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Baptist Church if you would take a song book turn to song number 63 Food I'll stand we'll sing song number 63. What a day that will be Song number 63 There is coming a day when no heartache shall come No more clouds in the sky No more tears to dim the eye all is peace forever more on the happy golden shore What a day glorious day that will be What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land What a day glorious day that will be There'll be no sorrow there no more Burdens to bear no more sickness No pain no more partying over there and forever I will be with the one Who died for me? What a day glorious day that will be What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face Upon his face the one who saved me by his grace When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land What a day glorious day that will be Man, let's pray father. Thank you so much for this night. Thank you for this church I just pray that you would help us all to be attentive to the preaching tonight and that you would fill pastor Their spirit in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. All right, you may be seated and Turn back to song number 47 Song number 47 let the Sun shine again in my heart Song number 47 I Remember the time when I first knew the Savior When the Sun light of blessing so flood in my heart. Oh the sweetness first love with Jesus so near me and I thought such devotion would never Depart Let the Sun shine again Let the flowers bloom again Stir the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit Reproof then embrace me again Let the Sun shine again in my heart Then how sweet were the scriptures they spoke to me daily how they guided my steps but my zeal did not last and the sweet place of prayer where I met with my Savior I Neglected and so soon my joys were all past Let the Sun shine again Let the flowers bloom again Stir the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit Reproof then embrace me again Let the Sun shine again in my heart Oh, I love well to walk in the way with God's children when we met with The fellowship suite but the pull of the flesh and some worldly Companions in the paths of sins pleasure Attracted my feet Let the Sun shine again Let the flowers bloom again Stir the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit Reproof then embrace me again Let the Sun shine again in my heart Lord I come now again for forgiveness And blessing as thy penitent child I am seeking thy peace for the blood paid my dead and thy spirit within me bids me come to my father my wandering to cease Let the Sun shine again Let the flowers bloom again Stir the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit Reproof then embrace me again Let the Sun shine again in my heart Amen So welcome Mountain Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening and just some announcements here we have all our service times are normal this week and We have the women's prayer meeting that's gonna be coming up This Saturday, so don't forget about that ladies. It's already September September 1st today, and so That's coming up on the calendar and then this Sunday this this Sunday, we're gonna have the Ordination of brother Dave as being the deacon the first deacon in Mount Baptist Church and so My first time ordaining somebody and so I'm excited about this I'll be preaching on it obviously that Sunday morning and then Laying hands on brother Dave and so just being prayer for that obviously as we move forward Going going further in the future with Mountain Baptist Church there now. We have the Sony marathon It's coming up on September 11th, and so that's gonna be in Moundsville, but we're gonna be meeting up at the Tridelphia Cabela's area Essentially so I need to give actually I need to do that tomorrow I'm gonna call up the Panera and just give them a heads up so that we have some refreshments waiting for us and all that so we'll have bagels and You know coffee and all that fun stuff, and so and then we'll drive down the Moundsville And I may look to see if there's a place to eat for lunch there in Moundsville or something like that But we'll kind of feel that out, but I'm excited about it be a prayer about it But that being said we're gonna have that sowing marathon on the 11th on the 12th. We're gonna have Our anniversary service, but we're gonna have a fellowship in between and So what we're gonna. Do is we're gonna provide the food like the church is gonna provide the food like the main food now If you don't want this just let me know, but I was just thinking Papa John's because I love Papa John's but But if you want something different we can't do Chick-fil-a because it's not open on Sunday But if there's something else that you're thinking that would be a good idea As far as something we can cater or something that we can get That would be good for the food the main food let me know but Can't go wrong with with all PJs in my opinion, but that being said I'm open for options now That being said You can bring whatever dessert you want, and I will not rebuke you for it So that being said is that we want to provide the main food drinks all that stuff But if you want to bring some kind of a treat dessert What-have-you then By all means you know bring that we bring that on Sunday and now that's not this Sunday, but it's gonna be the next one so and Then we have the retreat at the end of the month there, so that's a few weeks away, so so excited for that and then our chapter memory for the month is now gonna be switching to Galatians chapter 5 and Proverbs 24 16 is a memory verse for the week still So many times all that we got that kind of fix there As far as the Tuesday and Wednesday now instead of the Monday and Tuesday and Then just being prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list and so I think we've got it. We're on the next on the next Bulletin we're gonna have the month that they're due just so you know like who to be really praying for no But just the idea obviously you know who's like You know ready to be delivered kind of thing and who's like in the beginning of the pregnancy Because there are different types of prayers dealing with what part of the pregnancy you're at and what you can specifically be praying for when it comes to that so But be in prayer for all the pregnant ladies and all that Be in prayer for anybody that's trying to deal with a house right now, so Many of you know what that's all about But just so many things going on and obviously just being prayer for our church families that are dealing with those type of Either issues or just frustrations or whatever the case may be Just being prayer for all that and for health because it just seems like there's a sickness going around Not coded, but just like some kind of you know. It's the time of year. I guess but That's it for announcements But next gonna come sing one more song and then brother Jason's gonna be reading first Corinthians chapter 1 first Corinthians chapter 1 All right turn to song number 51 Song number 51 will sing where we'll never grow old Song number 51 I Have heard of a land on the faraway strand tis a beautiful home of the soul Built by Jesus on high there will never Shall die Tis a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old In that beautiful Home where we'll never more roam We shall be in the sweet by and by Happy praise to the King through Eternity sing tis a land where we never shall die Never grow old Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old When our work here is done and the life crown is won and our troubles and trials are All our sorrow will end and our voices will blend with the loved ones who've gone on before Never grow Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old Never grow old in a land where we'll never grow old Never grow old Man if you would turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 1st Corinthians 1 brother Jason will read it for us All right 1st Corinthians chapter 1 1st Corinthians chapter 1 the Bible reads Paul called to called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and sauced the knees our brother unto the Church of God Which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every Everything you're enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that ye ye come behind in no gift Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ That you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you But that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in and in the same judgment For it hath been declared unto me of you my brethren by them which are of the house of Chloe That there are contentions among you now this I say that every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ is Christ divided was Paul Crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you But Crispus and Gaius lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name And I baptized also the household of Stephanus besides I know not whether I baptized any other For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel Not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be bane of none effect For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved It is the power of God for it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise And will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudence. