Therefore, since we
have this ministry,
as we have received
mercy, we do not lose heart.
But we have renounced
the hidden things of shame,
not walking in
craftiness nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by a
manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves
to every man's
conscience in the
sight of God.
2 Corinthians 4: 1 --
2
By the
mercy of God, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit by means of the Passion of
Jesus Christ upon the cross. We are to
be a minister of our Savior as commanded therefore our characters having been
transformed is so that for the lives of others we are a mirror of Jesus
Christ. This will require courage so
that we do not lose heart. We can gain
this courage if we spend time studying his word. It is more than just listening to others even though they may be
a pastor, or an evangelist, or a teacher of the Word, it is taking time to
inspect what said so that our expectations are in line with the will of
God. We live in a world, as did the
Corinthian church that is filled with all sorts of evil, religions that are in
opposition to God and we must equip ourselves to address those problems that
even affect the church. If we do not
study and carefully examine what we are reading so that we are not led by
philosophies or ideologies, and he even theologies that make college for
handling the word of God deceitfully. Then we are not commending ourselves by
the manifestation of truth to men in the sight of God as Paul wrote under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This
will require of us critique of thinking a process that seems to have been lost
in great measure to the culture of our present-day world. Critical thinking is very simply asking the
question, WHY, and then searching out the answer to that question. Socrates was a proponent of this type of
critical thinking that we asked this question, WHY, and though it seemed as
though he never did stop asking that question there is a point in which we must
aggressively answer so that we can spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in truth. Some of the questions that may need to be
addressed as we study Paul's writings to the Corinthian church are: why was
there so much evil in corn of? Also,
why was it necessary for Paul to write as he did about such things as foods,
idols, misuse of the Lord's Supper and misuse of spiritual gifts, and why there
was such an appeal to follow men. There
will be other questions that we will address those as we go through this book
and study what was written for them and the principles that apply to us today.
It appears
that Paul wrote more than just two letters that we have in our Bible today to
the Corinthians and gave answers to a previous letter to him asking about
certain questions: (I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with
sexually immoral people: 1 Corinthians 5: 9). It seems as though that first
letter was lost and apparently was not required to become part of that which
God wanted recorded and placed into His words of the Bible. These letters that we have worth elicited by
the Corinthian church at told him by: "For it has been clear to me
concerning you, my brethren, by blows up Chloe's household, that there are
contentions among you" (1 Corinthians 1: 11). The Corinthians had written to Paul asking
about certain issues: marriage, spiritual gifts, and the collections, and about
eating meat offered to idols.
Paul begins
writing to them in this manner and it would be good for us to address others in
the same way: "Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning new for the grace of God which
was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were in rich in everything by Him in
all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation
of our award Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1: 3 --
8). This is also our prayer and our
hope that in the end, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes for His
church, that we will be found blameless.
To give us aid so that we are blameless is his word that we must take
time to read and to study, and to apply the principles, and commandments in our
lives. We have more than just a letter
to a particular church, as in this case the church; we have the complete Bible,
in a bound book, both the Old and New Testament. We have no excuse and we are not to tacitly set aside and by de
facto obedience default to that which is nothing more than a failure on our
part giving authority without question.
As with the Corinthian church an influx of many people who were possibly
part of the large crowd of prostitutes, and men of the evil greed, along with
those who were looking for something better in life. False teachings and practices entry into the church: this is what
has occurred even in our present day and if we do not take the time to know
what God's will is in regards to those matters brought up to Paul in these
letters then we will be doing nothing more than practicing that which is not
blameless before God.
So let us
enter into this Bible study on these books for the Corinthians and make any
adjustments necessary so that we are true ambassadors and ministers for our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This day
is, Valentines Day, and I wish to you a happy Valentine's Day. May this day be a time to show love to those
closest to you, and even to your neighbors, as was done to me this morning as a
neighbor high school girl who brought to me some cookies and a wonderful
Valentine card. All because from time
to time I gave them eggs, milk, and other necessities that they were needing when they were making cakes or cookies.
You never know when a small amount of kindness will be rewarded even in
this life as it certainly will be in the life to come. May you be blessed in all you do and can
serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Hear the word which the LORD
speaks to
you, O house
of Israel. Thus says
the LORD:
do not be
dismayed at the
signs of heaven, for the Gentiles
are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are futile...
Jeremiah 10 1 – 3a
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO YOU
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