Bible In A Year - 1 Corinthians

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Father once again, we thank you for the opportunity to be able to be gathered together. We thank you for the wonder of Just yourself being our true and living
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God We're thankful that we serve a risen Savior We're grateful that Upon the throne sits one who cares for our very souls
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Lord you showed that and demonstrated it so marvelously in giving of your son
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Even while we were yet your enemies when we were fighting against you Lord when we were lost and undone helpless and hopeless and graceless and Christless and and yet you came and You rescued us
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You've given to us the wonderful and precious gift of not only your son, but through him we have
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Redemption we have forgiveness of all of our sins and we have become the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ and We know that it is all of you all of your grace, and we are amazed this morning
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And so we come to to gather together to worship Lord We would lift up first and foremost our souls unto you with grateful praise.
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We ask that you'd please teach us We so desire to learn to grow in the grace and knowledge of the
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Lord to be instructed so that we might be able to What's important to you and to think as Christ would think to be a biblical
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Loving people the people who love the word, but also people who would love to walk in and to run in the way of the
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Lord So we ask for the Holy Spirit to teach us this morning for the glory of Christ. We ask in his name.
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Amen As we come to first Corinthians I'd first ask you to turn to the book of Acts so that we can see historically what had taken place
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To where this church it came about in Acts chapter 18 We have part of the account of the second missionary trip of the
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Apostle Paul in Acts 18 and in verse 1
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After these things Paul departed from Athens and he came to Corinth So he comes to the to the city of Corinth and there he find found a certain
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Jew named Aquila born of Pontus lately come from Italy with his wife
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Priscilla So he meets Aquila the husband Priscilla the wife and it says and he came to them verse 3 and because He was of the same craft.
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He abode with them and wrought he worked he labored with his hands He works at a trade and the trade that they are
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All acquainted with is the occupation of being tent makers Verse 4 he reasoned in the synagogue every
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Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks and as his Paul's method was
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He first went to the Jews He first went to the to the synagogue to preach the gospel this gospel of this new way, which had captured him
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Remember Paul was a fighter Against and opposed to the gospel of Jesus Until God saved him and when
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God saved him What is his method was in his ministry was to go to the Jews first to preach the gospel
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And if they refuse to hear it as we're gonna see here Also notice as he goes to them in verse 4 and verse 5 and when
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Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia Macedonia Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the
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Jews that Jesus was Christ So there's the gospel going to them Jesus is the Messiah and when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, of course, they totally
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Refudiated this message of course saying that this is blasphemy There's only one God of course as they would look and their religious ceremonial practices and the law and all that keeping of that It just didn't fit with this message about there only being salvation through this this person this carpenters
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Son this Jesus of Nazareth. There's just just no way as they opposed it Paul shakes his clothing and says your blood be upon your own heads.
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I am clean from henceforth. I will go into the Gentiles He's he's discharged his duty.
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He's been a good steward of the gospel He's given it to to the Jews and they've not wanted to hear it So he goes on to the
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Gentiles and he departed from thence and he entered into a certain man's house Justices house when
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I worshiped God whose house was close to the synagogue and Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed on the
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Lord with all his house and many of the Corinthians here we go many of the Corinthians hearing
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Hearing what the gospel hearing this message about Jesus Christ about salvation through him and him only they believed
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And they were baptized this this first expression of outward obedience to inwardly what has taken place with the salvation of the soul is baptism and Notice this interesting vision or this this message that Paul gets directly from the
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Lord I mean can you think of this as you're ministering in your ministry here in at BBC and if If the
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Lord were to assure you in this way or confidence you would have notice what he says to Paul The Lord spoke in a night vision by a vision to Paul be not afraid
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But speak and hold out your peace For I am with you and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in This city what a comforting message from the
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Lord not only not to fear Paul would be protected divine presence divine protection but also
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The divine promise of the Lord that God had people in that city and and really if we think about it