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save Them that belief for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom But we preach Christ crucified and so the Jews a stumbling block and that's the Greeks foolishness But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men For ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to Confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen Yea, and things which are not to bring to not things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and Sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Let's pray Dear Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of 1st Corinthians I pray that you would fill Pastor Robinson with your Holy Spirit as he preaches the message this evening and Just bless our study through 1st Corinthians and in Jesus name I pray So as you can see we're starting a new study and we're going through the book of 1st Corinthians and This book is packed with a lot of doctrine so obviously a great book to go into And so I just kind of want to stick in the New Testament a little bit I know we kind of spent over a year in the Old Testament with Isaiah and so we'll see where we go after 1st Corinthians But that being said let's jump into it here. We see in verse 1 here It says Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God Which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ now when we go through Paul's epistles a lot of times there's this basically introduction and You don't want to take that just for granted You just kind of read past that because it's gonna tell you who's who's Addressing who so we see here that a lot of times you see Paul Timotheus and Silanis right, you know kind of think of those guys You know it's being a lot of times where he's he's with them and he's writing into a certain group of people or certain church or whatever here we we see Sosthenes and So it's Paul and Sosthenes that's writing up to the church Which is at Corinth now go to Acts chapter 18 because we'll see where Paul goes to Corinth and Corinth is in Greece. Okay, so Just so you know where this place is at a glacier if you remember, you know is is in the Asia Minor area Turkey area and stuff like that. Whereas, you know Corinth is literally just west of Athens. And so if you know the Yeah, Paul's journey in Acts chapter 17, he comes from Thessalonica down to Berea Remember that the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Then he goes down to Athens That's where you had the Mars Hill thing. And then from there he goes over to Corinth so he's basically on this journey through Greece and Now he's coming into Corinth. So look at verse 1 So Acts chapter 18 verse 1 it says after these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth So he leaves Athens goes to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila born in Pontus lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them Now I don't want to read this whole story in Acts chapter 18 But there's you know stuff that happens in Acts chapter 18 in Corinth But notice in verse 17 here to know who Sosthenes is In verse 17 it says then all the Greeks took Sosthenes the chief ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat and Galio cared for none of these things. So Galio was Was the person that was basically supposed to be the deputy someone that's supposed to you know, basically Proceed over any type of judgments, but he just didn't care. He didn't care what was going on and But that being said is that Sosthenes basically was the chief ruler of the synagogue that was there in in Corinth or in Greece if you will but That being said we kind of see who he is that he was suffering for the cause of Christ when Paul was there in Corinth and all that and Now Another thing to think about there in Corinth is in Acts chapter 18 In verse 9 is that there were a lot of believers there when he was there Or a lot of people that were not only believers but people that were on his side if you will that that that God basically says hey, I got I got a lot of people here and because there's obviously some some Persecution going on and chapter 9 there I'm sorry chapter 18 verse 9 it says then spake the Lord of Paul in the night by a vision be not afraid But speak and hold not thy peace for I am with thee and no man shall set on me to hurt thee for I have much people in this city So Corinth, you know, obviously was a Greek city still is but at the same time like When he was there there was opposition but You know the Lord basically is comforting him saying, you know, don't worry. Don't hold your peace Don't be afraid because I have a you know, I have much people there okay, so That being said you kind of get the picture where you're at and where you're at in Greece Now go to act. I'm sorry You're going back to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 there So we see that Sosthenes is writing this with Paul or Paul's writing it down to the Corinth and Sosthenes is with them greeting them And so but he's writing this unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth Now notice what it says right after that in verse 2 it says to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints So here's a great verse to show you what it means to be a saint Okay, because in the Catholic Church, you know, that's like a special attribute, you know Like not every person that's a believer is a saint, you know, you have to be You know beatified or something like that. I forget what the term is, but it's something like that sounds like you're beating them or something, but But if you think of it like Beatitudes That's what they're talking about. Like the blessing, you know, anyway that being said is that You know being a saint is just being saved. Okay, but specifically what it means is to be sanctified Okay, so Saints are literally just those that are Sanctified or holy. Okay, so holy and sanctified and Saints these are all like synonymous things meaning that to be sanctified is to be holy and to be holy is to be sanctified and It it doesn't mean that you have to like Reach some level of godhood or something like that to become a saint Or that you have to be prayed into being a saint notice what it says here It says to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints Which all with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours So what does it mean so it's saying called to be Saints with all Meaning this is that who are these people that are called to be Saints those that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord So if you've called upon name of the Lord for salvation You're a saint because you've been sanctified in the Lord Now to show you another verse to show you that we are sanctified because some of you are like wow, we're not sanctified yet Now this is where obviously they're missing the fact that We're we're spiritually sanctified the moment we get saved but our body is not sanctified that's something that's a process right to be holy To be sanctified to be separate, you know, like all that is something that we're trying to do on a daily basis But spiritually speaking we are Saints spiritually speaking. We are holy. We're sanctified. We're Saints Okay. Now notice what says in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 1st Corinthians chapter 6 So if any if you ever want to show somebody that hey as believers we're Saints this verse 2 of 1st Corinthians 1 is a great place to show them is that first of all It shows you what Saint means by saying it's those that are sanctified But then it says that those that are called to be Saints are those that call upon name Lord Okay, so that's how you become a saint but in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11 It says in such where some of you but ye are washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God So notice that that present tense you are ye are sanctified and you're called to be Saints by calling upon name Lord now that being said It just kind of puts that the bed that You know Sainthood is some kind of like special thing above being just a believer. No all believers are Saints okay, all believers are sanctified and So there's it's not some like weird Catholic thing where you got to be prayed into sainthood or something like that And we use that the modern vernacular is like, oh you're trying to be a saint What does being a saint mean someone that's like basically perfect? But here's thing that's true, right meaning someone that is a saint has been purified and completely made clean And so that statements true But so what that means is that no one here is holistically just perfectly whole and without sin Okay, meaning we still have the flesh our flesh and our body is not sanctified yet It will be but it will also be justified Okay, but it says ye are sanctified ye are justified And all that now go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 4 so you see this introduction The introduction is basically like who's writing this or who's you know, the one that's putting