Tag: corinthians

  • Grace for the Everyday Sinner in 2024 C.E.

    Grace for the Everyday Sinner in 2024 C.E.

    • Should grace be desired for more than simply acknowledgement of our blessings on occasion?
    • Is the Biblical concept of ‘grace’ the same today as God’s GRACE in the New and Old Testaments?

    What is grace?

    We associate it with good things as in praying before eating and receiving mercy for those things we ought not to have done.

    Paul frequently opens his letters to various churches with grace, peace and other gentle words of greeting. The Apostle then encourages believers in a spirit of grace given to all by God.

    Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    First Letter of Paul *[and Sosthenes]
    to the church at Corinth 1:3 – LSB
    *Sosthenes = "saviour of his nation" - a Jew at Corinth who was seized and beaten in the presence of Gallio
    Acts 18:17
    And they all took hold of Sosthenes the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

    Gospel Grace

    • Grace appears over 100 times in the Bible
    • most frequently used in the New Testament.

    The Greek word used by the Gospel writers and Apostles is χάρις pronounced: khar’-ece.

    grace

    • that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech

    A brief look at varied New Testament use of grace, favor and graciousness reveals a much deeper and satisfying application of grace through Christ.

    For of His fullness we have all received, and grace G5485 upon grace G5485.

    Gospel of John 1:16 Legacy Standard Bible

    Old Testament Grace

    God’s grace before its fullness in Christ was proclaimed to the world

    The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament also demonstrates God’s grace in action and in word. In Hebrew:

    ḥēn חֵן

    Translated in English as ‘grace‘ 38x and also as: favour (26x), gracious (2x), pleasant (1x), precious

    But Noah found favor H2580 in the eyes of Yahweh.

    Genesis 6:8

    The favor and blessings of grace extend not only between the Lord God and man but also between the mortal flesh and blood of individual souls blessing one another.


    Perhaps no blessing of grace is any better known than a benediction of parting the LORD spoke to Moses.

    “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

    יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ׃ ס

    יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ׃ ס

    יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלֹום׃ ס

    בְּמִדְבַּר (Numbers) 6 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)


    The LORD bless you and keep you;
    the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
    the LORD lift up his countenance [or face] upon you and give you peace.

    “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”


    Blessing between the LORD and Israel from Numbers 6:24-26,27

    Gracious people chosen for God’s grace

    And of course most everyone desires at times to receive at least a portion of joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, favour, grace, charm, elegance and acceptance.


    Who receives grace?

    Is God’s grace all-inclusive or exclusive?

    Let’s take a brief look.


    The Example of Noah

    Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

    But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.

    Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

    Genesis 6:5-6,8,13

    Abraham’s Grace though Faith

    And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. Then he blessed him and said,

    “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

    Genesis 14:18-20a

    Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him,

    “I am God Almighty;
    Walk before Me and be blameless, so that I may confirm My covenant between Me and you,
    And that I may multiply you exceedingly.”

    Genesis 17:1-2

    Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him…


    Grace and Mercy

    25:17  וְעָשִׂיתָ כַפֹּרֶת זָהָב

    “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold…


    Grace is related to but NOT equal to mercy.

    Mercy is a transaction granted by a greater one to a lesser recipient.

    Grace is a part in a transaction by which supplication (or plea) may have been made from one to another. At times they are even equals — but often not.

    In fact God or a king or any human authority may grant grace without you even asking.

    תְּחִנָּה

    supplication,

    supplication for favour

    • to man or
    • to God

    “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication,

    so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;

    and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

    Zechariah 12:10 LSB

    “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

    from Zechariah 13:1 –  approximately 480 B.C. 

    MORE about GRACE in every age NEXT TIME when we will ask:
    "WHO NEEDS GRACE?" 
    
    (You've probably guessed the answer already.)

    For from His fullness, we have all received and grace upon grace.

    Gospel of John 1:16 – Berean Literal Bible

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  • Talking for hours with the prophet Paul

    Talking for hours with the prophet Paul

    .. when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them..

    Acts 20:7b ESV

    Talk of Jesus into the late night hours

    Acts 20:

    Acts pf the Apostles 20:7 KJV
    google earth map of third missionary journey of Paul - TalkofJESUS.com

    A.D. 52-57

    The following 2-part post from just six verses in Acts 20 and Paul's third missionary journey focuses on two topics:
    
    1. An extra long sermon (not so unusual for ANY pastor so it would seem) AND 
    2. an extraordinary sign suggesting that Paul is also a Prophet of Almighty God.

    a Sunday service before their Monday departure

    Luke records in Acts 20 that the Apostle Paul is already on his way home.

