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Love others more than doing our own thing. 1 Cor 8

Be careful and thoughtful not to do something that might damage those still growing in their faith.

Paul begins chapter 8 by making an incisive comment about the difference between knowledge and love;

Knowledge puffs up, but LOVE BUILDS UP. 1 Cor 8:1

God sometimes says a lot in a very short sentence! Knowledge is something we accumulate/grow in ourselves. Love is given to others, not for self, not self-centred.

Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God. 1 Cor 8:2,3

There is a big difference between head knowledge and heart love. Just because we know something doesn’t mean we’re doing it in our lives, whereas love often demands commitment and often sacrifice. ‘God knows those who love Him’, as opposed to those who are casually interested. How much do we really love God? The Laodicean Church, the last Church in Rev 3 was judged for being lukewarm, it may represent the last church of this age.

Paul’s instruction to the Church is to be careful what they do in front of weaker believers, eating meat sacrificed to idols. Don’t be ‘puffed up because we know something’ won’t harm us, it may damage another who doesn’t have our understanding.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. … so this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

Paul is calling for the church not to recklessly exercise their rights and hurt or destroy their brothers and sisters’ faith. We need to love those growing in their faith and not do anything to hurt them(their conscience). Christ died for them and loves them as His children.

Remember, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. It’s our privilege to help build up others in Christ’ body.

God bless and keep you today.

 

 

The immoral environment in Corinth was a big problem for the Church there and in chapter 7, Paul responds to a letter(it’s often wisdom to wait until we’re asked for our opinion!) and gives some guidance regarding marriage. Should people get married? What do they do if one becomes a believer? Can believers remarry?

Paul is glad to be single and to be fully devoted to serving the Lord, 1 Cor 7:35, but he doesn’t condemn those who want to be married, better to be married than to burn with passion in this promiscuous city/society. 1 Cor 7:9

If a husband or wife becomes a believer, they should stay with their spouse if the other is willing to live with them.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean but as it is, they are Holy. 1 Cor 7:14

This is a powerful verse! The believer carries the Spirit of God and they sanctify their spouse and children. God sees the whole family through the believing spouse and treats them as Holy.

In the Spreaker broadcasts we have been going through 2 Chr 8:11, Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife, out of the King David’s palace because anywhere the Ark of God had been was holy. Same truth, expressed in (OT) Old Testament times. God’s presence sanctifies, makes Holy.

But if the unbeliever leaves, let them do so. A believer is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do we know whether we will save our spouse?  Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to them and to which God has called them this is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 1 Cor 7:15

It’s better for believers to stay married if possible and to live in peace, but if the unbelieving partner decides to leave, let them. Unfortunately this does happen today and some believers immediately pay a high price for coming to know Jesus, family breakup.

Paul states three times in this chapter that each of us should remain in the place God’s called us to. V17, 20, 23. I believe the context clearly shows Paul is talking about the believer’s marital status when they come to the Lord, don’t break up the family because of our faith.

He says believers shouldn’t even worry about being slaves, because of our freedom in Christ, but should get their freedom if they can. ‘You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men’. Once again Solomon didn’t enslave any Israelites, God’s people in the OT, 2 Chr 8:9. It’s said that the OT is a shadow of the New.

Paul concludes that a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives(though not for adultery), but when he dies she can marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord! Getting married should be to a believer, not the same as coming to faith in a marriage. Amos 3:3 says, ‘how can two walk together unless they be agreed’? It’s much easier and more fulfilling for a believer to marry a believer, Paul gives wise advice.

God bless and keep you today.

 

The body(our body) is for the Lord. 1 Cor 6:13

In the last part of chapter 6 Paul is telling the Church that our physical bodies need to be kept Holy for the Lord, they’re His, they were ‘bought for a price’. Corinth was a port city and an army garrison, also Venus/Aphrodite worship took place there, so promiscuity was widespread (same as society today).

‘Everything is permissible for me… but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me… but I will not be mastered by anything’. 1 Cor 6:12 Paul begins by expressing his freedom in Christ but immediately says that he won’t be mastered by anything(fight the good fight of faith).

Three times in these last 9 verses Paul uses the little phrase, ‘Do you not know?’and tells the Church some significant truths. Someone said that when Paul asks the Church do you not know, invariably we don’t know!

V15, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself?

V16, Do you not know that he unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh “. But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

V19, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.

Rom 12:1,  Therefore, I urge you, brethren, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…’ God wants our bodies because our souls and spirits are in them, if He has our bodies then He has us.

Derek Prince wrote a ‘Confession for Overcomers’, which includes two of the truths Paul stated in these verses.