this letter out so it's Paul and Sosthenes and Then who are they writing it to unto the church in Corinth and then they're basically giving this blessing you know of who he's writing it to he's writing it to the Saints that are at the church in Corinth and He's saying grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ now That's something that's said over and over and over again throughout like his epistles But that's how it usually starts it off is like hey grace mercy and peace you know, whatever the case may be and they may say it a little differently in some cases, but That's kind of like the signature Introduction then he goes on to say here in verse 4 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ That in everything you're enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you So that you come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord So we see here that he's basically saying that he thanks, you know, the Lord thanks God basically that Basically, they got saved and they're learning in the Lord and you know They're getting all this utterance now utterance a lot of times is talking about preaching You know that it may have utterance that may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, right? So utterance if you think of like utter In the Bible talks about the utter court and what's another way of saying that the outer court So when you're uttering something, it's something that's being said out loud or outwardly. Okay? So Basically here he's saying that they've been enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge And so he's thanking the Lord for that But he's also saying you know what the testimony that was confirmed in you He's basically saying that he wants you to basically come behind and no gift and so he doesn't say that He doesn't want you to like lose your salvation, you know, right? It's like I don't want you to come behind in like Falling from grace or falling from this or that he's basically saying that you become behind and no gift and this is gonna be a theme actually going forward here in first Corinthians dealing with the judgment seat of Christ and You know, basically that judgment and the gifts and rewards and all that that comes with Living for the Lord and not living for the world Now what we're gonna see with the Corinthians is that they're actually a very carnal Church meaning that they're they're really caught up in some Carnal sins, but also just you know things like that like and we're gonna see with fornication Just different things like that that they're caught up in that type of stuff and you know what? You can't you can't follow two masters, you know, he's gonna be getting into all this stuff with them So this is gonna be a letter that's gonna kind of be a rebuke. There's thing When there's a lot of things that are wrong. There's a lot of good doctrine that's gonna be taught alright, so that's why first Corinthians first Corinthians and second Corinthians, but Why these are such great letters because he's got so many things to address When it comes to what they need You know fixed that he's got to bring up a lot of different doctrines a lot of different things And so this is a great book because there's just a lot of things that He has to address and we get to learn a lot because of that Now keep reading or you see there that it says in verse 7 It says so that you come behind and no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And I love this because it says waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is something, you know, it talks about love to love his appearing and Those that you know, basically it talks about waiting but notice what it says go to Isaiah chapter 64, Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 4 It's interesting because first Corinthians actually quotes this later on This verse that I'm going to show you here, but it says it a little bit differently. It basically says you know talks about those that love him instead of waiting for him and This phrase, you know, like waiting for the coming of the Lord and Loving the coming of the Lord, right and I'm not saying those two words are the same or they mean the exact same thing Okay, meaning this is that if you love the Lord and want his coming then you're waiting for it And there's something to be said about waiting for meaning that you know kind of watching and waiting You're anticipating it. You're wanting it, right? There's that idea that You're waiting, it's kind of like if you're Let's say there was some movie that you wanted to come out or some book that you wanted to come out And you're just like I'm waiting for that to come out. What do you mean by that? You know means that you're just longing for it. Like you're you're got it on your calendar. You're counting down the days and you're just waiting and longing for that to happen and That's the attitude we should have for the Lord, you know thy kingdom come thy will be done You know that is something that we should be longing for Wanting to happen and especially when you think of this wicked world that we're in and the fact of everything That's that that's going wrong in these these days. Can't you say like hey, I just can't wait for the Lord to come back I can't wait for him to set up his kingdom and just you know Just rule with that rod of iron and breaking shivers, you know like it just the idea of like what he's gonna do as a king and Just anticipating it loving it waiting for it But in Isaiah 64 and verse 4 says for since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the year Neither hath the eyes seen Oh God beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waited for him And it's interesting because the very first year in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 7 It says so that you come behind in no gift Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and dealing with the fact that he's preparing things for those that wait for him Okay, and now obviously any saved person is gonna have some kind of like You know Reward to some extent. Okay I mean just your just your your body being made it like unto his glorious body is a gift in itself But listen, there's crowns. There's rewards There's there, you know There's the idea of like the precious stones the gold silver precious stones and just the reward that's given to you you don't want to be the person that's just suffering loss and Here's how you do it. You wait on the Lord. You're waiting for the Lord. You just you're you love The Lord and you love his his appearing and all that. Okay, so You know, he's kind of stating that with hey, you've enriched in knowledge. You've enriched in utterance, you know Basically, he doesn't want him to come behind in any gift. He doesn't want them to lose their reward and When it says that and first I'm sorry second John That we that we receive a full reward or that we don't lose a reward I don't believe it's basically if you had a reward and it was taken from you. I Believe it's more one of those things that you would have had this if you just would have kept going But you lost it because you didn't do it, right? It's more one of those like Things where I don't believe I believe you get it you do something you get rewarded for it okay, and but There's a lot of things that you've lost because you just lived in the flesh and you didn't actually do what you should be doing and you would have had if you just Would have kept going and doing what you should be doing Now look at first Corinthians chapter 1 So now the introductions are kind of over He's kind of like, you know your Saints and you know, I thank God that he's enriched you And I don't want you to come behind any gift and all these different things But then in verse 10 here, he starts getting into some issues Okay verse 10 here says now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and That there be no divisions among you But that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in this in the same judgment For it hath been declared unto me of you my brethren by them which are of the house of Chloe That there are contentions among you So he's basically saying there's contentions. There's something going on here. There's divisions He's saying, you know, basically I don't want there to be any divisions I want you to be speaking all the same things have the same mind the same judgment and be in unity Okay, this is what he's talking. He's like I want you to be in unity not to be in division now Here's the thing though. We don't want unity just for unity for the sake of unity. Okay, that's where you get into this idea It's like well, let's all come together and be ecumenical No, we don't want to just be unified just to be unified There has to be something that is an ultimate truth that we should be unified over Okay, so when it comes to the unity of the church, it should be uniform unified on the Word of God Not just on whatever the pastor wants to do and everybody just unified behind that or whatever the case may or the majority Right the majority wants to do this. Let's just unified behind that now We should be unified Until the mind of Christ is what we should be unified with. So notice what it says here