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For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins

  Good morning. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. That makes sense. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. Is your head beginning to swim? For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. From what he says later, they must have had great concern about their friends or relatives who were Christians and had died earlier. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits (The first sheaf of the harvest given to the Lord as a token that all of the harvest belonged to the Lord and would be dedicated to Him) of those who are asleep. Jesus was just the first to be raised from the dead, not the only one. We will see next time tha...
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I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

  Good morning. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Wow Paul. If you were not fit to be called an apostle, who was? It shows that no matter how low you go, God can still receive glory through you. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. It didn’t have to be the original apostles who preached to them. In fact, it did not have to be an apostle at all. Someone preached to them, and they believed. From Paul’s long logical argument that follows, apparently some were proclaiming that when Christians die that was it - there was no resurrection from the dead. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of...
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I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

  Good morning. Now back to Paul’s description of what is meant by the Gospel: for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. After that He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. The gospel (good news) is: First, He died for our sins. We don’t have to do anything else other than to believe and receive it. That was especially good news for the Jews because they believed they had to do all the sacrifices and to “earn” their salvation. Second, He was buried for three days and nights. He didn’t just pass out and later revived. He was “most sincerely dead“. Third, He did not stay in the gr...
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Therefore, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues.

  Good morning. Paul then talks about women keeping silent in church 😇 . Of course that does not mean to not participate in a service verbally. In Acts it talks about Philip the evangelist having seven daughters who were prophetesses. Probably the key to this is when he says, if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. He concludes the chapter by saying “therefore, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner”. Now I make known to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. So he is getting ready to tell us what the gospel (good news) is. Just because someone hears the gospel, does not mean that he or she receives it - remember the different types of soil upon which the seed was sown. He says that you are saved by it,...
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For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.

  Good morning. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. It does not say that all can be prophets, but that all may prophesy. If he’s talking about in one service, and I’m not sure that he is, that would definitely disprove the belief about only two or three prophesies occurring in a service (personally I believe that there should not be more than that to the entire body in a service; however, there could be more than that to individuals that are in the service). And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Note again that he says prophets, and not ones who prophesy; however, it is also true of those who prophesy. In either case the individuals should be in total control - you are not compelled beyond your will  to speak. There have been many times that I have “eaten a prophesy“ because it would disrupt the service. Father help the reader to ...
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But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent

  Good morning. Back to the “let two or three prophets speak“: but if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. Now if it were talking about them prophesying, we would have the following scenario: One of them would be standing up saying something like this, “Thus saith the Lord…“ Right in the middle of him/her prophesying, another prophet would stand up, interrupting the prophecy because he/she had been given a revelation. That would be total chaos like Paul has been speaking against in a church service. I can think of a couple of other possibilities. The prophet is giving a “three point sermon“, while the other prophets are passing judgment on his/her message. (We forget that everything was new to them. They did not have the New Testament. They were getting OJT). In the middle of the message (some of which may be just the person’s opinion), God reveals something about the topic to another prophet seated which needs to be shared with the people....
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Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment

  Good morning. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. This has been used to say that like the “messages in tongues“ you should have at most two or three prophecies in the service. There are a couple of things to note. First of all, it says prophets. Just because you give a prophecy, does not mean that you are a prophet. You are just operating in that gift. If I remember correctly, Kenneth Hagan used to say that to be a prophet you had to operate in two or three other gifts of the Spirit also. I personally do not know what differentiates between someone who regularly operates in the gift of prophecy and one who is a prophet. What I do know is that like I’ve said before, too many people are going around proclaiming that they are a prophet. The second thing is that it says to let them speak; it does not say to let them prophesy. They are two different Greek words. In the book of Acts it talks about Judas and Silas, also being prophets encouraged and streng...
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