1 Corinthians – Mt Freedom Baptist Church

Christ followers understand God’s call to honor Him in the things we do, say, and think throughout every day of our lives in Christ. We are to show honor to God in our worship, by our obedience to His commands and calling, in our relationships with our fellow human beings, in everything we say, in our daily work to the glory of God, in our stewardship of the blessings God has bestowed on our lives, in living lives of holiness, in thankfulness for God’s presence and work in our lives – especially our salvation through Christ out of death in our sins into eternal life in His glorious presence, and in fulfillment by His empowerment of the mission(s) He has assigned to us.

We have seen that God defines love because as the apostle John wrote, “God is love.” We also learned that Jesus embodies the love of God in human flesh. Now we look at the work of The Holy Spirit – the third person of the trinity to manifest the love of God in and through the hearts of Christian believers.

In his letters to the churches at Ephesus and Corinth, the apostle Paul tells all Christ followers that God’s Holy Spirit living within us gives us specific and varied spiritual gifts to be used for building and strengthening His Church. Paul’s missionary companion Barnabas consistently and fully applied the spiritual gift of encouragement that he had been given. In fact, the nickname Barnabas that the apostles gave him means “son of encouragement,” reflecting his obedience to God’s calling. Barnabas’ gift of encouragement isn’t as spectacular as some other spiritual gifts like prophecy and healing. But encouragement from the Holy Spirit given through God’s chosen vessels like Barnabas is nevertheless vital to the health and strength of the Church, and indeed the world at large.

In his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul addressed a misconception among them that Jesus can’t be Immanuel – God in human flesh, because their view was that all flesh is inherently evil. Paul reminded them that Jesus – the Word of God – is the instrument by Whom our Three-In-One God created the world. Therefore Jesus was before all things as John reminds us in the introduction of his gospel account. In describing this concept to the Colossians, Paul used the Greek word πρωτεύω) prōteuō – preeminent. In our lives and our belief, Jesus must not only be important. He must be the only and central focus of our entire being. In other words, we must hold Him “Preeminent.”

Colossians and Ephesians were written by Paul the apostle from house arrest in Rome as he awaited his trial before Caesar. We will study this entire letter over the next few weeks. Colossae was a city in Asia Minor which had a large Jewish population including some Jews who had become Christian believers after hearing the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus from Epaphras. Paul wrote this letter to remind the Colossians that salvation in Christ results from knowing Jesus as our personal savior and having a relationship with Him – continually growing in knowledge of God, not from any other “secret” knowledge (Gnosos) or through any form of legalistic works.

The Twelve apostles of Jesus were not outstanding in any way, at least before they met Jesus. However, Jesus called these men personally. He knew all their flaws, faults, and apprehensions, yet He still chose them.

Properly applying the wisdom of God as found in His Word can assure that we enjoy the blessings of good friends in this life and can help us look forward to enjoying these dear friends in eternity. You know… of all the friendships we could develop, none is better than the one we can have with the One who truly “sticks closer than a brother” – our Lord Jesus Christ!

The full armor of God! Paul, in Ephesians 6 informs us about the armor we GET to put on each day.

“What is the church?” Most people respond with some reference to a building, but what would be a more succinct answer? The church is not a building but is instead THE PEOPLE who gather at a building for the sole purpose of worshipping God.

God’s name is unequivocally the most complex and most important name ever! Because of this, we need to recognize the significance of His name and understand that when we speak of God, we are speaking of More Than Just A Name. We are referring to Jehovah, the “Self-Existent One”. Jehovah Elohim, the “Creator”.

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