Oh, there we are. OK, OK, thank you.
Well, good morning. We are in the book of First
Corinthians today. We're going to finish up First
Corinthians chapter 16, and we'll start Second Corinthians
next Sunday. I don't know if you noticed in
the news that there was a group of Calvary Chapel people over in
Israel. Didn't anybody see that?
And they were stuck there obviously because of the war and
they weren't able to get out and they were able to get out, I
believe yesterday they got home. That was, I'm sure a scary
situation. And they weren't able to use the
normal airlines. They had to get a special
airlines I guess to get them out.
And it was like 2020, $500 a person.
And so they, they weren't anticipating that expense.
And, and somehow I guess the word got out and the word
provided the, the funds. So they're all home safely.
But boy, that would be scary, wouldn't it, being over there on
a tourist experience and then having a bombs going off
everywhere. So but we need to continually
pray about that war over there. It's very, very challenging for
obviously everybody that's in that region, but also also
having an impact on on the rest of the world.
So Jesus said in the last days, there'll be wars and rumors of
wars, didn't they? And they've been going on ever
since he was on the earth himself.
But they'll increase in frequency.
And prophetically, we don't know where all these things are
actually landing right now. There are indications that God
is stirring the earth and one of these days the Lord will return.
But in the meantime, we just keep on keeping on, keep living
our lives joyfully and trusting God and all the experiences of
everyday life and, and pray for all those folks that are are
less fortunate and they're really going through it right
now. So let's pray as we begin.
Father, we're thankful today that we are at this point in
time in the country, Lord, where we don't have to worry about
bombs going off or being threatened, the Lord, by any
kind of terrorism as far as we know.
We we know, Lord, that you are a keeper and you're our sustainer.
You're the one we look to to trust in with all of our hearts.
And Lord, we pray for Israel. We pray for the regions over
there that are being impact by the war and all the people that
are in turmoil. And Lord, we think of the cargo
ships that need to get through the Strait of Hormuz and that's
the challenge right now and how it's impacting a pricing of gas
and other things. Lord, the war effects everyone
everywhere in different ways. We pray, God, for wisdom.
We pray for peace. That's what you tell us to pray
for the peace of Jerusalem. We don't know when that is all
going to calm down, but we pray it would be soon be with our
nation's leaders and our president and all those who make
the decisions. Lord and regard to that
particular situation right now, we, we pray for our leaders as
you tell us to in the Scriptures, God, that you would
grant them wisdom and wisdom and favor and direction and
protection. Lord, and we, we thank you for
this morning. Lord, we thank you for the
beautiful day you've given us yesterday with the sunshine and
the 70 almost 80° temperatures. And it was so different a couple
weeks ago. And this amazing father, how
quickly things can change. And so we we have hearts that
are full of thankfulness this morning.
We pray for anyone here today who's going through challenges
and heartaches, through loss of loved ones or issues with
marriages or kids or finances, all the things that health that
at times can impact us. Lord, we hold all these things
up before your throne of grace on behalf of one another.
And we pray, Lord, this morning that your spirit with this guide
us as we conclude this amazing book of First Corinthians.
We've learned so much about challenges that churches have
just because we're all people and human and sinful people and,
and Lord, we still struggle. God, and we pray that you would
continually help us to love you first of all with all our heart,
soul, mind and strength and to love one another as you've given
us commandment. And so Lord, fill us with your
Holy Spirit today again that we would be able to hear the word
and and believe again, Lord, what it is that you teach us and
we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
So First Corinthians 16, we're picking up in verse 5 and it
says now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia.
For I'm passing through Macedonia.
And it may be that I will remain or even spend the winter with
you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.
For I don't wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay
while with you if the Lord permits.
But I will tarry an Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great and
effective door has opened to me. And there are many adversaries.
So Paul's continually on the move in his missionary journeys.
He's obviously at this point in time writing from Ephesus, he
needs to get back to Corinth to, to deal with some issues in the
church there and follow up some of the things he spoke about in
the earlier chapters regarding the conflicts that they were
having because of immaturity and not understanding spiritual
gifts and, and that's how to get along.
People in the church weren't really getting along well.
And so he was burdened about that.