in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 16 and obviously chapter 1 goes straight into chapter 2 and it's talking about a lot of the same stuff So I'm gonna try to stay out of chapter 2 because obviously we'll be getting in that tomorrow or tomorrow on Wednesday He didn't know but we're doing a special series. Okay This is gonna be 16 days straight of 1st Corinthians But in verse 16 of chapter 2 here it says for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him But we have the mind of Christ So this is what I believe he's saying, you know be of the same mind Is that not just the mind of anybody, right? He's like well find somebody and be of the same mind of that person, right? That's dangerous. Okay now we need to be of the same mind, but there's something that we should be all linking to to be of the same mind and Go to Philippians chapter 1 Philippians chapter 1 and this is something that's brought up a lot Because we do want to have unity. We do want to be of the same mind of the same spirit And you know what here at our church, you know when you think of like Baptist churches out in the world I believe our church has some of the best unity of any church I've ever been to now I can't speak for other, you know churches of friends of mine because I'm just not there to know Okay, and I may have visited or even preached for them But I have no idea what that unity is like because I'm not there week in week out And so it's you know, to me we have the best unity in any church That's out there. Okay, we have great unity in this church and Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 here is the big reason why I believe we have unity why we have such great unity in our church And notice what it says in verse 27 It says only let your conversation be as it become of the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you Or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind Striving together for the faith of the gospel Do you want to know why I believe we have great unity in this church because it's a soul-winning church and everybody has this mind to want to win souls and That that that that mind and that spirit that wants to win souls That keeps us in unity. You know what that does when there's any type of petty stuff and listen There's petty stuff that goes on, you know, even in our church not anywhere close to what I've heard Okay, you know the church is just to be honest with you. I just thank the Lord that our church isn't this petty Okay, and if we are I don't want to know about it But I've heard so many different things that are just so petty I mean anything from like she wore the same dress I wore and just people getting upset, you know over just petty Weird stuff like that. Okay, but here's the thing. We can all have disagreements and we can all have petty differences Okay But when we're all going out soul-winning and we're winning people to Christ and we're suffering persecution Maybe here there or whatever the case may be. You know what? We're in we're in this battle together and that unity is just just Strong as can be because we're striving together for the faith of the gospel and Obviously it needs to be behind the Word of God But listen everybody that goes out soul-winning here. We're all crystal clear on the gospel and if anybody's not I Feel sorry for him because I don't even have to say anything after you know, if anybody's ever like, you know Not doing something they should be Like we have someone new that's that's that's like, you know Maybe coming in or a visitor that comes in and then they like say something that's like off Listen, the soul winners are gonna be like nope, that's wrong and they'll step in Because we're unified on on the gospel on how crystal clear it is on being thorough with the presentation and you know what that is why I believe we have such great unity in our church is because when you're doing the work, there's less time to basically squabble over all these petty things and And Notice what it's go to first. I'm sorry Philippians chapter 2 and verse 2 Philippians chapter 2 verse 2 it says fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded Having the same love being a one accord of one mind See the same thing that's being said over and over and over again Is that we want to be a one accord one mind one spirit striving together for the faith of the gospel And just be thinking on the things of others not on ourselves And then in verse 5 there it says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus And it goes on to say who being in the form of God I thought I'm not robbed or thought himself not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon the form of a servant was made in the likeness of men and It goes down the line here on the fact that the mind that the meekness and humbleness of the Lord the lowliness of him And that's what it's talking about there is like his mindset as far as being a servant but when we're talking about we have the mind of Christ, I believe we're talking about the Word of God and So what are we unifying over? It's not just to unify to unify Okay, it's not I'm not gonna tell you just unify behind me You know, whatever I'm doing just unify behind me. Listen that won't last and you say well You know There's other churches that and we're just seem to be in unity with them too Well, yeah, because we're all reading the same book. So, you know when you have churches that are reading the same book and And doing what it says will all be in unity, but here's thing when it comes to unity We need to be focused on the local church because You start trying to say well, we need to be in unity with this church over here that church over there You know what that's where it gets complicated because we're not around those people all the time We're not seeing them day in day out week in week out We're not we're not laboring with them physically and it's harder to let go of petty things It's harder to let go of things that you see from afar off because you're not working with them And so you just really need to focus on the local church and being unified with with them As you're being in unity with the Bible notice what says in Psalm 133 Psalm 133 This is something that's obviously in the Old Testament as well that that we that we want to be in unity so we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to unity because you think of like you know Ecumenical type churches where they're basically all wanting to come together We're not talking about linking up with unsaved people and we're down and we're not talking about leaking linking up with worldly ungodly saved people Okay you know the Bible actually is going to teach against that, you know, and later on in the chapters here and So we're not we're not saying to just link up and be unified just to be unified but Unity is great when you can have it So in Psalm 133 in verse 1 It's a big psalm here, but we'll get through it. It says behold how good and how pleasant is it? It is for brethren to dwell together in unity So it just tells you straight out how good and pleasant it is Now look at verse 2 it is like the precious precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard Even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Herman and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore So it's giving you kind of some physical things to understand how beautiful it is And I think that God's preaching about beard oil. I don't know No But but that being said Now obviously Aaron here and you know obviously with they would put the he had to anoint his head and obviously came down over his beard over his garments and Being sanctified and all that stuff that being the high priest but then also dealing with just do that's there upon the mountains And you can think of how beautiful that is If you think about like a sunrise where you have like all the dew on on the ground And just how beautiful that looks and just in harmony and all that Anyway, all that to say is that it's a great thing to be in unity, but it needs to be in its right place We need to be unified behind behind the Bible not just behind some person just to be unified Okay, now go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 12 here So he's stating here that there's some divisions there. They're you know, basically there's contentions Later on he's gonna be like I partly believe it So he doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't want to believe that there's this this vision stuff that's going on or these contentions that are going on But he's gonna address something here At the very beginning of this letter in verse 12 here It says now this I say that every one of you Seth I am of Paul and I have Apollos I have Cephas and I have Christ So notice that you know what's happening here, they're they're having they're making clicks Okay, and it says is Christ divided Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul now? Those are all rhetorical questions Okay, meaning no. Okay, meaning this is that It's very silly to be like I am of Paul. I'm of Apollos and what he's gonna be getting into is baptism and Showing you that hey, we don't need to be in these camps And this could