February 4, 2024
Evening Service

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

1st Corinthians 2:1  And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 

1st Corinthians 2:2  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

1st Corinthians 2:3  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 

1st Corinthians 2:4  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 

1st Corinthians 2:5  that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 

Jesus being one with the Father and one with the spirit had all the powers of the God Head. As a human, Jesus chose not to use His power to proclaim His place in power, but to serve the human race and show love and forgiveness to all who believed in Him. The totality of Jesus as both man and God, and the giving of Himself for our sin debt is essentially the whole of the gospel because He did not sin, even when being angered. We know that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The gospel message Christ wants preached by ministers is that He served as the sacrificial Holy Lamb of God and He paid our sin debt that we could not. We are just to believe in our heart and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord and Lord of our lives. The bible is full of instruction of how to live within the will of God, obedience and love with God at the top of our list of priorities is the Way. Paul preached with the power of the Spirit and not of his own wisdom or abilities. His sole goal was to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles and to show that the relationship with God is to whosoever believes in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Paul was aware of his own weakness and he feared the Lord with great honor, so when he preached to those listening, he made positive that he was preaching what was given to him through the Spirit. By preaching about Christ and the crucifixion’s purpose, the success of the message depends upon the power that accompanies the Word by God’s hand. Men will believe in the message of salvation when their souls are drawn to Christ for repentance and forgiveness of their sin.

Wisdom from the Spirit

1st Corinthians 2:6  However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 

1st Corinthians 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 

1st Corinthians 2:8  which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

1st Corinthians 2:9  But as it is written: "EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 

People, who receive the Word of God that Jesus was not only human, but also Divine in every way, understand that this was the perfect plan designed by God to redeem all us sinners who are lost and deserving of death. There was only one plan that would ever work to make continual sacrificing of animals obsolete. Animals only provided for temporary pardon of peoples sins, when God sent His Son Jesus to die in our place, this only needed to be done once for all sin past, present, and future.

Colossians 1:26  the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 

Colossians 1:27  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

This mystery was made evident to the saints although it was formerly hidden from the heathen world (Gentiles); it was shown in prophecy and shadows of things to come, but now has been made known by God’s Spirit and is revealed. Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory and this designation is too great for any animals. If humans truly understood the wisdom of God and the great work of Jesus making a Way for us through redemption, they would not do many things that they now do not understand are abominable to God.  God has prepared things for those that love him, which we cannot even imagine without our finite minds. Think of this, we cannot even start to understand the great things God has in store for us who love Him. We cannot think of it, nor catch a glimpse through our senses, nor even let a notion of it enter into our hearts! Our God has the capacity to do and create things we cannot even fabricate with our minds! We as Christians must wait upon the Lord, trust Him with our lives and decisions, and rely upon the Scriptures as the truth He has chosen for us to abide by and live. God will reveal to us what He wants us to have knowledge of or if need be, the wisdom concerning choices made.

1st Corinthians 2:10  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 

1st Corinthians 2:11  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 

1st Corinthians 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 

1st Corinthians 2:13  These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 

1st Corinthians 2:14  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

1st Corinthians 2:15  But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 

1st Corinthians 2:16  For "WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE MAY INSTRUCT HIM?" But we have the mind of Christ. 

God will reveal to us the knowledge and wisdom that He has for us believers through the Holy Spirit. God alone has this authority, because it is Divine and not of man.

2nd Peter 1:21  for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

This is the definitive truth from the Word of God, that He alone reveals prophecy through the Holy Spirit. It is not of any human knowledge or wisdom. So take note here that the Holy Spirit knows the things of God, unlike man in his form with all his talents cannot know without the Spirit of God living in him. Therefore, this also shows that the Holy Spirit is part of the trinity of God, because the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son. This shows the nature of God in whole, He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons yet one in His Divinity. The apostles did not go around preaching from their own knowledge and wisdom; the Holy Spirit guided them. They had the understanding from the Spirit of God and the saving power of this wisdom from the same Spirit. They spoke in plain words without impressive vocabulary in order to make the spiritual message known without confusion. This is different from the natural man, whereby fancy vocabulary and oratory skills reflect worldly man and his attracting and tempting speech. The wise worldly man does not receive the things of the Holy Spirit; his very nature is carnal and full of pride. He is in opposition to the Spirit and therefore will receive nothing that is from the Holy Spirit. The mind of a man that is sanctified will discern the values of holiness, yet he will not lose the ability to judge and discern the common things. However, the carnal man is not knowledgeable about the concepts, pleasantries, and actions of the Godly life. God will grant the knowledge of His will to a spiritual man, but he will not do this for the carnal man. No man can ever start to understand the things of God with a carnal mind only, his very nature is against the Spirit of God and therefore without the ability to commune. The apostles were gifted by the Holy Spirit to understand God’s Holy Will for a relationship with Him and living a life pleasing to Him.

2nd Timothy 3:16  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 

2nd Timothy 3:17  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

The Holy Bible gives us the written Word of God to understand how we are to behave according to the Holy Spirit living within us. Having the Holy Spirit, even in the smallest portion is a wonderful gift God gives to those who love and believe in Jesus as Lord, in God as Father, and in the Holy Spirit for discernment and righteousness. People that receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts will bring forth good fruit as they live their lives.

Matthew 7:17  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Help us Father to listen to the Holy Spirit and obey what we are given for direction and guidance according to your Will in the name of Jesus our Lord!