My body is a temple for the Holy Spirit(V19), redeemed, cleansed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. My members, the parts of my body, are instruments of righteousness, yielded to God for His service and for His glory. The devil has no place in me, no power over me, no unsettled claims against me. All has been settled by the blood of Jesus. I overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb and by the word of my testimony and I love not my life until the death. My body is for the Lord and the Lord is for my body(V 13).

You may want to speak this confession out over your own lives(God’s word never returns to Him void but always accomplishes what He desires) and contact Derek Prince Ministries which have this and other confessions on printed bookmarks/cards.

God bless and keep you today and everyday.

 

 

 

David feared the Lord more than he feared his enemies!

Three times David, the man of action, stayed/withheld his hand.

David was being pursued by King Saul and he told Saul’s son Jonathan, ‘Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death’. 1 Sam 20:3 David was in danger for his very life, being hunted by a jealous king who wanted to kill him and abort God’s calling on his life to be the next ruler of Israel. Twice the Lord gave Saul into his hands, once in the cave 1 Sam 24 and then again in the camp 1 Sam 26. David had a good reason for refusing to harm Saul, ‘Don’t destroy him! Who can lay and all the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless’? 1 Sam 26:9 David recognised God’s calling on the life of Saul and refused to harm him. We need to heed this just as much today on the servants of God.

‘As surely as the Lord lives…  The Lord Himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed’. 1 Sam 26:10

The other time when the now king David, refused to take things into his own hands occurred when he was once again fleeing for his life, from his own son, Absalom. A man called Shimei, a Benjamite from the tribe of Saul, ‘cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king’s officials with  stones, though ALL THE TROOPS AND SPECIAL GUARD WERE ON DAVID’S RIGHT AND LEFT(David and true servants and children of God, like Elisha, have UNSEEN PROTECTION).

It’s interesting that Shimei accuses David of bloodshed three times in verses 7, 8, the reason God refused to allow David to build HisTemple. Abishi wanted to kill Shimei there and then but David rebuked Him.

But the king said, ‘What do you and I have in common, … if he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David, who can ask, why do you do this’? … leave him alone; let him curse for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will see my distress and REPAY ME with good for the cursing I am receiving today’. 2 Sam 16:10

David refused to take the life of the man who was publicly abusing him, instead he suffered the abuse, even as king and LOOKED TO THE LORD FOR A BLESSING FROM IT. There may be times when we will suffer abuse and humiliation, but even in such situations we can ask the Lord to protect and vindicate us. Jesus asked the Father on the cross to forgive His abusers and not to hold it against them. Turning to God and not overreacting in difficult circumstances is not easy, but God may see and impart a blessing instead. Man doesn’t have the final say, God does.

May the Lord bless and keep you.

Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed. Isa 49:23

Such a small little phrase at the end of a verse in Isaiah 49, but what a gem of a promise from the Lord! It can also be read, ‘those who wait for Me will not be disappointed’. So God’s promise is to those who are hoping and waiting that He will come through for them.

A brief romantic tale from my life’s journey, arranged by a wonderful God.

Some time ago I awoke one Saturday morning, ten days before I was due to be married and immediately had a negative thought, ‘it’s ten days before your wedding and you’ve nowhere booked for the honeymoon’. My wife to be, Mary(now with the Lord in Glory) had stopped asking me if I’d booked anyplace yet, like a lost cause. Instantly the words above came to mind, ‘you won’t be disappointed’ and I was at peace. It was as if a conversation was taking place in my head and I was listening to it. The first thought came with fear and doubt and the response brought hope and peace, the Spirit was so good to me. I knew that God had spoken to me, but I didn’t know where it was in my Bible, had to look for it.

I’d written a letter(no email then, only snail mail) to a Hotel in the picturesque Lake District in the north west of England and told them we would be in their area and would like to stay there. I told them my budget for the stay of four nights would be a certain sum, all that I could afford then. At the beginning of the following week, now only a week before the planned wedding, I received a letter from the Hotel saying they had one ‘superior’ room left(God is a big God, better than we think)for a little bit more than my price. I rang them and booked room No. 1, with God His children are always first, we get His best, if we LET HIM CHOOSE!

That wasn’t the whole story, we’d booked a ferry from N.Ireland across to Scotland and had to drive down to the Lake District. We’d actually got a free five day ferry trip because of a previous trip with the company. We wouldn’t be there until after midnight and the Hotel would be locked up. I talked to a manager and they agreed to leave a front door key outside for us, total strangers, to let ourselves in and a key for our room on the reception counter. We drove for 3 to 4 hours in pouring rain, let ourselves into a strange Hotel and found our superior room, thank God.