go into who got you saved right because later on he's gonna be talking about, you know I planted Apollos water, you know, God gave the increase and And the idea there is that we shouldn't be saying we shouldn't be saying hey this person got me saved I'm a better I'm I'm just more spiritual than you just because of who got me saved I'm more, you know, I'm in this camp because of who baptized me and Notice what it says here in verse 14. It says I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius now This is a great passage to debunk Baptismal regeneration and when I'm talking about is water baptism and If this was talking of if this if baptism was needed for salvation Then Paul's a pretty callous guy He's just like I thank God I didn't baptize any Because I just let you go to hell, you know Like that's what the Church of Christ down here would say is that you know you need to be baptized and wash away your sins in this water and This baptismal regeneration and Paul's saying I think God I baptized none of you now That's gonna be a little inconsistent if that's part of salvation because later on he's gonna say I made all things to all men that I might by all means save some Well, it doesn't sound like it Paul if you're like, I think God I baptized none of you But Crispus and Gaius Now those who it says in verse 15 It says lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name So he didn't say I baptized you in the name of Paul, you know, and obviously I don't believe anybody was doing that Right. I don't think I don't think Peter was doing that or Cephas right or Apollos or Paul or anybody You know, what's interesting is that Christ didn't baptize anybody now You know how I know that because in John chapter 4 it says that Jesus baptized more than John though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples meaning that Under Jesus's ministry more people were baptized than John's ministry Okay But Jesus wasn't physically baptizing anybody his disciples were baptizing people and so people were probably saying You know, well I got baptized under Jesus ministry Right. So there's like all these divisions and factions that are being made And it ought not to be so hey, who cares and and here's thing though When it comes to this and let me just keep reading here It says and I baptized also the household of Stephanus besides I know not whether I baptized any other so he's basically saying I baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanus, but you know what? I'm glad I didn't baptize anybody else because you'd all be saying I'm a Paul That's what he's basically stating here and Notice in verse 17 This is if you want if you want just the the nail in the coffin Against those that believe you had to be baptized to be saved Then read this verse right here. I have yet to ever hear any response any response At all like not even trying to give a response to this and verse 17 It says for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel Not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect Now, how can you read this verse and think that baptism water baptism is a part of salvation? You'd have to say that there's something other than the gospel. That's a part of salvation Because this is clearly saying that baptism is not part of the gospel Okay, because he's saying I he sent me not to baptize So Paul's out there to go save the Gentiles, but but apparently not really because He didn't send the baptized It's obviously showing you here that water baptism is not a part of the gospel water baptism is not a part of salvation and And here's the thing with baptism and I'm just gonna state this, you know people get hung up on who baptized them And I think I believe this passage is here for a reason now Obviously, I believe all the Bibles here for a reason but meaning this is that there's certain things that happened in Corinth but They came up and Paul wrote about it for a reason because there was going to be questions like this Okay, who baptized you and does it matter? Okay Do you know that there's a Baptist movement out there called the Baptist brighters? Yeah, I don't know if that's the name of it. It's something like that, right? Is it Baptist brighter anyway who cares? Okay, basically what the thing is is that there's Baptist out there that say well You need to be baptized Down the line all the way down to John the Baptist. Okay, meaning this is that if You're not basically there's special blessings or I don't know if they're the only ones that are gonna get raptured I can't remember exactly what the blessing is behind this but basically you're not really like a true Baptist unless you have like this genealogy Okay of baptisms all the way back to John the Baptist Okay, you know what first Corinthians showing us here. It doesn't matter who baptized you. Okay now Obviously you want a saved person to baptize you I'm not saying you just go out and find you know, this person over here on the street and be like, hey Take me down to the water there. I need to get baptized. But here's what it's stating though I believe that it's inconsequential who really does baptize you because it's about you and The Lord and your baptism, okay, meaning this is that there's cases where People that baptize you may end up turning out to be Judas Okay, what if you went to a church? Okay, and the person that baptized you turned out to be a Judas or they turned out to be someone that you know Was just saying all the right things and then they weren't really saved. Does that mean you need to get re-baptized? I don't believe so for one second Okay, and people struggle with that where it's dealing with the fact that okay Is this person really even saved that baptized me just to be honest the person that baptized me I'm not sure Okay, I'm not sure if I maybe you know, but this person's like really bad on repentance at the time We didn't really think that it was that bad or he didn't take it that far But then you look back at it. You're like is this guy even saved? You know like you look back at that But I'm not gonna be like just worried me like oh, you know I need to get baptized by someone that I know saved then that person you're like Well, is that person really saved and you get down this line where it doesn't it's not about that now Obviously don't go to a Presbyterian Church and go get sprinkled and be like well It doesn't really matter because it's not about who baptizes me You should be getting baptized in a church that you believe believes right on the gospel and they're dunking you underwater Okay, I was dunked underwater. Okay, and But that being said is that you don't you don't need to get caught up in that and be worried about like well Alright, well the person that baptized me was saved But did the person that baptized him get saved so did I get baptized by someone that was baptized legitimately? You know, I mean and this also goes down to the fact of like ordination too with pastors Okay, how far back do I need to go? To like say okay. Well, I know my pastor that sent me out saved, right? And I mean I'll tell you with I mean as much as I can know someone say pastor Huggins is saved, okay Of course, you know, I I know I'm a hundred percent sure but you know the same with my wife I can't know a hundred percent, but at the same time, I'm like 99.99% right, but I don't know who baptized pastor Huggins and I don't to be honest with you. I Think I know I think it was probably Joe Elwell that that ordained pastor Huggins, but I don't even know. Okay, there's thing Who who ordained Joe Elwell who ordained him and who ordained him and Am I supposed to go back all this way and be like, all right I'm gonna go through this genealogy of ordination or I'm gonna go through this genealogy of baptism and just go down this rabbit hole Okay And then you're just gonna be like there's just all these legitimate and illegitimate baptisms and all that And what I believe first Corinthians one here showing you is that he didn't get baptized in that I didn't get baptized in the name of the person that baptized me I got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost That baptism was between me and the Lord and you know what there was someone that was physically they're doing it Okay, but at the same time they're ultimately inconsequential Okay to to the baptism and I believe that's what it's stating here Is that you're getting baptized in the name of the Lord, right? You're not getting baptized in the name of the person that's baptizing you they're a minister and which is doing this for you to do it in front of people and obviously It is a commandment. It's something we're supposed to do But don't get caught up on that. Okay. Now here's the thing He that doubteth is damned to feed meaning this is that if you're if it really just eats at you and be like the person That baptized me. I'm pretty sure is not saved You know I thought they were saved but I'm pretty sure they're not saved and it just eats you up and you're just worried about whether you're Just you've done what you should be doing. There's nothing wrong with getting re-baptized I'm not here to be like, you know, suck it up buttercup and just like deal with it. Listen if