But he's a ways away from that place and he's talking about
taking this trip to Macedonia. And Macedonia is in Greece not
too far, about an hour and a half from Thessaloniki.
So these are the region's initial stages of where the
church started and where he served and where he shared the
gospel. So he's talking about the
journey and, and he's thinking that it would be good to be able
to stay with them because traveling on the seas at that
time of year in the winter would be impossible, very, very life
threatening and dangerous. So he was talking about hanging
out with them in in the winter time and, and in Corinth.
But again, he was presenting these plans before the people in
a letter so that they would pray for him and that he would be
able to take this journey. And the issue with us as human
beings, we always have plans what we want to do, where we
want to go, what we think the Lord wants us to do when he
wants us to do it, careers, marriages, relationships,
churches, whatever it might be in our journey in life.
And lots of times we have a tendency to make decisions based
upon our own wisdom, our own strength.
We, we just have an idea and we think, well, that's what I'm
going to do as opposed to running it by the Lord and
asking God what his will is and what he would want us to do.
And we're taught that and James that we're supposed to say, God,
you know, show us what it is you want us to do.
And if it's sure, will I'll do it right?
But how many times do we actually wait to get
confirmation that what it is that we're thinking about doing
or planning on doing is actually the Lord's will?
Sometimes we circumvent the Lord's will because we want our
will to be done. And that's usually never going
to be a good way to, to to lead your life.
You want to be led by the Lord, but in order to be led by the
Lord, you have to know the Lord. And in order to be led by the
Lord, you have to be able to hear from the Lord.
And so we have to learn to wait on the Lord and wait patiently
for what it is that we sense He's prompting us to do.
And I don't know about you, but it's, it's difficult at times to
wait because we're always like full of action and energy.
And I'm going to do this and this is my plans.
I'm going to vacation here and I'm going to buy this or I'm
going to go here and do that. And it's amazing when you think
about life, how little of our lives are actually filtered
through the will of God. Be honest, right?
We're we're just human beings and we do things according to
our own will so often and we we see that through the Bible many
times when things went sideways and and not in a good direction,
it was always because people didn't really wait upon the
Lord. And so Paul is really
emphasizing here in this chapter after he talks about his plans,
he says, but I hope to stay while while with you, if the
Lord permits, and that's a good thing to weighed upon what is
the Lord's will? What is he confirming to you
about what it is you think is a good decision.
And if you're married, you should always talk to your
spouse about plans. You shouldn't make plans
independently of one another because that's what creates
marriage chaos and bitterness. You should say with your wife or
your husband, Let's pray about this and and see what the Lord
wants us to do. And if you do that and you wait
on the Lord, the Lord will truly guide you.
He promises to guide you if you trust in him with all your heart
and not lean into your own understanding and all your ways.
Acknowledge him. Every little thing, acknowledge
him. Is this your will?
He says he will direct your paths and boy, that's comforting
to know that you're in the center of the will of God and
that he's guiding you and he's directing you.
And Paul was an example of that kind of lifestyle in his
ministry and in his life. He had so many things on his
heart, so many things he wanted to do, but he he knew they had
to be done in God's time and in his way according to his will.
And so he says in verse 8 there that I will tarry or wait in
Ephesus until Pentecost for a great and effective door has
opened to me and there are many adversaries.
This is an interesting verse because Ephesus was, as we
studied this, a really bad city, a lot of crime and immorality
and this false teaching, and it was just like a epicenter of
Pagan lifestyle. And yet Paul saw the opportunity
there because there was a church.
It was planted there by him, and Timothy eventually ended up
taking over the responsibility for that church.
But Ephesus had so much. It'd be like maybe being in Los
Angeles, New York, Vegas, or whatever, like centers of
influence and commerce and entertainment and just a lot of
stuff going on at one time. And because of that, masses of
people would be in these places and they would be on the streets
and partying or doing whatever. So Paul, like being an
evangelist and being a missionary, that was like the
ideal place to be, even though it was dangerous and and
godless, it didn't really bother him.
That was just part of like being a follower of Jesus Christ
entering into these kind of places.
So he didn't see it as something, oh, it's scary.
I shouldn't do this. I'm afraid I want to go
somewhere else where it's easier.
