1 Corinthians (2)

What We should be Thankful for

Paul in his letters included a thanksgiving that was unique to him

Rom_1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

Eph_1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

Php_1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Col_1:3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

1Th_1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;

2Th_2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Phm_1:4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,

Why because he wants people to know he is thankful for them.

While there were many problems with the believers in Corinth area, which Paul will deal with later, he first offers gratitude for some of the good things in the believers there, particularly their gifts, which were their spiritual enrichments.

How did they feel about Paul did not matter

2Co_10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

They were questioning his apostleship

They were conspiring against him. Tring to pit him against other leaders.

They were not paying his way they would not take from their abundance and minster to his needs. They treated him selfishly.

But he thanked God for them.

Kind of like the kids they question your authority , they judge you try to pit you and your wife against each other . They take advantage of you they do not appreciate you.

But you thank God for them don't you.

Paul said I was gentle among you as a nurse that cherichesth her children

What they were involved in did not matter .

They were involved in fornication

Abusing spiritual gifts

They were being a bad example

Getting drunk at the Lord's supper.

Where they were deficient did not matter

What kind of trouble they were causing did not matter

Fighting , dividing up in all these separate camps we will talk about later.

Can we be thankful for the unthankful people ?

Can we be thankful for trouble makers?

I thank my God always

All the time

Pray without ceasing

The first thing that came to his mind is thanksgiving.

That is convicting

Think about the people causing you problems and heart ache right now.

Can you thank the Lord for them

This doesn't mean things should be addressed

They were addressed in this book

But first he affirms his relationship with them

Remember everyone is trying to find out three things from their leaders

Do you care about me compassion

Can you lead me competence

Can I trust you do you have character.

If you are a leader seek to grow in those areas because we can all improve.

Than He lays them out

Than he does this

All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.

The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sandwich it like a boss. To help them out.

By the way with that attitude you can effect change he was able to correct them. He won them over.

And also we can see he mellowed out from Galatians his first book because he lays right into them.

So maybe this would be a good time as we start this book and we are going to deal with problems and they are going to hit every one of us

We are all ogin to grow if you hang in there.

They are going to hit the people that lean to the right and to the left

I love you all I really do and what you think or believe or do does not change the way I look at you as a person.

I put my pitch fork down a while back I am not looking to lynch anyone I am looking to help you and treat you like God wants me to before you are my friend you are his child before you are his child.

When you talk to one of my kids you know My wife is well aware of what is going on and that conversation is not kept a secret.

Look that is how the Lord is he is watching how we treat one another and that is when he prayed his last prayer in was his request that we would love one another. And there was no qualifications on that love other than being a child of God.

For his Grace Given to Sinners

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

He thanked God for a bunch of people that had problems

He thanked God on their behalf

If someone is not thankful in your opinion

Than thank god on their behalf

And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

For what

for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

Grace is not mercy it is more than that

God’s riches at christ expense

Given by Him he was worthy we are not

I am so thankful God gave his grace to them

I am so thankful God saved them

1Ti_1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

It is given not earned

Our grace should be given not earned

No one is worthy, none of us are.

God gave them his grace so paul gave them his grace as well

And that should be our heart and our starting point when we deal with problems

If this is not your heart towards someone your first attempt should be to get your heart right.

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

Praise the Lord for his compassion and mercy! He could have destroyed me a long time ago. I pray that I can become stronger in exercising a greater ability to show mercy and compassion for those who have wronged me.

Wright brothers

“I have no answer to my last letter and fear that the frankness with which delicate subjects were treated may have blinded you to the real spirit and purpose of the latter.”

“My brother and I do not form many intimate friendships, and do not lightly give them up.”

“We prize too highly the friendship which meant so much to us in the years of our early struggles to willingly see it worn away by uncorrected misunderstandings, which might be corrected by a frank discussion.”

“It is our wish that anything which might cause bitterness should be eradicated as soon as possible. If we discuss matters in this spirit I believe all serious misunderstandings can be removed.”

Chanute responded two weeks later on May 21.

“I am in bad health and threatened with nervous exhaustion, had to go to New Orleans for a change in March, and am now to sail for Europe on the 17th of this month.

Your letter of April 28th was gratifying, for I own that I felt very much hurt by your letter of January 29th, which I thought both unduly angry and unfair as well as unjust.

I have never given out the impression, either in writing or speech, that you had taken up aeronautics at my instance or were, as you put it, pupils of mine. I have always written and spoken of you as original investigators and worthy of the highest praise. How much I may have been of help, I do not know. I have never made any claims in that respect, but I do confess that I sometimes thought that you did not give me as much credit as I deserved.”

“The difference of opinion between us, i.e., whether the warping of the wings was in the nature of a discovery by yourselves, or had already been proposed and experimented by others, will have to be passed upon by others…”

“I hope, upon my return from Europe, that we will be able to resume our former relations.”

Can we thank God for his grace given to the most undeserving while they are still in error ?