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The Lord said he would not forsake us when we're ministering Go into all the world and and to preach the gospel to baptize to do this to do the same thing to make disciples
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And lo I am with you always the Lord is with us to his presence is with us at here at at BBC And God is for us
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God is going to protect us and don't we have to think that in the area that we're ministering at where God has placed us
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That there's much people There's people that need to hear the message and people that that are such in a needy way that that they need the salvation
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Which comes only through Jesus Christ and we can kind of and we can kind of glean from this and be comforted from this
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Also that the Lord will work Wonders in the midst of us too as he did with the Apostle Paul and establish a church and that's what's taking place here in Corinth He continues there a year and a half verse 11
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Teaching the Word of God among them and here he is in Corinth Corinth the city in southern
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Greece It is of the Roman province of a Ki it's about 45 miles west of Athens a city that was in a great area where it was to to to be in the trade route and the trade traffic a
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Prosperous city one that grew it was but it was also not only with not only
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Economically, it was prosperous but in a negative way It was prosperous or in it was in the in the opposite way of the influence of culture and of the influence of the
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Thinking and the philosophy of the day of the of the self Focus as far as on on knowledge in the in in the
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Greek culture in the way that they thought and also Here we see because of the religious practices with in this town in the city
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There's the temple of Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love And in that temple and in the city was employed more than a thousand priestesses who were religious prostitutes so this city is famous for its depravity and because of the way that they supposedly worship
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God the way that they Practice their religious their religion pagans to the core
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Morally corrupt and so much so that the name Corinth became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity and you'll notice if we turn to the book of 1st
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Corinthians go with me, please if you would the chapter 6 and you will see Some of the of the life the behavior the debauchery the lifestyle that they were saved
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From what was their pattern of living? Before the gospel came to them and Paul says in 1st
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Corinthians chapter 6 and in verse 9 He says no, you're not don't you know that the unrighteous?
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Shall not inherit the kingdom of God and of course Paul is teaching in the context here of this idea where there's litigation going on that that Christians are suing
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Christians and they're not not to be and What he's saying here is is that that?
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You as believers are putting yourself on Display before a lost world so that they can judge what's going on in the church
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And Paul basically says that Person who's the least in the church ought to be the one who can judge amongst you because because really because you're believers you're family and you ought to care for one another and really there is a theme that I See and it kind of just it threads right through When it comes to all the issues and the problems that are in this church, you can boil it down to this that Definitely there was a lack of love in this church because if you look at every single issue that they have
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If they truly loved each other they would not demonstrate There they would not have the relationships of the problems that they had if they truly loved each other and here
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How can a Christian who say that he loves another brother who says that you know as we learn?
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With this the classes from when Pradeep was teaching that how can we say? that we love
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God whom we've not seen if we don't love our brother who we have seen and In this case here.
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They're not showing that they love each other because they are taking each other to into court to suffer the injustice before a
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Pagan world what a poor testimony that is and he says don't you know? That the unrighteous these people that you are going in before shall not inherit the king
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Inherit the kingdom of God don't be deceived verse 9 6 chapter 6 verse 9 neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers
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Nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind. So you have you have
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Sexual immorality here of all sorts homosexuality sex worship thieves covetous drunkards revilers extortioners or swindlers these people shall not inherit the kingdom of God and He's kind of just saying you're going before them
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And you ought not to do this you ought to take care of your own business if you truly love each other in the church you ought to be taking care of the things the injustices that you say that you have and Deal with them within the church when he after he lists all these things
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He says and such were some of you That's you used to live this way.
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This was your pattern of behavior This is the life that you that you once lived before the gospel came to you and doesn't that tell you something about the power?
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of the gospel How it changes lives? I mean can't you just plug yourself into some of these phrases?
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Some of these words as you look down through here and say yes, I was a I was a thief I was one who was wrapped up in covetousness.