It says here that he saw there was a great and effective door
that God had opened to him and and there are many adversaries.
So there was two sides of the coin, opportunity and adversity.
And he didn't look at adversity as being something that wasn't a
good thing. He just recognized adversity is
part of following the Lord. The more you press into wanting
to be used by the Lord and serve Him, it's not an easy path.
Now, the Lord will calm the waters and make things possible
and give you the strength and the wisdom and the ability to to
do what He's called you to do. But don't think that that's
because you're in the center of God's will.
There's not going to be any problems.
That's a real delusion. Many times when you're in the
center of God, will you have many, many more problems And you
think, well, I thought, if I'm in your will, Lord there being
everything would be easy and and it will eventually level out.
But the warfare that comes at us because we serve God is intense
at times. And I was thinking about the
song you guys are singing about break every stronghold.
So we're here today, all of us, and some of us have strongholds
in our lives. They could be strongholds of all
kind of things, addictions. They could be strongholds of
relationships of people that drive you crazy and they just
are on your mind all the time and making you upset.
They could be strongholds of how do you persevere and work
through being able to live and work in an environment that is
not pleasant? How can you break the
strongholds of a marriage that is no longer intimate or no
longer loving like it was when it first started?
Or are breaking strongholds of of children that are just sort
of making decisions that don't make sense and strongholds that
are political or strongholds that are dealing with issues of
morals. There's all these things.
Whatever's in your life today, it's keeping you from the joy of
the Lord and keeping you from the peace of the Lord and
keeping you from actually wanting to really go deeper in
the Lord. It's a stronghold.
It's the enemy putting things in front of you and around you to
keep you in bondage. So you can't be free.
And the enemy loves to do that. When we first come to Jesus,
Jesus sets us free. That's what's so exciting when
you first get saved and you're born again, right?
And then all of a sudden, like life happens and all of a sudden
attachments start occurring or maybe sinful things come back
into your life that you're involved in or participating in.
And all of a sudden you find that you're not free anymore.
You're uptight. You feel like there's all kind
of stuff around your, your physical frame and your mind and
your heart and, and you just can't be what God wants you to
be. You, you just are frustrated and
you're angry and you're bitter and you're anxious and you're
fearful and you all these emotions that stir up because of
adversity and, and these issues of strongholds.
So Paul recognized in Ephesus there, the adversaries that he
was going to confront were people that were in bondage to
what I'm talking about, the enemy being under the control of
the evil 1, being addicted to sin, and willfully doing things
that we're going to try to make it very difficult for Paul to do
the ministry. And so you're in a city, you're
in a family, you're in a business, you're in a job,
you're in a community where there's adversaries every day
you're going to face them. And how do you work within the
midst of dealing with adversaries?
You just going to say, well, this is just too hard.
I'm not going to do this. I quit or I'm moving or I'm
leaving or whatever. And whatever you do to try to
avoid being impacted by adversaries, you're going to
find out that they're everywhere, right?
Adversaries are wherever you go and God will give you the wisdom
to know how to circumvent those adversaries and breakthrough
them to be able to do what God's called you to do.
But again, that requires prayer waiting on the Lord Lord, how do
I handle this relationship? How do I handle this thing in my
life right now that isn't good? And how do I get rid of it and
how do I like get cut set free from it again and it always
comes back to moving back to Jesus again.
He, he's the, he's the father waiting for us to come to our
senses and say, you know, the Lord, this isn't working anymore
in my life and I got to make a change, right?
You got to make a change. Remember that song by Michael
Jackson, the man in the mirror? If you want to make a change,
you got to look at yourself in the mirror and make that change,
right? I was in New York and I saw
Michael Jackson on Broadway. Jessica and I were working there
this past week. My daughter went, I said, is
there any good plays in, in, in, in New York?
And, and we read the reviews and there was no immorality in it.
It was just really classic of him when he was a little boy and
Jackson 5 singing And I was 18, work in Atlantic City.
And I remember hearing this kid, I said that guy's Got Talent,
that kids Got Talent, right? And boy did he have talent.
Number one album of all time. But it was it was sad watching
Michael when all his gifting and musical ability, he was in
bondage to fear. Fear of his over dominating
father, fear of all the people wanted to control him and
manipulate him and get money from him.
