THE CROSS AND THE CHURCH

1 Corinthians 16:5-24
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia,
6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go.
7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.
11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
Final Instructions
12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I urge you, brothers--you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints--
16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.
17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,
18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men.
Greetings
19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.


The Cross and The Church

May we stand firm in this culture.

Preaching the cross and trusting God’s wisdom.
Glorifying God through purity in our body…
Corporately through discipline and restoration.
Individually as men and women, in sexuality, marriage, and singleness.
Worshiping God in our work and our play.
May we show love in the church.
In the ways we use our liberties and the way we spend
our lives.
Through our use of spiritual gifts and a pattern of
selfless giving.
In our gathering for worship and our scattering as witnesses.
The cross compels us to make disciples.
The cross compels us to multiply churches.

Thanks pastor David!!

Salt and Decay

Rev.1:5
5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 


Before refrigeration, meat was preserved by salt to prevent decay.
We, as a nation, have lost our salt!
In our hesitation not to offend people we are not sharing the power of God's word to stop the decay, that decay being sin.
I don't say this to judge because I too am under judgment from a Holy God who hates sin!
As a sinner, I know the power of Christ to save my soul!
As a sinner forgiven, I want to share this power with the world!!

Mark 9:49-50
49 For everyone will be salted with fire.
50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Matthew 5:14-16
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We have surely let indifference creep in.
We must love people enough to share the gospel!

Father, loosen our tongues! Give us a pure heart to teach the gospel no matter the cost! Amen

Subjection of the Rebels

SUBJECTION, n.
1. The act of subduing; the act of vanquishing and bringing under the dominion of another.
The conquest of the kingdom and the subjection of the rebels--
2. The state of being under the power, control and government of another. The safety of life, liberty, and property depends on our subjection. Our appetites and passions should be in subjection to our reason, and our will should be in entire subjection to the laws of God.

The Rebel never finds peace.
He has a high opinion of himself!
He always thinks he is right, never listening to others.
We are born rebels!
We have been rebels since the Garden of Eden when our temptation began!

Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

1 Cor.11:3
3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

God has commanded the order of all things!
Subjects of God are under His will!
He wants a humble willing servant!

John 5:19,30
19 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Seeing Is Believing, Well Not Always ----------Let’s Look At Faith

Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

God spoke the world into existence! There was not a planet He copied, nor a sky, clouds, sun, moon or stars! He stated it and it was!

Gen.2:7
7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

When God made man from dust, He had no blueprint! He formed him from an impossible medium, dust and breathed life into him and he was!

A nobleman’s son became ill, so he sought Jesus to heal him. When he found Jesus, he asked Him to come to his home. But instead of physically going to the boy’s bedside, Jesus healed him by His word. John 4:50b says, “And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.”
Not a wonder, not a sign, not a vision, not angels playing tic-tac-toe on his ribs, or cold chills going up and down his spine…the man believed Jesus’ Word and went on his way.
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.
Doubt sees the obstacles; faith sees the way. Doubt sees the darkest night; faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step; faith soars on high. Doubt questions who believes; faith answers, “I”!
ACTION POINT:
Life follows faith like night follows day. There is no life without faith.
LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Eternity and a Thousand Deaths

Is.53:6
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--everyone--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

I guess we never even give it a second thought, Christ died thousands of death that day on the cross. He took the sin of the whole world upon Himself.
Every lie, every murder, every affair committed, every abortion, every thief stealing, every child that does not honor his parents, well I could go on and on, but you get it right?
Him who knew no sin became sin so that we could be forgiven!
All the sin in the world, forgiven by God!
Can we even grasp this?
Do we know that this is a gift we do not deserve?
Do we care?
We owe Christ our obedience!

Is.53:1-5, 7-12
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Colossians 2:11-15
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Phil.2:6-11
6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Heb.4:14-16
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

1 Peter 2:4-10
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"
8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.  "They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 

Lord, I beg forgiveness for my sinful and willful disobedience! Lord, help me in my childish behavior! You alone are worthy of all our praise! Amen