I’ve shared personal testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of a loving God, how He spoke to me and encouraged me at a key time when the enemy wanted to sow fear and doubt. How He blessed us with the best room and even gave us favour, as total strangers to get into a Hotel. God’s best comes to those who wait for Him. What He did for me, He wants to do for you and all His children.

God bless and keep you today and every day.

 

 

 

Handling life’s dilemmas God’s way? I suspect the approach the majority Christians take to life is try and sort things out for themselves and if situations become difficult, then pray.

The third issue Paul raises with the Corinthian Church is serious disputes between believers.

If any of you has a dispute with another, dare they take it before the ungodly for judgement instead of before the saints? 1 Cor 6:1

Paul immediately challenges them about the way they resolve their internal disputes. Do they take them to men’s courts, before those who don’t know God, to have them resolved? The courts of men do have authority to enforce their decisions and at times that may be needed. However, the fact that believers even go there casts a slur on God’s people.

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even people of little account in the church! 1 Cor 6:2-4

Paul highlights the amazing future authority of believers, to judge the world and even angels! He’s telling them if they’re going to be responsible for doing this(may have come as a shock to them and us) can’t they sort out their own disputes. The Corinthian Church had many serious problems, but Paul is seeking to lift their eyes(and ours) to THEIR HIGH CALLING IN GOD!

The question is would we be willing to submit to God’s will even if we should suffer loss? Derek Prince and his wife once had a situation where they handed over a deposit to buy a house, to their own lawyer, a Spirit filled believer, who absconded with the money. They spoke to the other party selling the house who didn’t want to know, even though another expert lawyer told them since payment had been made it was the seller’s loss. Derek Prince said he had to get on his knees and do some serious praying. He decided that though it was a large financial loss, it would be more honouring to the God he served not to drag a fellow believer into court. He BORE THE LOSS as a servant of His Lord; not many people trust enough to take this higher path but God sees our hearts and rewards faith!

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God bless and keep you in these changing days.

There’s an old saying, it’s alright for the ship to be in the sea, but not for the sea to be in the ship …it will sink it! Similarly it’s alright for the Church to be in the world but not for the world to be in the church… it will also sink it!

Paul spent the first four chapters of his Corinthian letter speaking against party factions and judging leaders in a worldly way. Evidently his primary concern was to prevent divisions in the church.

Now he speaks of gross sexual immorality in the church. Corinth was a garrison town, a seaport and a strategic cross roads. It was also a centre for the worship of Venus(Aphrodite, goddess of love), a spirit over the area. BEWARE, a future one world religion may also present itself in the guise of love, but it will be FALSE LOVE, NOT THE LOVE OF GOD! Indeed it will exclude love for the one true God.

Paul rebukes the Corinthian Church because of the sin of immorality in their midst and their failure to take any action.

And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 1 Cor 5:2 The world, or the spirit operating in the world cannot be in the church.

Paul even goes so far as to tell them to ‘hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord’. 1 Cor 5:5

Paul goes on to tell them that yeast will spread through the whole batch of dough and sin, once it gets access, can therefore spread rapidly through the church. In one sense churches are perfect breeding grounds for the things of the spirit realm. People in churches are often seeking things of the Spirit and are open to spiritual encounters, but we just need to be wise and to make sure they’re of the Lord(His Spirit and His word).

Paul tells them this does not mean separating themselves from the people of the world, whom they should be seeking to bring to the Lord. These people who don’t know Jesus are immoral, greedy, swindlers and idolaters. ‘In that case you would have to leave the world’. They must however separate from those who call themselves Christians but are living away from the Lord.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you”. 1 Cor 5:13 There are five cross references from Deuteronomy to Paul’s statement, where God tells the Israelites to remove the evil from their midst, Deut 17:7, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21,24, 24:7. (Jesus replies to Satan’s three temptations were all from Deuteronomy).

We as individual believers and as churches need to be careful what and whom we allow to influence us eg television, internet, etc. But also those with whom we have fellowship. Just because something is acceptable or permissible for other believers, doesn’t mean it’s right for you and I. It’s really a question of how close we want to be to the Lord and the things of God.

God bless and keep you today.

 

 

Many teachers, NOT MANY FATHERS IN CHRIST.

I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as MY DEAR CHILDREN. Even though you have ten thousand guardians(or teachers) in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 1Cor 4:14

Paul appeals to the Corinthian Church to come back to the way of life he had lived out before them as their spiritual father. Are there things in our Christian walk today that weren’t there in the beginning? Things that may be holding us back? Many start well but it’s finishing well that counts.

Paul slightly ridicules them by saying how great they have become compared to his way of life as an apostle. He reminds them how much it has cost him and other apostles as servants of the Lord.