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I was a drunkard Never mind. I was I was an alcoholic. I was somebody who had a
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Chemical dependency. I mean just call it for what it is. The Bible says it's drunkenness. It's not a disease
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It's not a problem. It's not it's not a problem It's sin and sin was the problem in in Corinth and Paul when he was sent here
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This is the type of people that he dealt with and he said but you And such were some of you
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But really when you think of that that statement such were some of you, but we're not that way anymore because of God's work we're not that way anymore because of the gospel because as He says in and you hold your place there
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But as he says in chapter 1 when he when he kicks off this this book and he speaks About what
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Christ had sent him to do to preach the gospel He says in verse 118 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
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Of course it is Doesn't make any sense It doesn't allow me to maintain my my pride or to to maintain my self my self effort and for for it to look at Me or or it doesn't make any sense when it comes to our practices as far as the
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Jews go Because they want to be able to do something they want to be able to hold on to that which is important to them
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He says foolishness to those that are perishing but unto us which are saved or thus which are being saved
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Because we are being saved. We haven't just been saved. We are being saved. We have been saved from the power from the penalty of sin and We are being saved in our lifetime from the from the power of sin over us and God giving us the victory through Jesus Christ as we heard last week in Romans and one day we'll be
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Delivered from the presence of sin when our salvation is complete or Paul I think
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Peter might have put it this way, you know He says that you have been saved you are being saved and you well will yet be saved
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It is an ongoing thing that God does in our lives He's keeping us were kept by the the power of God and God is working and I'm not saying that we're saved over and over and Over and over again, we lose it get it lose and get it
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No, we're once saved always saved but God is always doing a work in the life of his people
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He is continually conforming us to the image of Christ. God is not through with us
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He doesn't just leave, you know Save us and leave us alone God is working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure and Paul says here in in chapter 1 that this message the preaching of the cross is the power of God that it's it's
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Unto us which are saved that is the power of God. It is what God has has so ordained the message
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Is is through the the person in the work of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that we shall be saved
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And it's through God's work that we come to know that we're sinners and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ And that's what happened in Corinth.
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This was a this was a messy place This was a this is a den of iniquity and Paul as he's
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As he talks there in chapter 6, he says you were this way, but he says but you are washed you are sanctified
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You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our
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God You notice he didn't say there such were some of you But you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps and you did something about your life
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You turned over a new leaf and the problem when you turn over the new leaf It's as rotten on the other side as it is on the front side.
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So it won't it won't help it needs to be a Total complete work of God and that's what the gospel is
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And when Paul let me let me show it to you in chapter 15 1st Corinthians 15 notice what he says about the gospel here
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It's very important. Paul did not have his Have his series of seminar topics that he was going to come in and do self -help
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You know pull yourself up get it all together type things He knew that it needed to be a radical work of God just like in his own life
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He was totally opposed to the gospel totally opposed to Christ. He was he was fighting against God as When Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, he said
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Paul Paul, you know, why are you persecuting me direct? rebellion and persecution
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Against Christians, but but Jesus said it's against me. Why are you kicking against the goads? Paul was a rebellious one
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But he had been subdued by Christ and when he when he speaks to them in 1st
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Corinthians 15 He says moreover brethren. I declare unto you the gospel which I preach to you
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Which which you've also received and wherein you stand so this gospel is something that Paul preached
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They had received it the work of the Holy Spirit, of course, they received the gospel
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They received Christ as we heard in chapter in Acts chapter 18 and they're standing in it
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He says by which also you have been saved You can the only way to be saved is through the through the gospel of Jesus Christ And he says by which also you are saved in verse 2 if you keep in memory what
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I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain there is a there is a vein or an empty or a or a
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Useless faith people can believe Upon Christ they can believe that he died
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They can believe that he was buried and they can believe that he rose from the dead that he's the Savior of the world
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They can believe all that and still be lost Because you can intellectually believe on Christ and he says here
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You've been saved by the gospel that I preached and he talks and he's talking about a steadfastness near He's talking about a perseverance if you keep in memory what
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I preached on you unless you've believed in vain Because Paul also Understands and he's that's what his whole letter is all about Look, if you say that you're a
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Christian and if you say that you're one who has has been saved by the gospel Which I have been called to preach and I'm an apostle of the
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Lord Jesus Christ Then your lifestyle should be different. It should be something that captivates you
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It should be something that permeates your your very soul in your life and you become a new creature in Christ He says and he goes on and he tells what this gospel is verse 3 and 4 kind of a great summation of the gospel
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For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and then he was seen of Cephas or Peter then of the twelve and after that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once in Verse 7 after that he was seen of James then of all the apostles in verse 8 and last of all
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He was seen of me also as one born out of due time For I am the least of the Apostles verse 9 that I am not meet or I'm not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the
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Church of God and Paul gives the right credit where the credit is due in the honor for his life changing this life -changing work
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He says in verse 10, but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain
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But I labored more abundantly than they all yet not I But the grace of God which was with me and Paul gives himself in his example here
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And if you look back in chapter 4, he gives himself as an example of of one to follow because he realized by the by the revelation of Jesus Christ to him that the the the faith that comes to us as a gift of God, yes and Salvation is a gift of God.