it bothers you You know get re-baptized and you know what that that's I'm not against I'm not against that Okay, but here's my my stance on that if you're saved and you got baptized in deep water okay, and You you you had no other reason to think that the person that was baptized me wasn't saved that's legitimate Okay, don't worry about that. I Wouldn't worry about it. Okay. I don't believe Paul's worrying about it And we and we should definitely not take it so far to be like well, listen, I was baptized by so-and-so Okay, and just be like hey, who were you baptized by? You know, I was baptized by Pastor Robinson, you know, no one says that but But you know the idea there is obviously that's silly right does it really matter Okay, you know like for example if brother Dave, you know brother Dave's obviously, you know may baptize somebody coming up soon All right, you never know like I might be out of town or whatever the case may be it may need to baptize somebody but it'd be really silly if If someone's like I really want a pastor to do it though Do you see how that can get really ridiculous? Because does it matter if it's me or if it's brother Dave or anything like that Now listen, if it's my child, I can understand them saying I want my dad to do it. Okay, there's obviously Legitimate understanding on that but But when it comes to the gospel here It says for Christ sent me not to baptize but preach the gospel in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 It lays out exactly what the gospel is And it's interesting because even in that same chapter it talks about baptism You know, it talks about Those being baptized for the dead. It's interesting how this stuff kind of comes full circle on chapter 15 But I do want you to see here. What's the gospel in a nutshell? In 1st Corinthians 15 verse 1 it says moreover brethren. I declare unto you the gospel Which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you are saved if ye keep in memory That what I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain So even saying I'm going to declare unto you the gospel. I preached it unto you. You received it You're saved by it unless you don't remember what I'm talking about And you didn't really believe it right and we'll get to that when we get to this chapter, but Here's what it is verse 3 for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and That he rose again the third day according to the scriptures Boom, there's what the gospel is. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and That is what we're preaching. We're preaching the cross Now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 because it's in verse 18. It's going to state that that He didn't send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and notice what it says in verse 18 For the preaching of the cross Sound familiar to what the gospel is? The death, burial, and resurrection that he died for our sins was buried and rose again a third day That's the preaching of the cross It says for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness But unto us which are saved it is the power of God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Now, I Love this passage now The new versions butcher this and say well those that are being saved and make it some kind of progression of salvation But the Bible says here that unto us which are saved it is the power of God So the preaching of the cross now go to first our Romans chapter 1 and the thing I want to point out here is That you know where the power is at when it comes to getting someone saved It's the gospel the death burial resurrection of our Lord That is the power of God and the salvation that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness But unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Notice what it says in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ For it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also to the Greek For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written. The just shall live by faith Now here's the thing. Is that when you when you're dealing with Jew or Greek and that's what I'm going to go into later on here Is that talking about the difference between the Jew and the Greek as far as preaching the gospel is concerned because both of them stumble at it Okay but at the same time It how do you approach the Jew and the Greek Do you approach them any different and think about it the Jew at that time was the one that was like the? The Christian today right you think about people that just are under the umbrella of Christianity So what are you trying to do you're trying to preach them that you're not saved by the law Okay, I mean isn't that how we preach the people that are that claim to be Christian But then when you think about like the Greeks someone that believes in like other gods, so now you're dealing with like Muhammad you know well Islam right and you're dealing with Hinduism and you're dealing with these other religions that are outside of Christianity How do you deal with it same way the gospel Okay, you hit it the same way by preaching the cross by preaching the gospel by preaching the gospel of Christ the death barrel Resurrection of Jesus that is the power of God unto salvation, and it's not you know basically Proving to them that the Bible exists proving to them that the earth was created and not you know evolution Hey listen, I'm all for doing all those things, but listen when it comes to getting someone saved It's gonna be by the gospel Okay, you start with the gospel You end with the gospel, but here's thing Obviously you could go off on the tangents, but you should be all going back to the gospel If they ask you you know like what do you think about the earth and you know evolution be like well God created in six Days it's about it's roughly over 6,000 years old. That's what the Bible teaches, but you know what the gospel You know and just kind of going back into the gospel No matter where you're going with whoever you're you're giving the gospel to But it says here because here's thing it's foolishness to them that perish It's foolishness to them like they look at that and be like this is foolishness and listen Even a lot of Christians even look at that like that's the foolish route to go like if you're gonna win a Hindu You shouldn't start with the gospel. You should start with like well. Let's prove that there's one God Okay, now obviously you need to show that there's one God in the gospel presentation you know and that Jesus is that one God you know the Trinity the Father Son the Holy Ghost and Just prove that point, but at the same time like I'm not gonna go through this apologetic You know type of you know rant about you know proving God exists and proving you know like the history You know like all the religions and all this stuff No, I'm gonna start with for all of sin to come sure the glory of God with whoever I run into and I'm gonna go down into the fact that Jesus died for your sins with buried and rose again the third day and I'll be hitting those points that need to be hit as I'm going through that But you know where the power is at the gospel the death, burial, and resurrection And you know what that seems to be foolish doesn't it doesn't that seem to be the foolish route to go Because you're like well everybody knows about that everybody knows that he died on the cross and rose again the third day Do they first of all seems like nowadays no one even knows that he rose from the dead Like you'll talk to somebody like so what happened on the third You know you're going through the gospel you're like so what happened on the third day You know and you're just like you know just wanting them to answer get involved, and they're just like I don't know like Rose from the dead you know like people don't even know that now, but here's the thing Even if they do know that you still need to go through that that's where the power is at Go through those verses Now go to Isaiah chapter 29 because this passage here in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 19 It says for it is written. