Artwork for podcast  Daily Bible Podcast
November 29, 2024 - 1 Corinthians 1-4
29th November 2024 • Daily Bible Podcast • Compass Bible Church North Texas
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Shownotes

00:00 Introduction and Thanksgiving Greetings

00:23 Black Friday Reflections

03:09 Transition to Daily Bible Reading

03:16 Overview of First Corinthians

05:44 Paul's Greeting and Thanksgiving

07:02 Addressing Divisions in the Church

09:00 The Power and Wisdom of the Gospel

10:52 Spiritual Wisdom and Maturity

13:15 Immaturity in the Corinthian Church

14:39 Paul's Metaphors for Growth

17:09 The Ministry of the Apostles

19:38 Conclusion and Prayer

Transcripts

Speaker:

Hey, everybody.

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Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

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It's great to have you back.

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I would say with us, except pastor,

Rod's not with us right now.

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He is on a little vacation here

spending some time with his family.

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For Thanksgiving, but then also a

few days afterwards, so grateful for

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him to get some time away and to, to

hang out with Kristin and their kids.

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Uh, but we're here and we're

still back in the text today.

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It is black Friday, which

is whatever it is for you.

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If that's the day that you do all your

Christmas shopping, or maybe that's the

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day that you start doing your Christmas

shopping, uh, enjoy it for whatever it is.

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And, uh, If you're taking advantage of

some of the online sales, then good.

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Maybe you can let everybody else know

where you're getting the deals because.

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It just, is it.

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I do it on Amazon, for example, on

black Friday, it's just, it used to be

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manageable because you'd go on there and

be like, okay, here's the black Friday.

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Sale items.

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And there was only a handful of

them now it's like everything.

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And it's like, where do I even begin?

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I don't even know where to start.

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And then it just gets overwhelming and

annoying and a little bit convicting

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because we're reminded of just our

materialism as a society that it's

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like, Hey, let's, here's a day to

be thankful for, for what we have.

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And then the very next day is like, And

here's everything that you really want.

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And so, uh, we're going to mark it all

down and we're going to tell you, man.

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You're you're really going to

be happy when you have this.

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What a lie that is from the world.

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Right.

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I don't want to go all existential

and philosophical on us with

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regards to black Friday, but I do

think there's just something there

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for us as Christians to ponder.

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Uh, for, for how our society has built

in, Hey, here's a day for gratitude

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and then a day for covetousness

a day for gratitude, and then a

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day for greed a day for gratitude.

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And then a data grumble and complain

because we don't have what we

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think we need to be satisfied.

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How, how strange is that?

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Right, right.

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How crazy is that now?

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Don't get me wrong.

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It's not.

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Wrong.

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Or, or, uh, a sinful thing for you

to, to buy things on black Friday,

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because they're marked down, they're

on sale, especially if you're Christmas

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shopping for other people, that's fine.

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Be wise stewards of your money.

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I get that.

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It's just.

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It just, it's crazy.

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It's crazy that, that this is,

we're not even trying to hide it.

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We're not.

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We're not covering anything up.

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It's like, Hey.

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Uh, yeah.

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Okay.

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On Thursday.

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Yeah, go ahead and be thankful for,

for things on Thursday, but then on

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Friday that now it's about when you're

going to get what you really want.

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And it used to be that you used to

have to wait for stores to open up

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on black Friday before you could

shift gears from gratitude to.

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Uh, everything that you really want.

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Nowadays, it's forget that.

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Online shopping things are open 24 7.

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So you can be eating your, your

Turkey, having just gone around

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the table with your family,

saying, we're thankful for this.

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And I'm thankful for this.

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And I'm thankful for this and then

pull your phone out and be like, oh,

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I would be really happy if I had this

thing instead of what I have right now.

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And then, oh, look at that.

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Add to my cart checkout.

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It's just a unique thing.

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So, um, hopefully you had a great

Thanksgiving, all that to say, I

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really do hope that you enjoyed

your time with your family.

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And, and I'm also hopeful that, that.

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That spirit, that mentality, that

attitude, as we've talked about before

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already is going to carry over that.

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You're going to be thankful

beyond just that one day.

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Thankful for your walk with Christ,

thankful for the word of God,

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thankful for your church, family.

