the previously unrevealed mystery doctrines of the Church Age…Christ indwelling you…the hope of glory).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:2 

In addition, it is required of stewards to be found trustworthy.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:3 

But to me (Paul) it is a petty thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court…in fact, I do not even examine myself.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:4 

For I (Paul) am conscious of nothing against myself (Romans 8:1) … yet I am not acquitted by this (I’m by no means innocent) … but the one who examines me is the Lord.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:5 

Therefore, stop passing judgment (on yourselves or on anyone else) before the appointed time (at the Rapture of the Church)…but wait until the Lord comes (back to judge) who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and who will disclose the motives of every person’s heart…and then each person’s praise will come to him from God.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:6

Now with regard to these things, believers in Christ…these things I have applied both to myself and to Apollos for your sakes…so that you may learn…“Stick to what stands written” (obey the Word of God)… so that not one of you will become puffed up with arrogance (self-absorption instead of self-knowledge)…favoring one person over another.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:7 

For what makes you special? What do you have that you did not receive from God? And if you did receive everything (from God), why do you boast as if you had not received it (from God)? 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:8 

So quickly you have become satisfied with yourselves…you have already become rich, and apart from us you have become kings (ones who reign… you elevated yourselves to a throne) … indeed, I wish that you did become kings so that we also might reign with you!

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:9 

For, I (Paul) think, God has displayed us apostles (your teachers) as last out

of all…as men condemned to death…so that we might be a spectacle (a theatron) to the world…both to angels and to men.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:10 

We (as teachers) are fools for Christ’s sake…but you are sensible in union with Christ…we are weak, but you are strong…you are esteemed, but we are dishonored.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:11 

To this present moment we are both hungry and thirsty…and we are poorly clothed (in tattered clothing) … we are roughly treated…and we are homeless…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:12 

…and we toil…working with our own hands…yet when we are reviled, we bless…when we are persecuted, we endure…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:13 

…when we are slandered, we speak encouragement…we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:14

I (Paul) do not write these things (about rivalries and divisions) to shame you (Corinthian believers) … but I write to counsel you…my divinely loved children.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:15 

For even if you had ten thousand tutors (boy keepers) … you would not have

many fathers…for in union with Christ myself, I fathered those of you in union with Christ Jesus through the gospel message.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:16 

Therefore, I exhort you, be imitators of me.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:17 

For this reason (to show you how to imitate a leader), I have sent to you Timothy (he is on his way to Corinth)…the one who is my divinely loved and faithful child in union with the Lord…and he will remind you of my ways which are (the ways of one) in union with Christ (not the ways of a non-spirit-filled person)...and Timothy will teach the same ways and the same things I teach everywhere…in every church.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:18 

Now some of you have become arrogant (puffed up) … as though I were not coming to you (face-to-face).

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:19 

But I will come to you soon (face-to-face), if the Lord wills it…and I shall find this out…not the words of those who are arrogant (puffed up) … but I’ll find out the source of their power.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:20 

For God’s kingdom is not based on (worldly) talk…it is based on (divine) power.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 4:21 

What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod (to kick your butt) … or shall I come to you in unconditional love with a gentle spirit?

 

The conclusion of the fourth chapter?  Keep people in perspective and use them as signposts for what not to do…let what God tells you be the thing that guides your thinking and Your action.

 

God’s message for those who sponsor disunity?  Stop wasting your time.  God will have His way…unity.  Get on board the love train!

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

There are three simple things to remember if you want to get to heaven.  First, the ONE WAY…the ONLY WAY to get to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ…John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…

 

JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”

 

Second, remember Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

Third, remember the invitation and heed the warning in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

Don’t miss your opportunity to take advantage of the good news!  Salvation is as close as a five-word conversation with God the Father … “Father…I believe in Christ.”  Simply believe…merely take God’s word for what it takes to be saved…and that is the moment of eternal life for you.  

 

SONG INTRODUCTION

 

According to Isaiah, Chapter 46, Verses 9 and 10, we have a God who is filled with greatness…

 

ISAIAH 46:9

“Remember the former things long past…for I am God…and there is no other God…I am the only God, and there is no one like Me…”

 

ISAIAH 46:10

“…(I am the God who is) declaring the end from the beginning…and from ancient times (I am the God who is) declaring things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure…’

 

Here’s June Murphy to sing about our magnificent God in her song HOW GREAT YOU ARE.

 

CLOSING SONG

HOW GREAT YOU ARE

June Murphy 

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

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