And this the guy you know, you know, his story died a
miserable, terrible death from fentanyl.
And people are, excuse me, controlled by all kind of stuff
in our culture and our society. Pride, self centeredness, ego,
all these things that are causing, if you're a Christian,
the Holy Spirit to be grieved and be quenched in your life.
And so when Paul's dealing in ministry, whether it's an
Ephesus or Corinth and all the other places he was, or with the
Christians in the church in Corinth, he was always called to
preach the gospel #1 so that lost people could get saved.
But he was also always talking about repentance so that people
could get right with God moment by moment, not letting stuff in
their lives just lay there day after day, week after week,
month after month, year after year.
And I'm talking about Christians many times where they're in
bondage to themselves and no longer enjoying their
relationship with Jesus. So I, every time I come to
church on Sunday with you guys, I'm hearing the worship and I'm
thinking about the teaching that they, whoever's teaching me or
whoever, where am I at with the Lord today, this moment?
Is there anything in my life that's in the way of what God
wants? And if I ask that question and
I'm opening that, the Lord will usually show me some things that
need to be addressed or dealt with in my heart.
And I always think about that as I'm sitting here waiting to come
and preach. Not information, but hopefully
transformation, transformative things from God's Spirit that
he'll touch you some way today and he'll be real to you.
He'll he'll manifest himself to you in a very special way
because he loves you and he wants you to leave here
different than you came today for all of us.
And so then I think about the supper we take.
And I don't want to take this out of a tradition or a ritual
or I'm going to take it like I'm communing with God.
I'm breaking bread with the Lord, He's breaking it with me.
I'm breaking it with you. You're breaking it with me.
And that we're one body and that God's healing us.
And he's he's. He's changing us.
And he's. He's transforming us and He's
giving us faith to believe Him for things that we need to
believe Him for. And He's given us hope and
situations that seem hopeless at times and that our eyes are on
Him and not the circumstances, not the adversaries, but our
eyes are completely on His power and how great He is and what He
wants to do in and through our lives.
And so the adversaries, they're always around.
And then verse 10 he says, And if Timothy comes, see that he
may be with you without fear, for he does the work of the
Lord, as I also do. Therefore let no one despise
him, but send him on his journey in peace, that he may come to
me, for I am waiting for him with the brethren.
Timothy. Paul said there was no one like
Timothy. Timothy was the kind of disciple
that couldn't get enough of the truth.
He just hung out with Paul all the time.
He wanted to know him better. He wanted to know Jesus better.
And he knew that Paul knew Jesus in a very deep way.
So Timothy knew that it would be good to be hanging out with with
Paul and it would help him to grow in his faith and his
understanding and prepare him for ministry and give him the
ability to do ministry. Timothy, Timothy was a young
follower of, of Jesus at the time and Paul had to tell him in
first Timothy that no, let no man despise your youth.
So we have two pastoral interns here.
We have Sam Morris and we have Case and Harrell and they're
young guys. One's 28, I believe the other
one's 3132 and they're learning how to serve you guys.
They're learning how to teach the word and preach the word.
And you'll, you'll see them periodically here on Sundays
beginning to learn to, to break the word of God with you folks.
And, and don't never look down on them.
Don't don't despise their youth. Encourage them, pray for them
and pray for all the younger guys in our church and serve
whether it's Wednesday night or what other ministries, teaching,
whatever. This is the future of of God's
work in this ministry down down the road here.
And these young men that bring the word of God here to us.
They're they're wonderful and we don't want them to feel
intimidated or insecure or fearful by the call of God on
their lives. We want them to be able to do
what God's called them to do without insecurity and and
feeling, you know, constrained or intimidated.
And Paul made it very clear how they were to, to deal with
Timothy and Timothy, you eventually became the the
pastor, the main leader in the Church of Church of Ephesus.
And and so Paul says clearly he does the work of the Lord that
he may be without you without fear.
He may be with you without fear. How we need to come alongside
one another in the ministry. Women and men who serve to say,
hey, you're doing a wonderful job.
God's using you. You're a blessing to me in in my
life, the things you're teaching God, speaking to me through what
it is you're bringing to to me or anybody else from the word of
God. We we need to be mindful to
bring encouragement to one another.
