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For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

  Good morning. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. Paul was the one that helped start the Corinthian church. He laid the foundation, which is what an apostle does. If the foundation is bad, the building won’t stand up under a storm. You remember Jesus talking about the man that built his house upon the foundation of sand. But just laying a good foundation is not enough. If the ones building upon the foundation do not do a good job, the building will also collapse. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. If you lay a foundation of good works etc. instead of Christ, the building will not stand. It will crumble at the least disturbance. Once the foundation is laid, then one must choose what type of materials to use the build the building. Of course there is a parallel with our own lives. The ...
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So then neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth

  Good morning. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. The building of a church generally takes more than one person. Each one is important for a particular stage of the work. In the end, no matter how many or how great the people that build, the church will be nothing without God causing the growth. So then neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Therefore no one can claim that it was their doing that established the church. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God‘s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. God used several different ways of describing His church. Each way gives a different aspect of the meaning of the word church. It’s OK to expand a little bit on the interpretation of those different ways. Sometimes people will take it too far and make generalizations that really don’t exist in real life. Fa...
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For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

  Good morning. And I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? They were still trying to operate in human wisdom, and not the wisdom of the Spirit. When you do that, your human desires get in the way of hearing from God. What jealousy, and what strife? For when one says, “I am of Paul,“ and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? They were looking to men for their teaching, not to God. Paul did not want even himself to be the one they looked to, but rather for them to look to God. What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. Sadly even today Christians look to men rather than to God for their inspiration. T...
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The things freely given to us by God: which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

  Good morning. The things freely given to us by God: which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Paul did not talk about things that his human mind came up with. He only talked about things that the Spirit of God revealed to him. Why did he do that? A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. Paul was not trying to persuade them about anything from the natural point of view. Once they were born again, he could then speak to them about the things of God. Unbelievers try to reason out the things of God; but their reasonings never come up with the truth. But he who is spiritual appraisers all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. That does not mean that we...
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Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him

  Good morning. In Isaiah: Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. That sounds encouraging. Man can think of many wonderful things; but they are all temporal. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. That would mean that you cannot know anything about them unless you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. That would mean that there would be no way that we could know about these things unless the Spirit of God revealed them to us. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. The spirit of the world seeks for things of the world; but the Spirit of God seeks for h...
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We speak God‘s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

  Good morning. So Paul did not preach in persuasive words of wisdom: yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature (it’s kind of like in math in that I cannot talk about calculus to those who are in Intermediate Algebra); a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God‘s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. It was a mystery in that people did not understand it; it was not a mystery because God did not hint about it in the Scriptures - for He did. God had to hide it or Jesus would never have been crucified, and we would not have salvation today. The Jewish religious leaders certainly would not have turned Him over to Pilate (they saw the messiah as the conquering king, not as the suffering servant), and the devil would have tried to preven...
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My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God

  Good morning. So Paul says that he didn’t come with an arrogant attitude but: I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God. When you read Paul’s words in all of his letters, he doesn’t sound like he was in fear and in much trembling; and he even mentions that fact specifically later. He didn’t just have a bunch of pretty words; but he had words ignited by the Holy Spirit that produced salvation in the listeners, confirmed with power. My Bible says that the Greek word translated demonstration is used of producing proofs in an argument in court. I guess you could say that Paul was the Perry Mason of the gospel. Father help us to have Your words and not ours when we speak to others about salvation. Go with your people during the coming storm. Move and control it so tha...
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