    And we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days. – Acts of the Apostles 20:6

    a weekly Sunday worship

    Let's not miss the context and content of this day which was likely sometime in the year of our Lord 56. 

    Call it what you like: worship, a service, gathering or mass. These Christians of Troas welcomed Paul and his missionary companions into their weekly time together as a community in Christ.

    Holy Communion

    About this same time [A.D. 55 or 56] in his first letter back to the church in Corinth Paul will also instruct worshipers to obediently partake in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus.

    communion cup of wine

    The Sermon of a Church Father
    Note that Paul is NOT the local day-to-day Pastor and Shepherd of this church. The Apostle speaks to a large group gathered in Troas for worship. 
    
    A crowded Christian gathering in an upper room anticipates Paul's Spirit-led exhortation [encouragement, both positive and cautionary].
    
    AND Paul's 'talk' was not simply a one-man sermon to the flock without response but included extended additional dialogue.

    διαλέγομαι – in the Greek – discuss (in argument or exhortation):—dispute, preach (unto), reason (with), speak.

    Source: Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words – Strong’s G1256 – dialegomai

    Paul kept talking until midnight. He prolonged his speech or message.

    Luke uses the root word describing this dialogue (dialegomai) of Paul’s message lasting until midnight for these believers.

    • of speech
      • a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea
      • what someone has said
      • discourse
      • doctrine, teaching
    Luke opens ACTS using this same word referring to his Gospel as his 'first account' [prōtos logos].

    (for dialogue between the men of the church)


    Luke does not mention the time of their regular Sunday worship.

    It could have been nine or eleven in the morning. Perhaps it was an evening service planned for after the saints typically ate their evening meal at home with their families.

    SEE Paul's mention of this in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 THE LORD'S SUPPER

    Acts of the Apostles 20:8 LSB
    flickering candle on stand

    Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep.

    Eutychus after he falls to his death from an upper room window in Troas while Paul and the men dialogue until midnight - Acts of the Apostles 20:7-9

    This young man, a boy likely brought by his father to the upper room of their evening service precariously perched himself in an open window where air circulated into the crowded place of worship.

    BUT he just couldn’t last through all the long talk of JESUS by the Apostle Paul and others.

    (Perhaps by midnight what little breeze had revived the boy had subsided into stillness.)

    He FELL to his death!

    Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

    ACTS of the Apostles 20:9 KJV

    This sudden incident brought the church meeting and Paul’s talk to an abrupt end.

    The boy’s father and worshipers listening to Paul’s talk must have been stunned as the young man suddenly fell to his death.

    So these men rushed downstairs and then outside to witness the apparent tragedy of the young man Eutychus for themselves.


    What Luke records NEXT in his account is both significant and perhaps largely ignored in 21st century C.E. preaching about the early history of the Church.
    
    THEREFORE, we will leave the outcome of this evening for NEXT time and by way of comparison also look at Scripture concerning other Prophets (as I have suggested of the Apostle Paul).
    

    ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued… in A.D. 1st c. Troas, God-willing


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  • christianity-lite – ERASING Scripture, “It is written..”

    christianity-lite – ERASING Scripture, “It is written..”

    And so it is written,
    “The first man Adam became a living being.”
    The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

    1 Corinthians 15:45 NKJV

    christianity-lite & the C.E. challenge of Scripture

    “christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripturestarved chaff of Common Era culture.

    Roger@TalkofJESUS.com

    As I noted last time, SOMETHING CHANGED (in the year of our Lord 1950 when God determined that I should be born or sometime during the early years of my mortal life).

    What changed?

    • It wasn’t God.
    • it was not Jesus Christ
    • Neither did the Holy Spirit breathing life through a new Adam into the condemned dust of sinners crossing the line of the DOCTRINES of God change in any way.
    • It wasn’t God’s HOLY BIBLE that changed in which IT IS WRITTEN:

    All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

    Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy 3:16-17 Christian Standard Bible
    “christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripture-starved chaff of Common Era culture.

    In fact, the BIBLE warns us of times and churches and christians like these in the very context of the Apostle’s epistle to the pastor Timothy.

    STRUGGLES IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

    In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.