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It is a work of God, but the salvation that comes to the sinner does not come alone Tight is chapter 2.
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It says that it's the grace of God That teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and Justly in this present world grace the grace of God teaches us to say no to sin
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And it teaches us to submit to God it teaches us to be people who are obedient and desire to be holy and Desire a life change and Paul understood that and that's what he's teaching and he's and he's warning them
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I mean in this book Paul uses every literary device to help this church And the reason why he's doing it is because he is going to stand in the gap for these people
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He loves them so much that he's going to tell them the truth He's going to tell them exactly what they need to hear so that they can be corrected so they can be
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Disciplined to get back where they need to be as a glorious Spotless testimony of the grace of God because God's grace is to transform the life and they weren't there
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Unfortunately as I have in the notes on the second page on the back if you if you want to just take a look under the section of observations
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Number one it says what factors made it difficult for the gospel to take root in a healthy way in the city of Corinth While the mindset of the
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Corinthians Made it almost impossible for the church to fully break with the surrounding culture
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The congregation continually behaved in a factional way we're going to look at that a little bit showing its carnality and immaturity and The gift that Apollos had ministered in the church for a while some
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You know they had a click and they were following him another group were loyal to Paul another group had an allegiance to Peter and Still another says you know that Oh Peter nothing
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Paul Nothing Apollos great speaker nothing, but we're of Christ. We're the followers of Jesus We we've got that badge on us.
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You know we're more. We're definitely more spiritual and notice this phrase that I enlarged and I emboldened instead of the church
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Having a significant impact on the city the city had too much of an impact upon the church
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And that is one of the greatest warnings that to me comes out of this book is a we going to be impacted by the culture by the lifestyle by the society by the thinking in our world around us so that it creeps into the
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Church or ought it to be the other way that that there is such a powerful testimony that God has done something at BBC That when we live in this community and in the communities where we go home to Reside in where where our houses are and when we desire to do something in the community is it that we have an impact?
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upon the day in which we live and upon the society in which we live that we as It says in the book of Jude that we make a difference
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That that we Have so so much of a powerful testimony of what
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God is doing in us That we don't allow the church the world to creep in but we have every desire to push out the message of the gospel
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And for it to affect the community in which we live and the day in which we live and for for us to be
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Trophies of grace put on display before the world to say that this is something that that God has done.
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Well, you know it's true that the gospel came to Corinth and It's also do you know some people
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I've heard people think about the book of Corinthians and say my what a mess But a big mess
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I mean you just you just think about about this church and I've listed at different places in the you know
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There's different places where I list some of the things that Paul had to deal with and we won't get to get to all of them, but I mean there was
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Factionalism as we talked about our divisions or cliques There there's envy there's strife.
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There's immorality there's the lack of even exercising proper biblical church discipline there's ignorance and misuse of spiritual gifts this carnality there's
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Questioning of Paul's apostleship in his authority. There's Uncharitableness at the
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Lord's table and really if you think about all of the things that took place I mean just think of there being factions and in these schisms this in chapter 1, you know
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Where it's I am of Paul. I am Apollos. I am of Christ and Paul says is
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Christ divided 113 was Paul crucified for you. He uses
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Paul uses every literary device. He uses logic he uses Sarcasm entreaty scolding poetry
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Exposition narration and throughout this whole book everything He's throwing all the guns out and and doing everything within his power to reason with these people to scold these people to to Desire to discipline them and to get them to wake up if you ever read the book think of the in the
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King James It's it's uh, no you not or don't you understand or don't you know?
