For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

 Good morning. Remember last time that Paul said he was going to find out the power of those who were arrogant. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. You can give all kinds of fancy “teachings”, but they are useless if there is no power in you or in what you say. The Gospel has transforming power. It can not only bring about healings and so on, but it can also bring a change in your heart and your attitude. He then goes through the thing about someone among them having his father’s wife (not talking about his mother – stepmother). Paul gets a bit “hot under the collar“. I on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, I have already judged him who has committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan (my Bible says that means to put him out of the church, so that he does not have the fellowship of believers to help protect him from the attacks of the devil) for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. That is what you would call tough love. It is probably also part of where the idea of shunning someone in the church was first initiated. Father thank You that we have the fellowship of other believers to help guide and protect us when we are attacked by the enemy.

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