Chapter 1 Divisions In The Church

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes. 2 We are writing to the church of God in Corinth, you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did all Christians everywhere – whoever calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and theirs. 3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his grace and peace. 4 I can never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus.

5 He has enriched your church with the gifts of eloquence and every kind of knowledge. 6 This shows that what I told you about Christ is true. 7 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you strong right up to the end, and he will keep you free from all blame on the great day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your arguments, dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, ” or “I follow only Christ.” 13 Can Christ be divided into pieces? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. 16 (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.)

17 For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News – and not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. 18 I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God.

19 As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.” 20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe.

22 God’s way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true. And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God. 25 This “foolish” plan of God is far wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is far stronger than the greatest of human strength. 26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, 29 so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. 30 God alone made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom. 31 As the Scriptures say, “The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.”

Chapter 2 Paul’s Message Of Wisdom!

1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I first came to you I didn’t use lofty words and brilliant ideas to tell you God’s message. 2 For I decided to concentrate only on Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. 3 I came to you in weakness – timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. I did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but the Holy Spirit was powerful among you. 5 I did this so that you might trust the power of God rather than human wisdom.

6 Yet when I am among mature Christians, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world, and not the kind that appeals to the rulers of this world, who are being brought to nothing. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the secret wisdom of God, which was hidden in former times, though he made it for our benefit before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord.

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 10 But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

12 And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13 When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. 15 We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all. 16 How could they? For, “Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?” But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Be Blessed!

Technorati Tags: Christ, Division, Good News, savation, Wisdom. God

Then God says: ARE YOU WILLING TO SUBMIT AND GIVE IT TO ME?

Well, remember when I said that it’s important to be transparent? Well I am going to share with you something I struggle with. Of course I am not proud of what I am about to say so it takes some courage to be open…so with that being said, Let’s take a look back on my past and that will explain some of the current issues I am faced with.

God is so good and even when we stumble he catches us. His love surrounds us and we are able to admit our faults and say “God Please Help ME!” Well if some of you read my personal testimony I did share some of what I went through…if you go to my blog archives you can click on older and view the blog “My Personal Testimony” and it will give you insight to my past.

I had much hurt and some of that hurt I did to myself….you will always reap what you sow….good or bad the bible states that. But some of what happened to me was nothing I did or caused it just simply happened and it caused me to have deep down roots of bitterness, anger, resentment, hurt, rejection, and so on….

And it’s been a long time I mean a work in progress that God is changing me from the inside out. But before he can raise you up to your call of destiny he will need to draw out the impurities in our hearts. And yes, it can be painful but if you just hang in there it will be for your benefit and the benefit of the Kingdom of God.

God will correct us when we need it and he does this because he loves us. Also because he wants you to grow as a child of God and if you lag all that negative around then you will soon become submerged (in over your head).

Through the process of Sanctification, God works in and through you to bring you to be more like Christ. He will also allow some difficulties to come your way to open your mind up to the need for help in a certain area you struggle with or have a stronghold.

God wants you to overcome and the only way to be able to do that is to submit to Him and submit to the process of Him working in and out of you.

So I have from my past a ton of negative things and as I mentioned above about the anger, well that is one that I struggle with. Little by little God is working that out in my life and I can see a BIG change in myself verses a year ago. But there is still work that needs to be done.

So of course I got very angry over something that I had every right to be upset about but I took it to far and let my anger get the best of me…..but then God took control and showed me his thoughts and I was at a loss for words because I knew I was wrong. Not because of why I was angry but I delt with it in the wrong way.

So I received an email from one of my dear friends online and God used her to drive a point home with me so here is the email just as it was written to me yesterday

It states :

Starting Your Day Right

He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.
(Proverbs 25:28)

Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

It develops as we spend time fellow shipping with GOD and practicing obedience to Him.

Sometimes we would rather that GOD control us and make us do the right thing.

But He wants us to rule over our spirit.

Proverbs 16:32 says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, he who rules his [own] spirit than he who takes a city.
“

It takes self-control not to get offended, not to become angry every time somebody doesn’t do something the way we want it done.

Self-control is needed over our thoughts, our words, and our appetites.

But once we master our own spirit, we are considered to be powerful in the eyes of GOD — stronger than one who takes a city.

GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS

When I got this I was just quiet….I pondered and even though I was still very upset I knew God wanted me to see where I was going wrong….and he used her to do it…

Now don’t get me wrong there is not one person who wants to get paddled but sometimes it is necessary for our spiritual growth! Even with that said God never was like “Oh Tina I am just so mad at you how could you?” It wasn’t like that at all.

It was simply Tina “I am not asking you to fix your problem but I am asking you to submit to ME.”

Ooooooooooook! Then we went to our prayer meeting last night and I was still angry! Then I felt he Lord say “Turn to the book of Matthew” and I reluctantly opened …..then of course I turned right to Matthew 5 verses 21-24 where Jesus talks and teaches about ANGER!

Ok, ok …..I get it! but do you see how He worked with me? He wasn’t mad at me….He wasn’t trying to rub my face in it…He was trying to help me see an area I needed to change and He simply said I’m not telling you to fix it but to submit to me.

That meant that if I will admit I am wrong, confess my sin, ask for forgiveness, and submit to Him then He who began a good work in me will complete the work He has started!

I love Him…..because He first Loved ME! Thanks be to God for His amazing love, grace, and understanding! Be Blessed!

Technorati Tags: anger, Christ, sanctification, struggles

The Judgment of God will be happening as described in the bible and it will be fierce and eternal. In the book of Revelation describes with vivid detail that time when the wrath of God will be poured out on the world. The church will be delivered from His wrath (Rapture).

In Revelation 1:10 it states “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day” That day refers to that great and terrible day when the judgment of God will come upon the earth.

Even so this judgment does not even bring repentance. In Revelation 9:21 it states “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

When unredeemed man stands before God, it will be in the Great White Throne Judgment. Those who have not accepted Jesus as their righteousness will appear before God to be judged according to their works because that is the only righteousness they will have.

They will have rejected the free gift of salvation! In Romans 3:20 it says “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Jesus suffered sin, the curse, hell, and torment for all the world. Jesus does not want one person to go to hell. It is a total and absolute defiance for man to reject such a great and merciful salvation.

That is why it is so important to let other people know about Jesus and God’s gift of salvation! I do not want anyone I know to go there. I do not even want people who have done me wrong to go to hell. It is a horrible place and the torment in that place is and will be eternal meaning that it will never stop. Humans can not even begin to grasp that fact. It is not some fictional place with make believe figures, it is REAL!

When you have salvation and you surrender yourself to God and you ask Jesus to save you knowing you are a sinner and you repent and believe Jesus died for you and was raised again you will not be in the Great White Throne Judgment. If you are a NON-BELIEVER you WILL!

The Believer will appear at the judgment seat of Christ which is different from the the other. In 2nd Corinthians 5:10 it says “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Some material in this blog was from the book entitled The Gospel of Peace By Dr. James Richards This book is a must read!

part 2 of this blog will appear this afternoon it’s time for church! Be Blessed!

Technorati Tags: Christ, Great White Throne Judgment, hell, judgment, repent, salvation, suffer, works