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That you're like this you're bought with a price Therefore glorify God in your body in your spirit, which are his
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It is don't you know that you're of Christ? Don't you know that you're different that you're to live above the world that you're that you're you're you're not as you were before Don't you understand don't go to court with the young with the lost because the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God go with those who are going to inherit the kingdom of God then understand what
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God has done in their life that have the mind of Christ that have a love and ought to have a love for you and go before them and get your your disagreements taken care of within the church
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When it comes to the factional parties that they have I mean you got this group this click over here in this group when this click over here following different leaders
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And we look at this church, and we say with all the issues that they have what a mess I mean, they're they're really in bad shape and of course here comes here comes a brother
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Dave You know hit it. You know let us let us hear it because we do need to we do need to hear it
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I mean really are we any different? If you think about it in the day in which we live do we not have problems in our churches also, and we struggle with sin and and Factionalism or a lack of charity for for other people.
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I mean of are we are we so Proud that we would think that that these things do not take place in in a local
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New Testament Church today Well, they do we we we know that and maybe not to the degree of the things that that happened here in the church in The church at Corinth, but it ought to really just humble us and for us to be able to take the warning
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That's here for us Because as an as we consider some of these examples of the things that that they went through It ought to cause us just to look at ourselves
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Individually and to look at ourselves at a church that this ought not to be the way that we want to live And this is not the testimony that we desire to have when when we serve
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Christ in the day in which we live we want to be a people who are a
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People who give no offense in anything That we don't put a blight upon the name of Jesus Christ that we would so love him and so want to honor him that we would live in such a way as as Paul said when he wrote to the
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Colossians and we may look at that that the verse when we get there But he says he says beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the rudiments of the world are not after Christ He said there's a there's a thinking in the world
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There is a there is a thinking that is so opposed to God. It is so so self -promoting
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It is so self aggrandizing My aren't we great and in the in the pursuits that we have, you know, the
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Bible says this but Let's live this way and let's do it that way Whatever the teaching whatever the philosophy is the
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Corinth the Corinthians opened the door and they allowed it to come into the church
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And what we ought to do at every moment all of the time is to guard ourselves and beware that we're not taken captive That we're not infiltrated that we're not so influenced by the world that as somebody once shared with me
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It used to be it used to be if if if the if the standard of the church was here and The world is here.
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I've I've heard it say that well, you know what for the church in order for us to reach the world We've got to lower our standards so that we'll be closer and be able to identify with the world and we'd be able to speak on the same terms and go to the same places that they go to and listen to the same things that they listen to So that we can talk turkey and so that we can really have a powerful
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Influence upon them so that we can kind of get on some type of ground with them Well, what happens there is as the as the church lowers its standard and as then the world's standards continue to lower
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I mean look over the decades that if you've been alive more than 20 years 30 years You've seen it's such a radical change and what's allowable today
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What has come out of the closet and what what people speak of just I remember when I was a kid There were things that as Paul said in 1st
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Corinthians 5 you're committing sin that don't even the Gentiles not even the the the pagan world
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Frowns upon is inside the church at Corinth. It's horrible. Well as the world drops its standards
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What's the church saying that it's got to do? It's got to drop its standards to to keep up with the world and what happens was when the when the church when the world
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Was here and the church eventually gets we are to the place where the world was and what's the difference? Where the impact comes really brethren when it comes?
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This way in In 1st Corinthians chapter 14.
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I'll just read a verse to you that it's just so always Amazes me that this ought to be something that ought to be our prayer when it comes to the church life and the church testimony
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Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 where this church had a an issue
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Of course with the abuse and the lack of understanding of spiritual gifts, and he says to them
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Here it is down near verse 23 if if the whole car if the whole church become together in one place and All speak with tongues and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers.
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Will they not say that you were mad? I mean everybody speaking in tongues and nobody interpreting
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He says won't they think that it's madness. It's disorderly. It's just it doesn't make any sense they can't understand it, but and Paul of course here in this chapter is speaking of at the beginning of it the the superiority of preaching or the prophesying as Because the
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Corinthians had too much of an effort too much of an emphasis on tongues and Paul says but if all prophesy in verse 24 in there come in one that believeth not of an unbeliever comes in a one that is unlearned comes in and He is convinced of all he is judged of all there's this conviction of sin verse 25 and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and So falling down on his face.
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He will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth
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Isn't that a testimony that we ought to desire in a church when it when it comes to ministry when it comes to?