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Thankful for.

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All of these things that we get to,

to have as, as part of our life.

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And so what a great reality

that is that that is Christians.

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We should be in, can be and have every

reason to be some of the most thankful

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people on the face of the planet.

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Let's let's let's practice that.

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That's a good thing for us to do.

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But yeah, black Friday.

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Enjoy it.

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Get your Christmas shopping done.

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Get it behind you.

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Let's move on and focus on what

we've got in front of us, including

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today's daily Bible reading.

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First Corinthians one through four.

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First Corinthians.

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Uh, this is a letter

written by the apostle Paul.

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During his third missionary journey.

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So we've been talking about

his missionary journeys.

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This one is written during his

third missionary journey, which

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was largely based in Ephesus.

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And so we think this letter originated

from Ephesus or the region they're in.

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And so Paul's writing to

this church in Corinth.

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And now we just talked about Corinth

acts chapter 18 and 19, uh, that,

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that Paul had been there during

his second missionary journey.

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Um, he had been planting churches there.

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And so this is another area, much like

vessel Annika that Paul was familiar with.

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He knew the people there.

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And so he's writing these letters to them.

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And interestingly enough, In our

Bibles, we have first Corinthians and

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second Corinthians, but it appears

that there was a third letter.

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Cause Paul makes reference to that.

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He says in second Corinthians, this is now

the third letter that I'm writing to you.

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So somewhere between first

Corinthians and second Corinthians,

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there was a third Corinthians.

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Uh, we don't have it.

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And we're not meant to have it.

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Otherwise we would, it

would be in the Bible.

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We would have it as part of our

Canon, but this one was not a letter

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that was recognized by the church.

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As something that should be circulated.

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And so it wasn't, this was not a letter

that was intended by Paul to bear the

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authority of scripture for everybody.

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And so it was not put into broad

circulation from the Corinthian

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church to the Ephesians church,

to the collation church.

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The way that these

letters would have been.

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So even though Galatians was written

to the church and glacier or first,

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and second Thessalonians was written

to the church in thistle, Annika.

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These letters would have made their

way around to all of the other

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churches in this region of Asia minor.

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And they would have been read

by all of these other churches.

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And that's how these letters came to

be revered and held in authority and

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held as, as scripture, um, compared to

this missing letter of the Corinthians,

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that one was never intended to be.

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And so whatever the markers

were that that told the church,

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Hey, this is just for you guys.

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Or this is not for everybody,

whatever it may be.

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That letter was different from the others.

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And we know that because we do have

the other ones, we do have first

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Corinthians and second Corinthians.

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Those were preserved as

authoritative for us.

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So if you've ever wondered.

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Uh, what gives there, w w what about

the, the missing letters and were

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there other letters that Paul wrote

that we don't have the answers?

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Yes, but we have the ones that God

wanted us to have that the early church

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recognized as authoritative, that

Paul himself said, yes, this is good.

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You should circulate these letters.

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Because remember Paul's writing

these letters and then still

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interacting with everybody.

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So if there was a letter that that should

have been circulated, that wasn't being

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circulated, Paul could have stopped

down and said, Hey guys, you need

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to get this one in, in the rotation.

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I met for this one to go out further.

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So we can have trust all that to say

for many reasons, but this is part

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of it in the Bible that we have.

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First Corinthians though.

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First letter written.

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Again, during this third missionary

journey while he's an emphasis.

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Uh, written to the church in Corinth,

the first three verses chapter one, his

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greeting, he opens up and greets them.

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Uh, similar to a lot of the greetings that

we've read in the past to other churches,

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but what is, what is of note in verse two

to the church of God that is in Corinth?

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To those sanctified in Christ Jesus

called to be saints together with

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those who in every place, call

upon the name of our Lord Jesus

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Christ, both their load and ours.

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Paul's writing to Christians is

what I want you to note there.

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Th to those who are sanctified

in Christ called to be saints.

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There's going to be some hard

things that he writes about here.

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And not everybody in the Corinthian

church were believers, but he's

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going to make some general statements

about the church in Corinth.

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And it's important to remember

that he's writing to those that he.

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Believes are truly Christians and

that's going to come into bear.

