Dear Friends,

I have an urgent message from the Apostle Paul:

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  (2 Cor. 5:10)

Okay - so what does this mean to me?

1.  I'm going to be judged for the deeds I do.  I need to strive in all things to be pleasing to God (v. 9).  But if I mess up, won't He hold it against me?  He won't if I'm abiding in His love and walking in the light - the blood of Chris ...

From 2 Cor. 4:8-10, Christians are...

1.  Afflicted in every way, but not crushed.  People can hit us, taunt us, shun us, but they cannot crush our spirits when our spirits are firmly planted in Christ.

2.  Perplexed, but not despairing.  We often wonder why things happen.  Often we don't know.  But we still put our faith firmly in our God because He knows what's going on and He will make things right in the end.

3.  Persecuted, but not forsaken.  People may run us out of town.  They may throw us in prison.  They may mark us as the enemy.  But we will never be forsaken by our God, which is what really matters.

4.  Struck down, but not destroyed.& ...

When Moses went up on the mountain to converse with God, his face began to shine so brilliantly no one could look at his face.  So Moses put a veil over his face so people could look at him.  Paul says here in 2 Cor. 3:13 another purpose of the veil was so the sons of Israel would not see the glory fading away.  What glory to be in the presence of God!  Moses had that coveted opportunity.  Who was allowed to be in God's presence like Moses was?  But Moses had to come down from the mountain and deal with the sinful and rebellious Israelites.  I'm sure he would have much rather stayed up on the mountain enjoying God.

Moses was a type of Jesus Christ.  Jesus came down from heaven (the spiritual mountain) to walk among a sinful and rebellious people.  I'm sure He would have much rather stayed in the company of His Father.  But, unlike Moses, when Jesus came dow ...

The last verse of 2 Cor. 2 says, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God."

Can you believe some people peddle the word of God for money?  Immediately our minds jump to the Oral Roberts and Joel Olsteens of the world, the men and women who wow the crowds and are compensated highly for their "ministries."  Every one of the apostles missed the celebrity bandwagon - intentionally, it seems.  The word of God is not something to sell.  It's not something by which we make fortunes. 

The gospel must not be presented in such a way as to appeal to the masses.  Jesus never appealed to men's desires of ...

Sometimes preachers are berated for being "too negative."  Sometimes the criticism is warranted.  Some preachers do seem to hammer on the negative side of things, leaving out many of the positive messages contained in the gospel.  But sometimes the criticism comes from disgruntled listeners.  All preachers who preach the complete word of God step on toes and offend consciences.  Those offended may call this "negative" preaching because it makes them feel bad, and they don't like feeling bad.

Paul was forced to defend himself in 1 Cor. 1 from some who charged him with being wishy-washy.  Paul made it plain he fully intended to come visit them on his way to Macedonia.  He was somehow hindered.  So his critics said, basically, "You can't trust Paul.  You never know if he's telling you the truth or lying."  Paul defended himself in < ...

If you asked the average male for the definition of a real man, what might you expect?  I'd expect words and phrases like macho, strong, steady, won't back down, knows what he wants, self-made, etc.  If you asked a woman the same question, you might expect responses such as provider, protector, not afraid to cry, makes a decent living, good with kids, etc. 

Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 16:13, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." 

"Act like men?"  What does that mean?  Surely it is helpful to see other contextual phrases such as "stand firm" and "be strong."  Is that the macho definition of be a man?  Are we talking Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Steven Segal?  Well, Paul said it, so I guess we need to go ou ...

The word "if" is pretty skinny.  It has no fat letters.  It's one letter away from being the shortest word possible.  But "if" is a pretty big word.

"If" means there are conditions to a statement.  I will give you $5 IF you wash my car.  I do not intend to gift you $5.  You must fulfill the condition before you receive the benefit.

1 Cor. 15:1-2 is a wonderful passage:  "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain."

There are those who teach churches to grow by making their services "visitor-friendly."  Techniques are offered such as 1) make sure visitors are greeted warmly, 2) make sure they receive a visitor's card, 3) make sure someone follows up with the visitor the VERY NEXT DAY with a phone call or letter thanking them for coming, 4) have specially reserved seating for visitors, 5) make the building look nice and inviting, and the list goes on.

Here in 1 Corinthians 14, we do see instructions on how to treat visitors to our assemblies.  The Corinthian brethren thought speaking in tongues was the best spiritual gift to have, probably because they thought it was just cool.  Speaking in tongues was the great spiritual gift given them apostles on the day of Pentecost.  Perhaps they thought they were stronger Christians if they had the gift of tongues.  Paul set them straight in this chapter by ...

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

There are some "holiness" groups which require their members to speak in tongues, because that is the sign of a true believer.  Surely someone who can speak in tongues is going to heaven - he has the power of the Holy Spirit, right?  Surely if a woman is able to prophesy, she has her ticke ...

There are NINE spiritual gifts listed in 1 Cor. 12:8-10:

1. The Word of Wisdom
2. The Word of Knowledge
3. Faith
4. Healing
5. Effecting of Miracles
6. Prophecy
7. Distinguishing of Spirits
8. Tongues
9. Interpretation of Tongues

"There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit," says 1 Cor. 12:4.  This is dealing specifically with spiritual gifts, but it can be easily applied to gifts in general.

The point is not how many gifts there are, but that there are MANY GIFTS through ONE power - the Holy Spirit. 

This is not a competition.  Those who have a word of wi ...