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Opening our doors and what it is that we're all about not to open our doors and to have
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Programs or death and I'm not saying that that's what we're doing here I mean we see this in Christendom today in churches today have programs that are on the same level of the world to have to have skits and to have musicals and to have sermonettes to have just to water down the gospel so that the world will come in and With the world comes the world.
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That's the that's the danger here with the world comes the world's influence and Paul says no
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What we ought to be is orderly What we ought to be is do it as God has designed it and what we ought to be is a holy people and hold the
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Standard high and as he which has called you is holy Peter said so be you holy in all manner of conversation
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Or in all ways of your behavior and everything that we do Central the preaching of the of the
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Word of God and hold it up as a standard and not worry about I mean not worry about How long it's so difficult pastor
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Steve and those that go to other churches When you when you're asked to preach and they say you got 34 minutes 34 minutes
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I can't barely get the c5a off the runway in 30 34 minutes You're just starting to you're just starting to get warmed up, but you know or 25 minutes.
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It's like oh boy You know I'm gonna get I got five -point message. I think I'll do one. You know it's it's this
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Watching of the clock it's got to be done by 12 o 'clock. You know and I'm talking about in Christian churches.
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I mean Who cares about the time We're meeting with the Lord and the desire ought to be to be a pure people a desire
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Desiring to lift up and exalt Jesus Christ, and that's Paul's desire for the
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Corinthian Church He wants them to be a people who honor the
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Lord and are a great and and wonderful testimony But it's not there and There are disorders in the church
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There's conflict There's pride there's social evils there's immorality and really if I Didn't I never saw this until this week when
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I was looking at this that if you take every single one of the issues that Are in this church, and you apply two things to it one
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Bring everything back to Jesus Christ Bring everything back to the end of chapter the end of chapter 1 where he says but of him are you in Jesus Christ Who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glories
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Let him glory in the Lord If everything that we do and every motive that we examine everything that we do in the church and Paul Saying that to them to get them back on track.
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He says let it be let your boast be of God That's the first thing and secondly is if you would truly love each other and that's why
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I believe one of the central chapters and one of the focuses in this book is 1st Corinthians 13 this whole idea of What love really is because if you really loved each other you would not have the divisions
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You would not sue each other in the court of the of the pagans You would you would not have if you really loved that brother
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Who was committing that gross sin if you truly loved him Paul basically said you would have dealt with him now
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And and I have to do it here. I'm telling you what you need to do For the sake of the gospel for the sake of Jesus Christ and for the sake of the soul of this this one you call brother
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Love him enough to tell him the truth and discipline and do it in a loving way do it in the speak the truth in love, but any any of the issues that Were in the church when it when it come to the uncharitable nests that they had in 1st
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Corinthians 11 Where he dealt had to deal with that at the Lord's table some of them came and they were they were well -off
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They had food and others were poor and they didn't have anything and the ones who had food were banqueting and eating in front of in front of the others and there was just Not caring for them and not and not reaching out to them and giving them and then coming to the table
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Together as brethren and here we are we're to love each other and they didn't even demonstrate it minutes before By not taking care of them.
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Love is important. Well Let us go. I think I think what we'll do is
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You'll you'll know in chapter 1 Paul deals with this whole idea of Of The divisions but before he even does that when he opens up the book
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He's writing unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth in verse 2 Those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus those that are called to be saints they're holy ones
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With that in every place that call upon the name of Jesus our Lord both theirs and ours grace be unto you and peace from God our
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Father I thank the Lord he says on your behalf for the grace of God Which is given you by Jesus for us for that in everything you are enriched by him.
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You're enriched. You're made wealthy rich You're abundant you you have great valuable Bestowments that God has put upon you even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you in verse 6 that you you come behind in no gift
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Waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't ever get to come to this book and say that these people were just down Downright.