And so Paul was looking forward to them sending him so that he
would come to Paul and then the Paul would be able to the
fellowship with him again. And he said, he's waiting for
him with the brethren. And then verse 12, it says now
concerning our brother Apollo's. Paul spoke about Apollo's in the
first section of of Corinthians. Some people had a favorite
teacher in the church at the time, which wasn't a healthy
thing. Some people would say I'm of
Paul, I'm of Apollo's, I'm a Cephas.
And so there was division in the church over who was teaching or
whatever. And it became more of a
popularity contest and a calling of God upon these men's lives
and the lives of the people that tended to the church.
But Apollo's, when he first started a ministry, he was very
charismatic. He was real and he just had the
gift of communication and he was able to speak about a lot of
stuff, but he would make mistakes in the early stages of
his understanding of what the gospel is about.
And so Priscilla and Aquila will mention them here in a minute.
They explained to him, it tells us and acts more Excellency the
word of God, more Excellency of the word of God and how to
preach and how to proclaim it. So they really came alongside
and mentored him. But Paul says here now
concerning our brother Apollo's, I strongly urged, urged him to
come to you, to the church in Corinth with the brothers, but
he was quite unwilling to come at this time.
However, he will come when he has a convenient time.
This is really an important verse because even though Paul
was an apostle, he wasn't the boss.
Jesus is the boss. There is no hierarchy in the
church. The Lord's the head.
And so we, each of us do what we're called to do is he leads
us individually and corporately. But me or Lewis or no one else,
we, we, we don't have the ability or the right to tell you
what to do and how you should do it in regard to what it is that
God's wanting you to do, we're calling you to do.
And Paul made it real clear here.
He urged him to come now, but he was not able to.
It says he was unwilling to come at this time.
So Paul didn't get all upset and say, don't you understand?
I'm an apostle and you need to get over there and work with
these people and do whatever. Just the timing just wasn't
right at this time, he said, but he'll come when he has a
convenient time. And that's the same thing in
your lives. You know, people can prompt you
to do things, but at the end of the day, you have to allow the
will that God's given you to direct you to do what you're to
do whenever it's his time for you to do it.
It's not any of our call in regard to those things.
We can ask a request and some people say, Oh yeah, I'd love to
do that. I want to be a part of that all.
I'll serve here. I'll do this.
But, you know, if you choose not to do something, that's OK too.
It's it's all up to what the Lord wants.
So then as we move near the end here, he says in verse 13,
watch, stand fasten of faith, be brave, be strong, let all that
you do be done with love. This is the important admonition
here that as God calls us to do things that we have emotional
and mental spiritual stability and maturity, not immaturity.
We're not flying off the handle, we're not freaking out, we're
not getting offended, we're not getting uptight.
We're, we're standing strong in the faith and we're, we're not
being wimps. We're, we're, we're strong in
the Lord, in the power of his might.
And that everything we do in our callings, and every one of you
have a calling, whether it's serving in the church or in the
community or in your home, whatever, we're to do everything
with love. Without love, the Bible says,
and we went through 1st Corinthians 13.
Without love, we're nothing, right?
We have to have. The power of the Holy Spirit
working in US and through US that everything we do is done
with His love. If it isn't with His love, then
it's going to burn and be a waste and it's not going to have
any, any power to change or encourage or bless other people.
Be done with love. And I sense that happens here.
I sense his love here every time I come here with you guys.
I sense his love and I, I sense him moving in this place by his
love. And the greatest asset of the
church isn't the bank account or the building.
The greatest asset of the church is you guys.
You, you're loved by God. He cherishes you, He sees great
value and potential in every one of our lives and he doesn't push
us, he he prods us and pokes. At us to give us.
Thoughts about callings or ministry or things that need to
be dealt with. He does that by His Holy Spirit,
right? Because He loves us.
He waits for us. He's always waiting for us.
Whenever you have the greatest. Failures in your life or to
times of humiliation as a Christian that you did something
that you regret the rest of your life.
God never abandons you or forsakes you.
He's always waiting for you to restore you, but also to use
you. And he knows that our failings
are what brings us to our senses.
Many times a prodigal when he was out there blowing his
inheritance on wild lifestyle. God didn't turn his back.