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As we get into the letter itself

versus 49, he gives thanks for, uh,

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this church in these believers, but

specifically for God's provision for them.

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And so it's different than Desola

Nikah and the believers there were,

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Paul was really grateful for them and

their faith and the fact that they were

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loving so well and Excel still more.

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Here.

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This is Paul Moore saying,

Hey, you know what?

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I'm thankful for what God has

done for you to this church.

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I'm thankful for the way that

God has provided for you.

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Verse five in every way

you were enriched in him.

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In all speech and knowledge, even as

the testimony about Christ was confirmed

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among you, you were not lacking any gift.

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And so Paul is, is commending

more of God's provision for

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them than he is saying anything.

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Uh, about the believers there in Corinth

verses 10 through 17, we get the problem

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introduced right off the bat here.

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And the problem is that division had

crept into the church and the division

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was taking the form of spiritual cliques.

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There were some that were, uh, aligning

with Paul others with a policy, some

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of CFUs, which is the name for Peter.

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There.

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And, and they were saying,

Hey, this is our guy.

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We're following him.

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We're following him.

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We're following him.

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And it may be in, and I think verses

14 through 17 may allude to this.

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It may be that these factions

were based on who baptized them.

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And so, because Paul's going to

argue in verse 14, he's going to say,

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look, I thank God that I baptized.

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None of you.

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Except Crispus and Gaius so that

none of you were baptized in my name.

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And so it may be again, that they're

lining up behind these, these

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different figureheads saying, well,

this person baptized me, this person

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baptized me, this person baptized me.

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And Paul's point here is this is wrong.

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You shouldn't be doing that.

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By the way sidebar here for those that

believe in baptismal regeneration, that is

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that baptism is necessary for salvation.

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They're going to have a difficult

time with what Paul says in verse 14.

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I thank God that I baptized

none of you except Crispus.

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And Gaius now.

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If baptism was necessary for salvation,

then Paul would have left out a

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key factor in sharing the gospel

and seeing people come to faith.

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And I don't think that Paul would

have been thankful for that.

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Had that been something necessary

for us to be saved, baptism immensely

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important, but we have to separate it.

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It's not necessary.

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For our salvation.

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And I think Paul's words here at the end

of first Corinthians chapter one, or in

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least this section of first Corinthians

chapter one verses 14 through 17.

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Suggest that and imply that.

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For well from here, he

goes on to talk about.

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Uh, the power of the gospel and

really, uh, from here all the way down.

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Into chapter three, he's going

to be talking about this.

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He's going to be talking about

this idea of the sufficiency of

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the gospel and the wisdom of God.

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And he's going to be pointing away

from men in, remember those, this dev.

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These divisions were forming and

formulating around personality.

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He's going to be discouraging

that and pointing instead to

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the power of the gospel itself.

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And so in chapter one here verses 18

through 31, that's what he's talking

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about is that the power they're in and.

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There's so many famous sections in here

are well-known versus, uh, in here that,

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that he talks about here, verse 23 or 22,

th the Jews demand signs, the Greeks seek

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wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.

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A stumbling block to the Jews.

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Because the Messiah wasn't supposed

to die and folly to the Gentiles

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because the Gentiles would say,

who were ships, a dead savior.

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But verse 24 to those who are called

both of the Jews and the Greeks Christ,

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the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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And so Paul is saying, look, yes,

we understand that the message

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that we proclaim is going to appear

foolish to the lost, but to you.

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Who are saved, it's going to be

the power of God for salvation.

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And the reason being is found in

verse 29 so that no human being

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might boast in the presence of God.

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This is not a manmade gospel.

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This is not something that's come from the

wisdom of men, similar to what Paul argued

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in Galatians in the opening chapter.

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There.

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This is from God and it's his wisdom.

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And his wisdom is designed to look

foolish to the world so that no,

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one's going to be able to boast

and say, look at me, I'm so smart.

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I thought my way into Christianity,

I learned my way into Christianity.

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Now the gospel is meant to cause us to

say the only reason why anyone would

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believe this is if God did a work in their

heart to cause them to believe in it.

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Why?

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So that no one might boast

in the presence of God.

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Chapter two.

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He goes on and continues to build

on this idea in the first five

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verses of the power of the gospel.