    Second Letter of Paul to Timothy 3:12-13 ‘Hard Times in the Last Days’ the Christian Standard Bible labels it

    In OUR church?

    WHO IN OUR CHURCH WANTS TO HEAR

    “IT IS WRITTEN..”

    FROM THE PULPIT (stage)?

    Few souls, I suspect, with a BIBLE in hand and ears to hear Scripture.

    SO WHAT GOSPEL CAN WE PREACH TO A COMMON ERA CROWD?

    It's a dilemma for any preacher and church leader isn't it? 
    HOW can we multiply our members IF we are always saying, 'it is written?'
    Any ideas?

    JESUS IS JUST GOOD NEWS!

    • GOOD NEWS for EVERYONE (Right?)
    • Never let it be written or said that OUR Jesus is ever bad news for any.
    • OLD testament is definitely OUT (except maybe a Psalm or so).
    • Let’s imagine there’s no hell. (It isn’t hard to do.)
    • NO Judgment or REVELATION! (Too scary even for youth and children.)

    a CHURCH FOR THE Common Era

    “It is written” will mean MUSIC!
    Our CHURCH for the COMMON ERA will be all about OUR MUSIC.
    We’ll start with a great band on stage to set the mood of worship.
    WE’LL fill stadiums with NEW christians for JESUS!

    IMAGINE what jesus has done for ME

    (It isn’t hard to do.)

    AND ALL THE PEOPLE APPLAUDED … AMEN.


    Worship Leader: Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven

    The Worship Divide

    Between the christian stage 
    & the Common Era audience.
    what is your REACTION to yoga? SELF-worship? It is Apostasy

    WE may as well preach litely toward gathering unbelievers into the indistinct undefined masses of our cultural mixing pot.

    SO without saying, ‘it is written..,’ WE can preach a more palatable gospel in OUR own words as an exposition of OUR all-inclusive church VISION.

    Do you really believe christianity-lite? Doctrine for a christ-less Common Era

    If we really believe in jesus, it isn’t hard to do.


    Let's just remove all the BIBLES where 'it is written' from our McChurch worship hour and add holders for our lattes of the latest christian music trends.
    If you will forgive my light-hearted humor of what can be done to worship and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let's take a more serious glance at WORSHIP as it seems to have changed by now in 2023 of this Common Era.
    
    Referring to the A.D. 1960's and the three subsequent decades and 'churches moving into a marketing mode,' David Wells writes:

    “Adapting to culture became a key ingredient in outreach strategy. The result of this was that worship was more likely to be led by a worship team made up of musicians than by the pastor(s) as was the case in more traditional churches.

    David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – P.189

    CONTENT and FORM

    Pointing to two differences, Wells goes on to describe the ‘WORSHIP DIVIDE’ we have encountered in the contemporary church now most common in this Common Era of the 21st century.

    What the worshiper brings to worship is an indispensable part of the mix. Without the knowledge of God in those who worship, without faith, without reverence, without gratitude in the worshiper, even the best forms of worship simply fall flat.

    David F Wells – GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND – ibid.
    1. FOCUS ON THE TRIUNE GOD? or
    2. FOCUS on OUR EXPERIENCE of OURSELVES as worshipers?
    Do you really believe christianity-lite? Doctrine for a christ-less Common Era
christianity-lite typically erases the lines where Scripture and doctrine holding to what is written.

    Is the chaff from your ERASER changing anyone’s faith?

    PREACHING ASIDE, Wells suspects that ‘worship wars, which are almost wholly music wars, are really obscuring the larger issues that are in play.’

    “NEEDS-SHAPED WORSHIP is invariably self-focused.”

    “SERMONS.. aimed simply at providing a lift, some inspiration, from whatever source can be had.”

    GOD IN THE WHIRLWIND - p.190
    christianity lite - the marketing of jesus by the church in the Common Era

    It is written:

    “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

    “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

    Gospel of Matthew 7:13-14,21 Legacy Standard Bible

    Chaff

    “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

    “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” -
    Gospel of Matthew 3:12 LSB
    How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
    
    They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
    God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
    His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
    - from a speech of Job 21:17-20 King James Version

    It is written in the Revelation of JESUS Christ to John:

    “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

    And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

    “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 4: 8b-11 Legacy Standard Bible


    is YOUR christianity-lite WORSHIP worthy of the HOLY, HOLY, HOLY Lord Jesus Christ?

    proskyneō – a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.

    “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

    Revelation 5:12b LSB
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