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Isn't it interesting that through the preaching of the cross that's how he's gonna do it It doesn't seem like that's the way that it would be done does it Don't you think that you should some have some big intellectual battle with somebody? some big debate Get on a big debate stage and debate You know all the theological arguments and No, you know what the Bible says here is that it's by preaching the gospel It's by preaching the cross and notice what it says in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 Wherefore the Lord said for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and their lips do honor me But have removed their heart far from me and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men Therefore you hold I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people even a marvelous work and a wonder For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish in the understanding of their prudent men shall be it and he's basically stating here is that in 1st Corinthians 1 where this is being stated in Isaiah 29 is that I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to Nothing the understanding of the prudent all those wise men whether it's the Jewish leaders or the you know the the You know the chief elders You know all the stuff that were in Israel or whether it be all the Greeks and all their wisdom and high knowledge and intellectual understanding of you know whether it be You know outer space or whatever the case may be an astronomy that or if they they think they know science and all this stuff that you know what you know what just plows through all of that is the gospel the preaching of the cross and It doesn't seem like that's the way it should be right you think no you know we got to fight Intellect with intellect now listen preaching of the cross is not unintellectual Okay, it's not like we're we're stating something. That's illogical. It's just very simple Right I Mean it's just very simple stuff. You're not getting into deep understanding of The universe or anything like that and getting into these theological philosophical type of discussions It's very simple and basic and that's why it seems foolish to the world that that's how you're gonna win Everybody is with this simple Type of presentation with this simple logic. That's how you're gonna win everybody yes Notice what it says here in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20 It says where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God I'm sorry for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God isn't that interesting You know professing themselves wise they became fools He became vain in their imagination their foolish heart was darkened I mean think about these with these wise men of the world that that are like these Evolutionists and then they're just like talking about how we're in some matrix system or you know aliens You know like everything's like just goes back to aliens everybody's into sci-fi you know and Whether it's like Scientology or just in general They're just like aliens must have did this aliens brought octopus in or octopi You know into the world because we can't explain how they evolved and it's just like aliens is always the answer But it can't be God right isn't it how wisdom? Knew not God right the wisdom of this world knew not God Because they knew God and glorified him not as God neither were thankful became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened They hold the truth in unrighteousness and these people it's interesting how they they end up worshipping four-footed beasts right now that being said That's what it says here in Verse 21 it says for after that the wisdom of God For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God By the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe notice. This is God's Avenue And here's the thing when God says this is what he wants you to do Don't question it. Just do it Because we can look at it to be like that can't be It can't just be by preaching the death, burial, and resurrection That's not how we're gonna do it there has to be some higher way there has to be some like more intellectual way And You know what that's what the fleshly mind thinks a fleshly mind thinks Hey, if I was just if I just you know broke down all these barriers and this philosophy I'm gonna win them no it's by the preaching of the cross. It's by the preaching of the death, burial, and resurrection In our minds that doesn't make any sense that seems like a foolish way of going about it, but that's it pleased God By the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe now when it says the foolishness of preaching Obviously to the world I believe it's foolishness right they look at that as foolishness But here's thing preaching in general is kind of when you think about it For me to get up here and just start like proclaiming stuff It's kind of a foolish thing to do because the Bible talks about like let your words be few Like basically he that shut his lips is kind of wise you know like you're basically putting yourself out there to be made a fool Right it talks about how a fool is known by the multitude of words And I believe it's getting to that point where it's kind of like it seems like something that we shouldn't do But at the same time we should and that's how it's done, but here's why Go to go to Titus chapter 1 Titus chapter 1 Here's why it works Because we don't just preach our own words Okay If I was just get up here, and I just started spouting off everything. That's my own words That would be foolish Okay, that's where you get into foolishness, and you're gonna be found out to be a fool if you just keep speaking your mind Hey, you know you keep speaking your mind eventually something foolish is gonna come out But if you're preaching the Word of God and what's coming out of your mouth when you're preaching is God's Word listen That's not foolishness So this is how it works. It's by preaching the Word of God when you're doing it You're not just preaching your own words You're preaching the Word of God and Titus chapter 1 and verse 1 it says Paul a servant of God and an apostle Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness and hope of eternal life Which God that cannot lie proms before the world began But hath in due times Manifested his word through preaching which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior notice that his word is manifested through preaching go to Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 And the point I want to make here is that notice that it's by preaching that people are saved Now some people believe that you can just you can get saved by just reading the Bible. I don't believe that I don't believe that's what the Bible teaches. I don't believe people are just picking up the Bible and reading it. There's many reasons Why I would say that but how about this God it had pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Okay, now if someone could get saved by reading the Bible then why didn't the Ethiopian eunuch get saved when he's reading Isaiah 53? They can say well, that's anecdotal. Maybe someone could you know, he couldn't but someone could At the same time like what's that whole story about how you know, it says understand us without readers How can I accept some man to guide me? Why do you think that story is there but to show you that if someone's reading the Bible they need someone to show them They need someone to preach it to them Remember, he started the same passage preached unto him Jesus, right but in Romans chapter 10 verse 13 here It says for whosoever shall call upon him Lord shall be saved How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not Heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except to be sent as it is written How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel peace and bring glad tidings good things It's interesting because the preacher is sent to preach the gospel and not to baptize. Isn't that what Paul was saying, you know Anyway, I'm getting off track there with the baptism. They're going back into the baptism thing. But here's the thing You know, how shall they hear without a preacher But what are they preaching? Well, it says but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Uzziah saith Lord who hath believed our report So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God How shall they hear without a preacher and faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God? Meaning that how do they hear meaning? How do they understand? How do they understand the gospel by the Word of God and by you preaching it? That it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching By the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe that's how he chose it to be if you don't like that Sorry, okay, if you don't like the fact that someone has to hear the Word of God preached to them to get saved I didn't make up the rules I'm not the one that determined that that's how it's going to be But that is what God said that that's what pleased him to do it that way And you know what your wisdom and your worldly, you know Or your fleshly mind and what you think it should be and why people are gonna get saved whether we're looking up at the moon And the stars and saying I believe in God and I got saved that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and how should they hear without a preacher and that is something that has to take place and Here is stating that you know what you can think that's foolish You think that that's the world can think that's foolish even Christians can think that's foolish, but it pleased God that it would be that way That's how it's gonna be done. And so We need to go out and preach and how are they gonna hear without a preacher and listen Baptist churches out there how they gonna preach unless you send them So we need to be sending out soul winners They need to be preaching so that people can hear the Word of God and have the choice the chance at least to believe and If they believe it They'll accept that free gift of salvation and have eternal life and be saved So go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 in verse 22 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 