On the prodigal, every day he was standing waiting for him to
come back, because he. Knew when he did come.
Back his life would be ready to be used by God and be
transformed, and he wasn't going to give God a hard time anymore
he's going to want to do things God's way and not his way
anymore. One of the.
Most beautiful. Teachings and stories in the
Bible is that when that prodigal was out there and finally got
fed up with like and he knew better because his dad grew
raised him up to understand like the way to live, but he wasn't
ready to live that way. And God didn't get mad.
At him or he said I'm done with you, you know, you're not
getting anything from me anymore.
God isn't that way. And so how many years?
It doesn't say how long that journey was for that prodigal,
but we're we're all prodigals because we're always coming back
to deeper levels to God. You might know someone that is
really really a super prodigal not.
Realizing how much of A. Prodigal, you still are.
How much deeper do you got to go back and return to God?
You can judge other people what they need to do this and they're
acting this way and blah blah blah.
Don't judge them. Look at your own heart and pray
for them. And then eventually this person,
this prodigal came to his senses.
He's with the pig pen and and then the mess.
This is why I could go home and at least I could be a.
Servant of my. Father's house and be much
better than living in this condition.
I'd have a roof over my head and it would be nice and wouldn't be
in this pig style pig pen. So he comes back and.
I'm sure he came with his head down and probably thinking,
what's this going to be like when I see my father's eyes?
What's what's he going to do to me?
What's he going to say to me? Is he going to say get away and
reject me or whatever? And there's the father.
He comes running toward the sun with his arms out, so excited to
have him back in his house again and be able to have a
relationship with him again. Oh, how beautiful that is.
And that's how God is with us. He's, He's been that way with
me. I'm sure he's been that way with
you. God's never tired of.
Me. He's never tired of you.
He's always just. Wanting to go deeper with you
and to love you more and to know you deeper.
So that then you can. Take on his characteristic and
be that way to other people that need to know about the Father
heart of God. And so Paul is.
Giving this reflection of these people that have just been a
tremendous blessing to him. Verse 15, I urge you.
Brother and you know the household of Stefanus, that it
is the first fruits of Archaea, and that they've devoted
themselves to the ministry of the Saints.
This Stefanus had gotten saved in Paul's ministry.
He was baptized by him and he's there serving God.
He's not waiting for like an invitation.
He was the type of guy and we got people like us in the
church. They just see something needs to
be done and they just, they just do it.
They just help. Like some of you will be
compelled to help bring the stuff down or whatever today.
Like everybody, you know, is wired differently.
But some people like, they just want to like whatever I can do
to help other people or help the church, I want to, I want to be
involved. And that's the way Stefanus was.
They devoted themselves. To the ministry of serving the
Saints that you also submit to such and to everyone who works
and laborers with us. So like this body life, this
community of this local assembly and the people and they were all
important, they were all involved, he says in 17.
I am glad about the coming of Stefanus, Fortunus and Archaeus
for what was lacking on your part, they supplied for they
refresh my spirit and yours therefore acknowledge such men.
So there's always people in the ministry that are sort of going
out of their way that is called that way to be able to bless
people and and encourage them and build them up and refresh
them. I have people like that.
That send me texts or say a prayer for me or whatever at the
right time and even behind the scenes that I don't even know
that they're praying for me. I just know that there's this
spirit of refreshment that comes to be able to give you the
ability to keep doing what you're what you're called to do.
We all need to be encouraged and Paul had these people in his
life and he talks about them and commends them for they refresh
my spirit in verse 18 and yours. Therefore, acknowledge such men
or people, and then as. A worship team can.
Come forward we we just get down these next few verses here.
He he gives the final greetings and farewell.
He says the churches of Asia greet you.
Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the
church that is in their house and all the brethren greet you.
Priscilla and Aquila were mentioned six times in the New
Testament and they helped plant the church in Ephesus and they
were always available to be beside Paul.
If he went to Corinth, they'd pack up and move and go there
and then they go back to Ephesus.
Whatever they were tent makers to their, their occupation was
to make tents like Paul. So that's how Paul initially got
to know them. And they were very deep.
A matter of fact, this, this couple, Priscilla, she was like
sort of the leader spiritually in the family.