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Paul says, I decided to

know nothing among you.

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Verse two, except Jesus

Christ and him crucified.

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That's the message that

you needed to know.

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You didn't need to know.

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My learning background in Judaism,

you didn't need to know about.

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All the intricacies of the Greek language

or the Hebrew language you needed to

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know Jesus Christ and him crucified.

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That's what I determined to

know among you, because that's,

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what has the power to save?

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Why verse five again?

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So that your faith might not rest

in the wisdom of men, but in the

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power of God, that's what God's

after with the gospel is to Rob us.

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Of our boast in, in instead.

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Remind us that it's all

about Christ from here.

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Then in verses six down through 16, we

get an interesting section one that I'm

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going to talk about on Sunday, actually,

as we get into our text in John's gospel.

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Um, Here in basically Paul's argument

is this and the rest of chapter two,

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he says, along with receiving the

gospel, you received the spirit and

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the spirit then is the key to you.

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Continuing to understand and

grow in wisdom and maturity.

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He says, look, we're not saying

wisdom is, is bad and evil and wicked.

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We just want the right kind of wisdom.

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Verse six.

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Among the mature.

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We do impart wisdom though.

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It is not a wisdom of this age, right?

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So we saying, we're going

to impart wisdom to you.

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Don't get us wrong.

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Wisdom is important.

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Just not the type of wisdom

you think is important.

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Verse seven, we in party secret

and hidden wisdom of God.

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Oh, hold on.

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Backup.

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That that starts to make us

feel a little uncomfortable.

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What do you mean a secret wisdom of God?

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Is this some sort of mysticism?

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Is this some sort of, you know, hidden.

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I have to, to reach a certain level

or certain, you know, you think of

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Christian science and their Thetas are.

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I in, in, in reaching

different levels and all that.

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There's none of that here.

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That's not what he's talking about.

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It's secret and it's hidden

because it's only understandable

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by those who have the spirit.

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And so we understand them because

we have received the spirit.

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He says in verse 11, who knows a

person's thoughts, except the spirit

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of that person, which is in him.

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So also no one comprehends the

thoughts of God, except the spirit

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of God will guess who we have.

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We have verse 12, the spirit of God.

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So that we might freely understand

the things given to us by God.

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We're going to understand the wisdom

of God, even after we're saved,

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we're going to grow in the wisdom

of God is what he's saying here,

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because we have the spirit of God.

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And what is Paul's job.

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And even today, what is a

pastor's job in some regards?

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Verse 13, interpreting spiritual

truths to those who are spiritual.

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So when we have the spirit of

God, we're able to understand

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the hidden and secret things.

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They don't appear to us as hidden and

secret things because we have the spirit.

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He's going to say in second Corinthians

chapter four, that the God of the

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world has blinded the eyes of the

laws to keep them from seeing the

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light of the knowledge of Jesus.

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Things that to us seem so plain are

only playing because of what he's saying

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here in first Corinthians chapter two.

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Because you have the spirit.

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So interpreting spiritual truths

to those who are spiritual.

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Look for.

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Verse 14, the natural person that

is the person that's not saved.

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That's not a Christian.

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Does not accept the things of the spirit

of God for they are foolishness to him.

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And he is not able to understand

them because why they are spiritually

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discerned, meaning they're

discern, they are understood by.

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The spirit.

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And so chapter two, we're going

to grow in wisdom, but we're only

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going to do so by the spirit.

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And the spirit is going to impart.

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Uh, spiritual, trues to us.

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We're going to be able to understand

them because of his work in our lives.

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Uh, we get into chapter three, then.

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The chapter three, Paul

says, Hey, but you know what?

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I wish I could have taken you deeper

into some of these spiritual things.

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But Paul says I could not

address you as spiritual people.

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But he says as people of the flesh,

or as he says, infants in Christ.

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So it's important that he still

says that they are in Christ.

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And that's why I stressed at the beginning

of this in first Corinthians chapter

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one that he's writing to Christians.

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Uh, because he says in verse

three, you are still of the flesh.

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You're not a spiritual people, verse

one, but people of the flesh, verse

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three, you are still of the flesh,

but yet you are infants in Christ.

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He's indictment here.

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He's not that they're unbelievers,

at least not all of them.

