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Tag: corinthians

The House You Build

Isaiah 66:1-2

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?

All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.

But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you
and cast you out for my name’s sake
have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified,
that we may see your joy’;
but it is they who shall be put to shame.

15 “For behold, the Lord will come in fire,
and his chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,
and by his sword, with all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

Our Lord is a consuming fire.

He will burn away into flames of fire the chaff of our sins.

He will send away into the darkness of Hades the souls who refuse His refining Word.

What does the Lord require?

Matthew 13
English Standard Version (ESV)

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables…

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…

… one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

… one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Is your heart the good soil of your soul? What is the fruit of your receiving the Gospel of Christ Jesus?

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also…

Satan has been sowing seeds of wickedness among the good seed of the Gospel for two millennia beyond the Cross and Resurrection.

Is the time of harvest not certainly near?

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

“… what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?

But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple…

1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

May 23, 2014
The Ascension

Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The crucified and risen Christ Jesus walked with, ate with, and instructed the disciples for more than a month.

We know that Jesus spent these precious forty days not only instructing the Apostles how to take the Gospel into all the world, but also instructing other true disciples of the early church.

1 Corinthians 15: … Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time…

Jesus’ instruction to the Apostles, now to be led in unity of Christ’s purpose by Peter, would have been frequent and private as He had done throughout His three-year incarnate mission leading to the Cross.

These same Apostles had witnessed Jesus transfigured and standing with Moses and Elijah. These same Apostles had witnessed the love and power of hundreds of miracles. These same Apostles had witnessed Jesus (and then Peter briefly) walking on the Sea of Galilee!

The Apostles, disciples of the Way, Jews and Romans had witnessed His horrific crucifixion; and now more than five hundred had witnessed Jesus’ glorious resurrection.

Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

The Power and Majesty of God Almighty: once again evident to mere mortal men.

Returning to Luke’s description of Jesus’ ascension in his first scroll:

Luke 24:

48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.

51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.

May 9, 2014
Is Your Faith Futile?

If in Christ we have hoped in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:19

Walk up to an unbeliever and tell them, ‘Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.’

What will they think? What will they say?

Will an unbeliever have hope in the resurrection? It is an issue that Paul addresses in writing to the church at Corinth.

We have just celebrated ‘Resurrection Sunday,’ which the world knows as Easter from ‘traditions;’ however Paul addressed the same questions one might ask you: questions like, ‘Is your faith futile?’

Isn’t your faith in the resurrection of a man from the dead (Jesus OR you or me…) rather useless and impractical?

In a word, NO. Paul’s missing question (for unbelievers) would be:

Do you believe in God?

(Remember that Paul is writing to the church. We believe in God. Right?

IF yes; then all things are possible with God. [Matthew 19:26, Mark 9:23, Mark 10:27]

The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15 (English Standard Version)

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

So IF you believe in God, AND IF you believe the Bible is God’s word; do you believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead?

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

STOP here for a moment. Do you believe in God? YES. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? NO.

(This is what some believe who claim God, but refuse to believe that God would send his only Son to the Cross as a living, human sacrifice for your sins and for mine.) Here is what unbelievers (and some with false claims as christians believe:

NO, God created man to live and die. Live for this day as God would wish.

NO judgment, NO hell, no accountability for sin beyond the grave… WE believe in a God of history, but not a God of the present (or of our future). We may believe in a Jesus of history, too. But our soul dies with our body. No resurrection.

Paul goes on about the gospel (Good News), as if it too were a lie.

15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

It always comes back to that issue of SIN, doesn’t it?

Does GOD require a sacrifice for sin? Shall a mere man suffer consequence for sin at the hand of God?

Is God just? OR is God merciful to all (with justice for none)?

IF there is NO resurrection and NO eternal life; THEN life has no more meaning than a measurement of a man’s time and death no more meaning than the end of a meaningless life.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Is there no difference in the soul of a Christian and the soul of one who will not believe God?

Do the dead lie in the ground with lifeless souls rotting with bones and flesh?

OR

Does the soul find rest? Does the soul find sleep? (While the seed of flesh and blood waits in the ground for the germination of new Life of the resurrection?

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

And now Paul refers to our sin, for which Christ paid the ransom of His Life on the Cross.

21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Yes, the Resurrection of Christ Jesus is Good News! He IS the Lord over life, as He IS the Lord over death. The Cross would not be necessary without sin; as the resurrection would not be possible without Christ.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

HE IS RISEN! Our faith in Christ Jesus as our Lord stands on the proof and evidence of Scripture. Our faith in the resurrection is not in vain; for we are not our flesh and bones, but living souls: born again in Christ Jesus our risen Lord!

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers (and beloved sisters in the Lord), be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

April 21, 2014