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I mean the worst church that you've ever heard of Because when you think about it all the the issues that Paul is dealing with He's dealing with a church where the
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Apostle Paul had been for a year and a half. He spent 18 months there teaching them
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Imparting to him the knowledge that he had and they they had not only received the gospel the standing in it saved
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But they had been endued by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts as every believer is
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But they just misused them they had them but they were misusing them and Paul's correcting them
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But they had powerful gifts in this church, I mean he's dealing with the Misuse of tongues, but they had the use of tongues
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I mean they these people had incredible faith to be able to believe because he talks about and he deals with with those that who could in first Chapter 13 remove mountains and it and it almost seems to me as you're going through all of those as he's dealing with those is
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That he knows that those things are evident in the church But it's askew it's off it's totally wrong it's for the wrong purpose they're doing it for their own for themselves
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They're there and they're not doing it unto the glory of the Lord and they're not demonstrating a love that they ought to have
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For each other and as he goes through I think to me it just makes perfect sense that Paul is
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Focusing in on and I put it even up that at the beginning of the of the sheet That this is this book is the source of chapter 13, which is the
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Deals with the preeminence of love and let's head that way before we finish up this morning first take a stop in chapter 12 a church a struggling church with problems with issues and Paul is going to impart doctrinal instruction and Advice to them for godliness to deal with sin to deal with the things that they're doing wrong so that they get back on track and glorifying the
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Lord in ministry as they Function together as a church in 1st
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Corinthians chapter 12 Paul begins by saying now concerning spiritual gifts brethren
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I would not have you to be ignorant or I would not have you to be unaware of these things
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That was their issue. They did not understand This idea of spiritual gifts and how they're to function together as a church
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Because I believe in one in one way as I said earlier There was pride and there was just this self point pointing to themselves of what they could do what they could get out of it but they didn't love each other as they as they ought and I can't go through this whole chapter, but look down in verse 12 for as the body is one and It has many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is
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Christ He's saying just like you have a physical body You cannot have a physical body unless you have all the parts of the body
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You need the arms and the legs and the torso and the head eyes ears nose mouth
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You need that in order to have a body and they have to be fit together And you need all the pieces
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They're all important for the body to be able to function as a body and so with the body of Jesus Christ God as we read through here gifts the body
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Everybody every local New Testament Church with the gifts that he sees fit which are needed for that body every spiritual gift being there and He's dealing with two attitudes throughout this chapter one of them is
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I don't need you I can do it all by myself And the second attitude is I don't fit into this body
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There's nothing for me to do is not a place for me to be able to serve here If we go on to read that we we see that verse 13 by one spirit baptized into one body
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We're all we're all in this body. It's not one, but it's many members Verse 15 if the foot shall say because I am
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NOT of the hand I am NOT of the body is it therefore Not of the body and if the ear shall say because I am
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NOT the eye I am NOT of the body Is it therefore not of the body you see? it's it's foolishness to think that way because God didn't intend the physical body to have to be as Paul goes on to say in verse 17 if the body were an eye if the whole body were an eye
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Where would the hearing be and if the whole body were in ear? Where would the smelling be?
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but now has God set or God has put or God has placed the members every one of them in the body as It pleased him not as it pleases us, but as it pleased
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God I mean it It would be it would be kind of like kind of like this you you pay the ticket to go to Boston you want to listen to the symphony orchestra and you you give them the ticket you go sit down and they start coming out on the stage and Everybody's carrying a tuba
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And they're all gonna they're all gonna play the tuba and what you're expecting was the whole complement of instruments right because you wanted to hear them blend in perfect harmony and and And give you the all the musical notes and in the variety and so that you can hear the beauty of that tuba
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It's not even pretty you know they get up there Body all one eye not pretty grotesque all one ear awful
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I mean look in if it's just I mean a walking ear or walking big eye I mean pretty pretty ugly and really
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I mean you do you hear Paul's argument. You're not even thinking I Mean God is just like God made the body
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God made the local New Testament Church to be many members But one body yes, and you got to keep this important, and and you know just because The I can't the he goes on to say you know the
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I can't say to the hand I don't need you or the head to the feet. I don't need you
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They certainly do what happens if you get a splinter in this in this hand Well this hand comes to the rescue right or somebody else, but if you got to do it yourself or what if you get a
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Speck in your eye the finger comes to the rescue and gets it out right I mean all of the body parts working together and Paul is just saying it's so it's just so natural in the natural realm
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It is so true in the spiritual realm And it's something that God uniquely and preciously does in the in a group of people that he calls
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Saints Holy Ones Wherever you are the people of God called to be a church in a testimony in the place where God puts you to serve and to function as a body and he says in Verse 24.