Her husband was just as committed, but she was the one
that was more outward and, and, and used I think in a, in a way
of community. And so they, they were just a
great team together. We have married couples at
Calvary here, the team of the husband and wife and just how
they serve and that they're just beside each other.
One might be a little bit more like this and the other one's a
little more like that. But they're, they're A-Team and
God uses them mightily. And, and Paul talks about them
as being a great blessing. Back in those days, there was no
shopping center churches or cathedrals or buildings or
whatever they, they had to meet in houses because of
persecution. It was dangerous to be a
Christian. And many times it was hidden in
underground, so to speak, like it is in China.
And so they might have 20-30 people when a church down this
house down the street and another side of the community.
And that's how it was back in those days.
And, and then Paul says, greet one another with a holy kiss.
Well, we, I, I noticed when you're in Europe and you, you
see people, it's their tradition to kiss you on both cheek.
It's sort of weird at first when it happens, like, wait, what's
up here? You know, And then you think,
how do I have to do this too? How do I maybe just hug them?
But everybody has a different way of like showing love or
compound. I think a lot of us here at
Calvary, we hug each other and that's that's another similar
thing here of greeting each other or shaking hands with one
another, all these things. And Paul then says, if anyone
does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed O.
Lord, come. And what an ending here.
And it wasn't so much this judgment of anger.
It says in John 336, He that hath the Son hath life.
He does not have the Son of God hath not life, but the wrath of
God abides on him. The accursed aspect isn't that
God does not love, but there's wrath and judgment that'll come
on anyone that doesn't come to faith and trust in Jesus and
love him. That's the consequences.
Yeah, we know for God so. Loved the world, he gave his
only begotten Son. John 316 But later on, as you
read down the, the, the, the blowback, the feedback of not
believing and trusting in Jesus is that you're, you're under
the, the anger and judgment of God because of sin.
And Christ is the only one that can bear your sin and forgive
you of your sins so that you're not held responsible for it.
And you're, you're foolish if you want to live life without
Jesus because you're under the wrath of God.
And one day when you pass from this world, you'll unfortunately
experience the horror of what that wrath really means.
So that's why the gospel is so important to preach everywhere
and every day and every time and every opportunity.
And then he says at the end, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you, my love, be with you all in Christ Jesus.
Amen. So Paul always ended in and
opened a lot of his, his teachings with talking about the
grace of God, the unmerited favor of love of God, in spite
of you and me. God is always wanting to extend
his grace toward us, whether we're believers or unbelievers.
The grace of God, you never can get enough of the grace of God.
And, and you're, you're doing what you're doing today,
worshipping God because of his grace.
I would trust you're not here to earn anything or try to impress
anybody or whatever. You're, you're here because of
God's grace. He's worked in your life.
You love him, you love his word, you love his people and you want
to be with him, right? Nothing better than being under
the favor and grace of God. Every day, every moment.
Of life. And so Paul concluded the book
that way. And he'll start the next one
with more grace. So we'll get more grace next
week. How about that?
Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
God's grace, grace. It is greater than all my sin.
If I can get this thing. Open.
I need grace to get this thing open.
I'm not mechanically inclined. I need them up here to help me.
OK, I got it. All right, let's thank.
The Lord Father God, we thank you for this book of First
Corinthians and all that we've learned, how it's impacting us,
how it has impacted us, and how it will impact us in the days
ahead. Things we've learned, and we're
looking forward to 2nd Corinthians.
God, thank you for the word of God that when we come here
together at Calvary Chapel, we're not making it up as we go
along. We're going right to the truth.
Of what you written, verse by verse, line upon line, precept
upon precept, not skipping anything.
Thank you again, God, for giving us Your word so that we have
something to talk about when we gather together in Your name
and. The night to Jesus is.
Betrayed. He took the bread in his.
Hands And he broke it and he gave thanks and he said take,
eat. This is my body which is given
for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
In the same manner in. That evening he took the cup and
he said this cup is a new covenant in my blood which was
shed for the forgiveness as sins of many.
Drink this in remembrance of me. For as often as.
You eat this bread and you drink this cup.
You show forth the Lord's death. There he comes again.
Amen. Have a great, great day guys.
God bless.