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There are some there that

are unbelievers, undoubtedly.

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And not that they're, they're

all unbelievers though.

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It, but rather that they

are immature in their faith.

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And in that that's a problem that they

should have been further along, similar

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to what the writer of Hebrews says when

he says by now you ought to be teachers,

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but I have to go back and give you milk.

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That's what Paul says in verse two.

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First Corinthians three, two.

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I, I fed you with milk, not solid food.

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And so here, he's saying, you know what?

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I'm, I'm, I'm disappointed.

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I wanted to teach you more, but I

couldn't because you're still fleshly.

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You're still trying to live in the world.

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We're going to get to that in John 17.

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Um, where Jesus is getting a call us to

be in the world, but not of the world.

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He Paul here's basically saying you're,

you're blurring those lines too much.

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You need to separate yourself in grow.

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A maturity and leave the flesh,

the old man that the nature.

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Of of our, our corruption behind and

into to grow spiritually speaking.

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Well, he goes on and talks about that

growth after this, he says, look, let's,

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let's get back to the what's causing

all the divisions here again with you.

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And that is a policy or Paul

or Peter, or who, who are you

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going to line that line up with?

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Uh, Paul says, who are any of us?

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Nothing.

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We're just servants.

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God is the one verse six.

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I planted a Pollis water.

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God gave the growth.

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So that neither he knew

plants nor he knew why.

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Neither he knew.

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Why can I not say that?

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I see.

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The pastor is not here to bail me out.

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So neither he who plants nor there it is.

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He who waters is anything but

only God who gives the growth.

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So you want to grow.

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God is going to be the one that's going to

cause the growth, but we have to be able

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to, to grow by exposing ourselves to the

things, the spirit, the word of God and

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let the word of God by the spirit of God.

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Produced change in our lives.

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What's that going to do, then

that's going to produce in us a

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life of obedience, a life of growth,

and he uses two metaphors here.

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He uses the field metaphor that

that's what we've been talking about.

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God causes the growth, like the

growth in a plant, a seedling.

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And then he uses a building metaphor

and he says, you know what, Paul?

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He says, I'm not the one

that laid the foundation.

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:

And now you church are going

to build upon that foundation.

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:

And he says on the day of judgment,

when you stand before Christ,

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the, that what you built upon.

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Uh, the foundation is going to be

Jesus, but, but the things that you

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built upon that foundation, those

are going to be judged at that point.

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And some of you are going to receive

reward for, for building strong

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:

upon that foundation, growing in

your depth and your, your spiritual

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:

understanding and your maturity.

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Others.

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He said, are there.

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Materials are just going to burn up and

yes, they're still going to be saved

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in the end, but only as through fire

that's first Corinthians three 15.

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If any is one's work is burned up.

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He will suffer loss though.

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He himself will be saved,

but only as through fire.

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And then he gets out in any, he uses

another analogy here and that is

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of the temple, the temple metaphor.

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And it's a, you plural in verse 16.

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So he says, do you not know

that you are God's temple now?

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That is y'all.

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Do y'all not know that y'all

are God's temple and that

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God's spirit dwells in you.

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And so here.

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Uh, when we're talking about

my body's a temple of the Lord.

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Okay.

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We'll get to first Corinthians

six, I think tomorrow.

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But here, he's talking specifically

about the church and he's saying quit

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with the divisiveness in the church.

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Fashioning separating, clicking.

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Uh, off into your groups in the

church because you are God's temple

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and God's spirit dwells in you.

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As a, as a community, as a

body of believers, don't do

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:

harm to the temple of God.

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Don't destroy God's temple.

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That's what he says in verse 17, because

God's not going to look kindly upon that.

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And then finally in verses 18

through 23, this is the bookend

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:

of this whole thing about division

and divisiveness in lining up.

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He says, look, let no one deceive

himself, or think that he's wise

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in this age, let him become a

fool that he might become wise.

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And so Paul's concluding that

argument with a lot of the same thing.

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That he said before.

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All right.

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:

Finally, first Corinthians chapter four.

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The ministry of the apostles

is the title here in the ESV.