22. Remember we saw that dichotomy in in Romans chapter 1 where unto the Jew first and also to the Greek dealing with the power of God and salvation is the gospel of Jesus Christ verse 22 for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. So there's kind of two different things You know where they're coming from they're like I need to see a sign You know why this is true and why this is coming the past the other person saying I just need to intellectually work this out Philosophically, we need to figure out how this works out Okay, so you got two different mindsets, but you're hitting them with the same thing. Do you see that? Both of those hit them with the gospel Now keep reading there says verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness So are we are we going at it any different? No, we're preaching Christ crucified You know whether to the Jews it being a stumbling block or whether the Greeks foolishness we're preaching Jesus Christ to him crucified verse 24 but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the Foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Listen, you know, it seems foolish It seems simple. It seems like Like that can't be the way it's going to be but you know what God's wisdom is higher than yours And you may think why is it that way? Wouldn't more people get saved in another way? The answer is no Okay Because God's not willing that any should perish who have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth So, you know what his way is the best way So just put your wisdom out the door and on what you think it should be or how people should get saved If you think that people should just be able to read a Bible verse and get saved You know what? He didn't choose it to be that way He chose it to be that Spirit filled soul winner is going to show someone the Bible and that that's how they're gonna get saved That's what the Bible teaches. It's by preaching the cross that people are gonna get saved You know what that that means that means we better get to work that means you know what we got a job to do But you know, I can understand why churches don't want to believe this Because churches don't want to believe that they actually have to go out and win people to Christ And I'm not saying every church that believes that people can get saved Outside of someone preaching it to them is not soul winning. Don't get me wrong There are churches that believe that that people can get saved just by reading the Bible That are going out soul winning and doing great things for God But here's the thing, there's a lot of churches that use that as an excuse to not go out soul winning You're like, oh, we're gonna give him a track. We're gonna give him this and then just hopefully Hopefully someone gets saved out of that But the wisdom of God is greater You know, his thoughts are above our thoughts, you know, all that's true Add some other verses on that, but I think you get the point 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26. I Love this passage because It appeals to me meaning this is that You know, the idea here is that God uses people that aren't like the best at anything, you know, like he uses the baser people to do great things Notice what says in verse 26 says for ye See your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound The things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised have God chosen ye and things which are not To bring to not things that are that no flesh to glory in his presence meaning This is that you know, what most Christians and most people to do great things for God are not like billionaires They're not people that that are just like the the the popular people and in the Celebrities and all those people that you would look at to be like those people are winning in life Those people are mighty those people are wise No He uses all the base people of the world to do great things for God just as much as that having not chosen the poor rich in faith and There's the kingdom, you know, and it goes on to say basically those that are poor are more likely to believe because They're not trusting, you know, they need help They're there. They need to depend on somebody or depend on God to get through life Whereas the rich aren't going to do that. And so he doesn't say that no mighty people and no noble people get saved, right? I mean, obviously you have people like Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, right? I Believe Nicodemus got saved. I believe that there's other people in the Bible think of Luke the physician right obviously very intelligent guy You know to be a physician at the same time like he saved doing great things for God. So I'm not saying like But we all have to be just dull. I'm not saying anybody has to be dumb What I'm saying here is that you know, I don't believe anybody that is coming to our church is like You know basically up and like owning a fortune 500 company Or just like someone that is known to be this high-end intellectual person That's like running some you know The the von Mises like Institute of Economics or something like that where you're just like these high up Intellectual level people. Okay, that's what I'm talking about Probably to shut it down I Wasn't even drinking coffee But that being said see if God can use me That can't even get through a sermon without feeling like I just swallowed a bug The idea there is that I Love this passage because you know growing up, you know after I get getting saved and just reading this I'm like, you know what? Maybe God can use me Because I'm in the majority. You know, I'm in that list. I'm the majority there. So God loves doing it because he gets the glory for it Okay. Now first Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30 here. It says but of him Are ye in Christ Jesus who of God has made made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption That according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord Now go to Jeremiah 9, that's the last thing I'm going to show you here Because it references this And we could all say yeah. Yeah, obviously we shouldn't be glorying in ourselves. We should be glorying in the Lord, but specifically What is this passage talking about? So a lot of times in the Bible or in the New Testament, it'll quote something But you really kind of gotta go back to see what was the context of what that was why that was said Right because you can on the surface say, okay. Yeah, we should be glorying in the Lord, right? But not in us, you know, don't glory in yourself glory in the Lord. Okay, that makes sense But specifically, you know, so it says in verse 23 So Jeremiah 9 verse 23 thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom Neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches sound familiar because we're just talking about You know that not many wise not many noble, right? But then it says in verse 24, but let him that glorieth glory in this That he understandeth and knoweth and I can't talk This is like very fitting I'm reading this passage. I Feel like Moses, you know, he's like, you know the stammering tongue and lips right you chosen the wrong man I'm gonna get through this the last verse I'm gonna show you Okay, but we need a glory that we understand and know God That I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth For in these things I delight said the Lord so when we're talking about glorying in the Lord You know, what you need to glory in is that you know That you understand the Word of God glory in that You know, there's other things we're talking about God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ So what are we talking about here? We're talking about glorying in the cross preaching the cross and then chapter 2 We're actually be jumping into the knowledge of God that ye the deep things of God and knowing God knowing the Bible knowing the Word of God That's what we need to be glorying in and not in our own fleshly wisdom or our intellect or our riches or whatever the case may be or in our ability to speak without getting choked up But that's 1st Corinthians chapter 1 we'll be going through the book of 1st Corinthians from here on out And I'm excited about it a lot of great doctrine but stick with it and I think we're gonna learn a lot through here and Let's end with a word of prayer. The only follow we think of today. Thank you for your word Thank you for the book of 1st Corinthians and just help me to preach it correctly help me to be edifying and Lord just help us to learn a lot from this book and Either learn lessons that things that we shouldn't be doing or things that we should be doing From this book and Lord we love you and pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen Brother Nick will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed All right, if you would turn to song number 64 Song number 64 if we would all stand we'll sing shall we gather at the river? Song number 64 Shall we gather at the river? Where bright angel feet have trod With its crystal tide forever Flowing by the throne of God Yes, we'll gather at the river The beautiful the beautiful River gather with the Saints at the river That flows by the throne of God