Already you have all you want! You have become kings — and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you… We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! You are honoured, we are dishonoured! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answered kindly.  Up to this moment we have become the scum of the Earth, the refugees of the world. 1 Cor 4:8, 10-14

Paul calls upon them as their spiritual father( the one who’s brought them life in Christ) to listen again to him and return to the life he gave them.

For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 1 Cor 4:17

The Corinthian Church was struggling, so Paul was sending his beloved son Timothy to help them. He had laid a good foundation but things had gotten out of order and he was sending Timothy to restore what they’d had in the beginning. Some of the Corinthians had become arrogant and Paul told them he could ‘come to them with a whip or in love with a gentle spirit’. 1 Cor 4:21

We are living in a day when God is trying to get all people, including the Church, to turn back to Him and away from wickedness. He wants to come gently because He’s a loving Father(God is a Father to us!) but we’ve got to heed what He’s saying. Now is a time to turn back to the Lord, just like Paul was trying to get the Corinthians to ‘shift’.

God bless and keep you today.

 

 

 

What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Cor 4:7

Paul continues in 1 Cor 4 talking about the ‘servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful’.

Paul says he cares little if he is judged by others, or in a court and though his conscience is clear he doesn’t even judge himself. ‘It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing until the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden…’.

Paul is saying that our judgements of people and situations may not be accurate because we and he didn’t know the whole truth. Paul wouldn’t even judge himself because there could be hidden things of which he wasn’t aware. The bottom line is that we should be very careful about judging our brothers and sisters! ‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry’. James 1:19

Paul has applied these things to himself and Apollos so that the Corinthians wouldn’t go beyond the scriptures and compare or judge one person against another. ‘For what do you have that you did not receive’?

This Truth is shown in two other scriptures;

John the Baptist telling his disciples(when Jesus was getting more attention than John, exactly the type of situation that Paul was talking about) that ‘we can receive only what is given us from Heaven’. John 3:27 We have all been given our portion and we need to give ourselves fully to serving there and not judging others. SERVE, DON’T JUDGE.

‘…  so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the GRACE GIVEN US. If a person’s gift is prophesying, let them use it in proportion to their faith. If it is serving, let them serve; if it is teaching, let them teach; if it is encouraging, let them encourage;  if it is contributing to the needs of others, let them GIVE GENEROUSLY; if it is leadership, let them GOVERN DILIGENTLY; if it is showing mercy, let them DO IT CHEERFULLY’. Rom 12:5-8 NIV

’…  so we, though many in number, compose one body in Christ and are all members of one another. Through the grace of God we have different gifts. If our gift is preaching, let us preach to the limit of our vision. If it is serving others let us concentrate on our service: if it is teaching let us give all we have to our teaching; and if our gift be the stimulating of the faith of others let us set ourselves to it. Let the one who is called to give, give freely; let the one who wields authority think of their responsibility; and let the sick visitor do your job cheerfully’. Rom 12:5-8 PHILLIPS

One body, many parts, for the good of all.

God bless and keep you today.

Do not deceive yourselves. 1 Cor 3:18

Paul told us in verse 10 that ‘he laid a foundation as an expert builder and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how they build’.

I once met a couple of Inuit men from Greenland, one was a bit older than the other. The senior brother Niels, worked as an apostle among his people(he also worked among the Inuit people in Canada); he started a new church every two years and trained a younger believer to take over after him as pastor. Paul and Niels always had someone building on the foundations they’d laid because they kept moving. Interestingly, Derek Prince stated that when an apostle stops travelling and settles, they revert to the position of a local elder, something to consider in today’s church where titles seem so prevalent.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones(first three were valuable), wood, hay or straw(last three poor value) their work would be shown for what it is, because the day would bring it to light. 1 Cor 3:12

Paul is saying that the building on the foundation can be of different quality but it will be revealed. The Lord identified problems in the majority of the churches in Revelation 2&3.

At various stages in a construction project different skills and trades will be needed as the work progresses. The people who build the walls or put on the roof won’t do the fit out. We need to realise that there will be different seasons to the work and be willing to adapt as the work develops.

Paul again tells the Corinthians not to judge the Church by the standards of this age. ‘Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age (today’s wisdom), you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight’.

So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

Paul wants to finish this once and for all, no more boasting about men(who are only servants v5). It’s a real blessing to have wise and Godly spiritual leaders, but Paul is pointing out that we limit(short change) ourselves when we boast about people. Everything is ours in Christ and we need to be focused on Him and not just people.

Remember Paul’s words, ‘Don’t deceive yourselves’. Our boast is to be in the Lord, He alone died for us all.

God bless and keep you today.