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The first eight verses basically what

Paul is saying here is, Hey, you know

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what be content with what you have and

be careful of criticizing the servants

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:

of the Lord in a spirit of pride, rather

than receiving the good things given to

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:

you by the Lord, through their ministry.

448

:

Paul saying why you want to criticize me

or Pollis or Timothy or Silas or anything?

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:

Hey, be careful not to judge

those that are there to impart

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:

spiritual things to you.

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Uh, this is different when he sinned not

to judge, this is not the same as, as

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:

confronting her brother or sister in sin.

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:

He's going to get there.

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And in tomorrow's reading that

we should do those things.

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:

And that there's a problem when we don't.

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:

Instead, what he's saying here is, Hey,

we need to be careful not to be overly

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:

critical of those that are there to impart

spiritual truths to us and our, we need to

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:

be discerning like the Berean believers.

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:

But we also need to be grateful for what

the Lord is doing through the servants

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:

who he's putting in our lives that are

conveying these spiritual truths to us.

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:

Verses nine through 13.

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:

He says that the treatment,

the apostles had endured for

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:

the good of the local churches.

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:

Uh, including the one there in court is

what he's talking about in these things.

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:

He's saying, look, we, we have,

we are fools for Christ's sake.

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We've suffered for you.

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:

And we've done this.

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:

Why for your good we've, we've done

this so that you might be built up.

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:

And Paul's not saying that

to pat himself on the back.

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:

He's just reminding them

of this, these realities.

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:

And then in verses 14 through 16.

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:

Um, he's not looking to sh to shame

them here, but rather to remind them

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:

of his great love for them and the

fact that he's their spiritual father.

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:

He says that in, in, uh, Uh,

verse 15 for though you have

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:

countless guides in Christ.

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:

You do not have many fathers.

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:

I became your father in Christ.

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:

I care about you.

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:

As a father does his children

because I'm your spiritual father.

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:

He's reminding the Corinthians in

a hard letter for them to read.

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:

Where's confronting a lot in them.

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:

He's reminding them, Hey,

look, I love you as a father.

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:

You need to know that and understand that.

484

:

And then he says, this is why I sent you

Timothy that's back in acts chapter 19.

485

:

We just read about that

a couple of days ago.

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:

And then finally in verse 21, Paul

urges them to respond to the letter in

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:

repentance this initial letter, because

he doesn't want to have to come to

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:

them and bear the rod of discipline.

489

:

When he visits them, he wants to

come with a spirit of gentleness.

490

:

So he's encouraging them towards that

end here at the end of chapter four.

491

:

All right.

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:

So he's opening up there in first

Corinthians one, one through four, he's

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:

covering a lot of initial problems.

494

:

The main one being the divisiveness, the

division in the church, he's saying, Hey,

495

:

quit, fractionalizing quit, splitting up.

496

:

Remember, God is the one

that's causing the growth.

497

:

We're all here to pursue him to be more

like him as a result of all of this.

498

:

He's the one that causes the growth.

499

:

And so he's trying to unify

everybody behind that main idea.

500

:

It's not about the wisdom of men.

501

:

The wisdom of men is foolishness to God.

502

:

The foolishness of God is

the wisdom that saves us.

503

:

And so we need to be

reminded of these things.

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:

Let's pray.

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:

Got thanks for this day.

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:

Uh, keep us grateful people like we

talked about at the beginning of this

507

:

episode, keep us grateful for all the

good things that you've done in our life.

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:

And we thank you so much

for your kindness to us.

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:

We just pray that we would

have a great weekend as we

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:

roll into tomorrow and Sunday.

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:

And just, or, uh, yeah.

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:

What is today.

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:

I'm trying to think off the top of

my head as I'm praying about this.

514

:

I, um, this is what happens when

we, yeah, I think today is Friday.

515

:

So we just pray that for a great week,

as we roll into two this weekend and

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:

ask that you'd be pleased with us as

we prepare well for worship on Sunday.

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:

And we just looked forward to that.

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:

And so thank you for this time.

519

:

Again, we pray for pastor Ron and

his family to have a great time.

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:

Uh, on this vacation that they're on.

521

:

We thank you for all this in Jesus name.

522

:

Amen.

523

:

All right.

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:

Y'all keep her in your Bibles

tune in again tomorrow for another

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:

edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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:

But.

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