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I'm really blowing through some of this because I got a couple of points I got to make before we finish. He says in verse 24 for the comely parts
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Have no need but God has tempered the body together Having given more abundant honor to that part which lacks
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But he talks Paul talks about the body instead of being Factional and having schisms or divisions as he started off with in chapter 1.
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He says God has done something special He's tempered the body together, or he's co -mingled or Combined or mixed together just like God mixes the party put the body parts
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Yeah, the body parts of the human body to make up an organic living being
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He specifically selects and combines the members of a local assembly to make one living spiritual church working in harmony together with the focus of the of the glory of God in the in the in the spreading of the gospel in this word in the
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Greek has an idea of of mixing in a way two things together
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So they are blended so much together that you cannot they become a new compound and you can't separate them
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That's what the idea means and it's almost like hydrogen and oxygen being mixed together in the right putting putting them together and they become water and Steve has a bottle of water there and and I don't think any of us could open it up pour a little water in a
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Hand and pull out the hydrogen and pull out the oxygen. It's it's so mingled together that we're one
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New compound and that's what God has done And do you see the preciousness and the wonder of what God has done in the local
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New Testament Church? That's why it's so important for us to to really revel into joy and to be so At all what
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God has done because he knows what he's doing and he does it best when he puts us together and brings us together Well, this church wasn't functioning that way.
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They're all going off You know, you know, I'm the Apostle I'm the one who speaks in tongues and I'm more important than you are and I don't need you and I can function on my
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Own in verse 28 God. He says God set some in the church Apostles prophets teachers miracles helps and all the he lists them
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But he says our is everybody an apostle Is everybody a prophet are all teachers are all workers of miracles?
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Can everybody have the gift of healing does everybody speak with tongues does everybody interpret of course not and he says your focus is wrong and I want to show you a better way
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Verse the very last verse of 12 12 13 and 14 must be looked at and read and studied together
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I'll show you a more excellent way and then he goes into chapter 13 and he says it's love
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You can speak with the tongues of men and of angels and if you do not have love you are just no substance all noise
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That's all you are just noise and not the real thing No substance You can give you can have the gift of prophecy and understand mysteries and knowledge and have all faiths so that you could remove mountains
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But if you don't have love you you you are nothing You could beach give all your goods to feed the poor and give your body even to be burned
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And if you don't have love it will not profit anything and the whole idea is is that it ought to be substance
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It ought to be that we are something before the Lord and it's profitable for other people it edifies and it builds up other people and they had totally missed it and Paul's bringing them back on track and the way that you do that you look through the
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Description of what love is is really supposed to be I mean it is supposed to be kind It is not supposed to envy and so on.
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I mean it just cares about other people. It doesn't hold records It doesn't hold grudges. It doesn't it's not rude.
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It's not indecent. It's not shameful But it bears of all things it hopes all things it believes all things it endures all things
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Charity is important then he goes into chapter 14 He begins to kind of break apart what they're doing incorrectly in the church
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And he said look you need order if you're gonna speak in if you're gonna speak in tongues He said do it one at a time no more than three have an interpreter if there's
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Nobody can speak in tongues if there is no interpreter. There's got to be a proper judging of it even prophecy must be done in order exercise self -control no confusion because God is not the author of confusion and so on in the last verse in chapter 14 is let all things be done decently and in order
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Because that's how God would desire it to be done in the church Decently in an order properly it ought to be honorable decorative and when the church functions together like a body that's
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Functioning it's beautiful And when a church functions together properly it's beautiful It's a wonderful testimony, and that's
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Paul's desire for this church That was wayward and struggling and his in the book is written this book was written
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To be able to get them to the place where they needed to be I Think we're about on time
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Let's pray Father thank you again for the time that we've been able to spend in your word.
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We praise your name We pray that you would help us as a church to To hear these things and to so guard what we do here
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And Lord help us to realize how wonderful it is and the great unique special Privilege it is to be part of a local
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New Testament Church Where you are the head and and we are the body Functioning for you and for your glory
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Help us to guard what comes in the doors and help us to be more of an impact and have more of an impact and influence