Two Brothers Building up the Body

  We’ll be starting chapter 3 this post so here are the first 8 verses: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it . Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even, as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. I had mentioned in the last post that this section rightly sta...

  Until It Is Finished The evils going on in Sodom in the days of Lot were so great that God could no longer allow them to continue (Gen 18:20)…something had to be done. God’s patience toward man DOES have a limit and when that limit is reached, His righteousness demands action in the form of justice over the wicked. In Genesis 19 we find God’s perfect, righteous justice finally coming to the wicked place and people of Sodom. When it came, it was fierce. It was an expression of His just anger on unrepentant evil. Romans 1:18 says that His wrath will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God’s wrath was just because He had given those people knowledge of their sin and time to turn away from it. Genesis 19:24-25 reads: Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. Only once the entire ...

  When Sin Delays the Promise Abraham was a faithful servant of Jehova and God loved him for it. He followed God’s ways and waited, with hopeful anticipation, for God to fulfill His promises. However, in Genesis 12 and 20, we find him presenting Sarah as his sister rather than his wife because he fears for his own life. This “little” deception in his life prevents him from receiving the full blessing God intends. Abraham and Sarah find themselves in Egypt, and Abraham fears that he will be killed because of Sarah’s beauty. So, they make an agreement, out of fear for his life, to present themselves as brother and sister. Sarah is then taken to present herself before Pharaoh. However, before Pharaoh can take her as his own wife, God intervenes in the form of a plague against the Egyptians. When Abraham is called to make an account of it, he reveals the full truth about Sarah being his wife. The Egyptian king restores Sarah to Abraham and they go on their way. It is worthwhile to n...

  We kind of stopped in the middle of the thought last time in 1 Corinthians 2 so we’ll be picking up in verse 9: but just as it is written, “ Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard , And which have not entered the heart of man , All that God has prepared for those who love Him .” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words . But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them...

  Come and Dine "Then the LORD appeared to him...so he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate." (Genesis 18:1,8) Sharing a meal together is one of the finest expressions of friendship and fellowship. There is something about eating together that draws hearts closer, that transforms acquaintances into companions. In Genesis 18, the LORD appears to Abraham in the form of three men, and Abraham's immediate response is to prepare a feast for them. He hurries to select a tender calf, instructs Sarah to make fresh bread, and personally serves his guests. This was no mere obligation—it was an expression of the intimate communion Abraham desired with God. This pattern holds true throughout all of Scripture. Centuries later, the risen Christ would stand at another door and extend a similar invitation: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,...

  C ontinuing in 1 Corinthians, you’ll remember last time that we finished up chapter 1 where Paul concluded that section with a scathing rebuke for the worldly philosophers and Jewish scribes trying to find a way to God apart from Jesus Christ. He mentioned that God had caused the foolish and base things of the world to shame the wise, and that the message of the cross was foolishness to them who were perishing. He had also written in verse 17 that Christ had sent him “to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.” He opens chapter 2 with the same sentiment, writing:      And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom,         proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you                except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in f...