For His Gifts Given to Sinners

That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Here he is thanking the Lord for their spiritual gifts

What caused the gift ?

It was the Lord he was the one that enriched them.

They were a very proud people

Proud of their heritage

Proud of their city their wealth the wisdom of the world.

He addresses those things in here.

But he said that came from the Lord.

Never forget that the gifts that you have that we have come from the Lord.

You are enriched by God.

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:

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

God shows me all the time limits to my wisdom.

Read the diary of ann frank

How noble and

good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own

behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do

better at the start of each new day and, after a while, would certainly accomplish a

great deal. Everyone is welcome to this prescription; it costs nothing and is definitely

useful. Those who don't know will have to find out by experience that "a quiet

conscience gives you strength!"

I will be better I will improve myself

Than other times

In bed at night, as I ponder my many sins and exaggerated shortcomings, I get so

confused by the sheer amount of things I have to consider that I either laugh or cry,

depending on my mood. Then I fall asleep with the strange feeling of wanting to be

different than I am or being different than I want to be, or perhaps of behaving differently than I am or want to be.

Do not forget it comes from God.

And just because you think you have it together one day the next day you find out you are a mess.

In all utterance and knowledge

Speaking gifts to be able to communicate the truth.

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

The things they said through the gift was from God

It was confirmed that the Lord was in them through that gift.

These gifts gave evidence of their salvation.

Remember God gives the gift

Rom_11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

You can't lose your gift or your calling

You can lose a talent but not the gift.

You can neglect the gift you cannot stir it up ,

Jas_1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Have you ever wondered why a preacher living in sin can preach a convicting message and be used of God in a mighty way and then you find out he was doing the wrong thing?

Do not ever diminish the truth or help you got from it even if he messed up

It was God's gift.

Maybe you lose the capacity to use it in the church maybe you will have to use it in priosion

But when you got a gift like the corinthians you will give an account for what you did with it.

Lost people do not have spiritual gifts they may have talents but it is given of the spirit.

They were a very gifted Church

In the backdrop of all these philosophers you were not enriched by your heritage or being a greek or by being from corinth

He is talking about spiritual gifts here

He said even though you have all those problems I thank the Lord for the spiritual gifts he has given you

So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

There is a difference between being gifted and spiritual.

We want to be both.

They had all the gifts and they were good at them

The could preach the best sermons

Minister the best in music exportation

Best testimonies .

Gifted but not spiritual.

I would rather pastor a spiritual church anyday than a gifted one.

You know what I can do I can not pray and I can depend on my gift and get up here and God will still bless at times because it is his gift

But in that case I am abusing my gift

I am using it improperly.

How do we minister ?

Do you depend on God for what you do or do you depend on your gift do you think you can go fighting into the pulpit into the nursery into the quior ?

We should thank God that he gives us gifts and he does not take them back if we do not deserve them

Just like the corinthians we enjoy them we profit from them and we thank the Lord he lets us keep them

God is not an idian giver.

He may take your talent or your opportunity but he will not take your gift. He will take your gift when he takes you.

The believers in the Corinth area exceeded others in terms of gifts. However, as some have said, “The church at Corinth was the most gifted church but also the most carnal church of the New Testament.” Gifts are wonderful, but character is more important.

Your gift can take you where your character cannot keep you

Johnny menziel

For His Guarantee Given to sinners

So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye 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.

He is telling them the disobedient believers of their guarantee in their salvation

So he is communicating these things that you need to take care of is not what is going the save you and make you be able to stand before the Lord when he comes back

For some reason any instructions you give to disobedient christians they misinterpret as saying you are going to hell if this does not change.

That is not at all what paul is communicating

He is not threatening their position in Jesus Christ.

The power in the carentee is the Lord

The antecedent is not the believer but the Lord.

Our faith does not stand in the power of men

It does not stand in our performance but in the power of God.

1Pe_1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Who is faithful not the corinthians not us

But God

Who will do it ? god

How long will he do it

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Unto the end

Not till you mess up till the end.

I believe not every one that says they are saved are saved but every one that is saved will be confirmed unto the end.

That ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ

The believer’s security has to do with his purity before God. At salvation the believer is washed in the blood of the Lamb and cleansed from his sins. This purity will be maintained as part of the security of the believer. Once saved, always saved.

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord

Having communion with Jesus Christ is the ultimate result of our salvation. Because God is faithful, that will be our experience. We can have fellowship with Christ now through prayer and His Word, but that does not compare to having fellowship face to face with Him in eternity.

Prodigal son welcomed home

God is good isn't he.

He is so good it makes some older brothers mad

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

He would have welcomed the guy home in First cor 5 even if he died and never repented.

And we will find out when we get there there are a lot of things we never repented from because we did not know we were to busy loafing or fighting to find out.

Well does that mean you can do whatever you want and get away with it no

That is what the rest of this book is about

He is about to skin our hide but first he lets us know this our positioning christ is secure.

Can we thank the Lord for the garentee given to sinners even like the corinthians ?