1 Corinthians

Relevant instruction for the modern church from an ancient church’s example. Come and learn what God intended for His church, the Gospel in the believer’s life, and His calling upon us to walk in holiness.

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Sermon Preview for Sunday, April 14, 2024

Jesus’ words to Nicodemus remain among the most well known in all of the Scriptures. It is in this dialogue that Jesus declares the Gospel. God sent His only Son so whoever believes in the Son may have everlasting life. In this same conversation with Nicodemus Jesus tells him unless somebody is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God because that which is flesh is flesh, but that which is spirit is spirit and the Kingdom of God is for those in the flesh who are born of the Spirit of God. Paul understood this teaching very clearly, in fact, Paul was faithful to teach this concept throughout several of his letters. 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 is one place where we see very clearly Paul’s discussion of the comparison between the “natural” and the “spiritual”. Paul takes the difference between the flesh and the spirit all the way back to the first man created, Adam. Every human being is born of the first man Adam, which is to say we are all born of the flesh, we are all natural men just by the fact of our own existence. Jesus’ point in John 3, which is Paul’s point as well, is that only those who are also born of the Spirit of God are in the second man, Jesus Christ. Those who are filled with the Spirit of God, who have confessed and repented of our sin, and who believe Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior are “born again”, Paul calls us, “spiritual”. These are fundamental realities, when one is born of the Spirit, they are led by and directed by the Holy Spirit which means others who are not are unable to discern what is going on. We operate in the leading of the Holy Spirit of God, and through Him truly we have been given the very mind of Jesus Christ. 

Sermon Preview for Sunday, April 7, 2024

One way to try to get out from underneath the ultimate authority of God is to deny His existence. This is the claim of the atheist, there is no God. However, another way of getting out from underneath His authority in a less obvious and combative form is to believe God is anything and everything, He is whoever anyone would say He is. This undermines the specific definition of His character and nature clearly revealed to us in His Word and renders God effectively non-existent because no clear definition can be offered. When God is everything, He is nothing. This brings one to the same conclusion as the atheist. May it never be the case among us, God not only exists but is the greatest reality we could ever know! He is alive, He is the author of life itself and is actively moving right now. The Holy Spirit of God guided Paul as he wrote, and the Holy Spirit and Paul guide us now in God’s revelation of Himself to us. When God speaks, He clearly defines who He is and what He has done. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” 1 Corinthians 2:12. For Paul, to be “spiritual” didn’t mean having a spiritual connection to anything and everything, but it meant one who is led by the Holy Spirit of God specifically. Paul means all things where the Holy Spirit moves, speaks, fills, and works are spiritual because they are from the Holy Spirit.  Are you? Have you surrendered to Christ, been reunited with the Father, and been filled with the Holy Spirit? This is the only way to know the Only One, True God and worship Him alone.