Apostolic Prayers & Paul’s Prayer for the Corinthian Church, 1/18/26

Today we come in the book of 1 Corinthians and

our study there to chapter 1 verse 4 through

9. Subject today is apostolic prayers and Paul's

prayer for the Corinthian church. Apostolic prayers

and Paul's prayer for the Corinthian church.

We'll read today beginning in verse 4 down to

verse 9. Hear the word of the Lord. I thank my

God always concerning you for the grace of God

which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that

you were enriched in everything by him in all

utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony

of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come

short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm

you to the end. that you may be blameless in

the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful,

by whom you were called into the fellowship of

his Son, Jesus Christ. Our Father, we bow before

you today. Lord, this wonderful prayer, as the

other prayers found in Scripture, they speak

to us, Lord, and we thank you. for the teaching,

for the love, for the sound doctrine, and for

the exhortation that they are to us. Lord, we

pray that today you would open up our hearts

and our minds, that we might see, that we might

hear, that we might believe, and that we might

trust in you. For you are faithful, and we thank

you that your love endures. Please, Lord, open

this book, open this word to us today. We pray

in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 92 verse 1 begins

Psalms 92:1

a song for the Sabbath day. It is good to give

thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your

name, O Most High. Indeed, it is good and right

and seemly to give thanks to our God. In many

places throughout the Holy Scriptures, we are

commanded to be a thankful and grateful people.

Ezra chapter 3 verse 11 gives us an example.

Ezra 3:11

When the children of Israel were gathered together,

it says, And they sang responsively, praising

and giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good,

for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.

Then all the people shouted with a great shout

when they praised the Lord, because the foundation

of the house of the Lord was laid. Gratefulness

is the opposite of murmuring. and complaining

or being grouchy and hard to get along with.

And we're always just kind of upset with things

or carry a chip on our shoulder. Gratefulness

to God is something that we are called to do,

to give praise to the Lord. Paul begins his prayer

with, I thank my God. Now in this prayer of thanksgiving,

The apostle gives us an example of a spirit -filled

prayer for his people. Paul gives thanks to God

for a gifted church who has the testimony of

Jesus Christ. And yet they also have a lot of

problems. and needs and he writes down this prayer

to be given not only to them but to the whole

world and to all generations hereafter we are

reading today this prayer in god's word and thus

we can enter into that prayer and we can understand

the heart of paul and the heart of god in this

prayer Overseers and shepherds should pray prayers

of thanksgiving for the congregations that God

has entrusted to them. And sometimes it is good

for those prayers to be written down for the

generations to come. Now we have already considered

the greatness of God and the work that he did

in the city of Corinth as we looked at it last

Sunday. What an incredible testimony of the church

that Jesus raised up in this big city, this cosmopolitan

place, with a renowned temple dedicated to idols.

It had idol worship that included sexual immorality

as part of their worship. And the glorious thing

is that in the midst of this false and idolatrous

worship, God was raising up his people to be

salt and light. He was raising up a people to

worship God, the Father, through Jesus Christ,

by the Holy Spirit, a church of Jesus Christ.

And there are great things that are being done

in this church. There are gifts that have been

distributed to the people by God himself. And

these are wonderful gifts. One of the interesting

notes about this book. is that Paul does not

get into much deep doctrine in the book. Now,

there were a few questioning the resurrection,

and so Paul really thoroughly develops the doctrine,

the wonderful doctrine of the resurrection in

chapter 15. But most of the book is dealing with

problems that they had, were having. Most of

these problems... were not deep -rooted problems

of major doctrinal import, but were rather weaknesses,

sins of the flesh, areas where worldly thinking

and worldviews were affecting the people of God,

some of them living in the culture that they

did, and then some coming from members of this

body who had not put off the old man and his

deeds. In other words, they were in need of further

sanctification. We see this in chapter 3 at the

beginning of the chapter, verse 1 to 3. Paul

says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you

as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as

to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not

with solid food, for until now you were not able

to receive it. But even now you are still not

able for you. But this prayer is accompanied

then also by other prayers in the Bible, particularly

by the Apostle Paul for the people to whom he

is writing. In all of the other letters to churches,

except for Galatians, Paul begins with a prayer

of thanksgiving. for them. And this is no exception.

These prayers are not only addressed to God,

but they are also ways of bringing truth and

encouragement to God's people. In other words,

the prayer is edifying. It is to God, but it

is also edifying to them. This prayer does four

things in this letter besides addressing the

thanksgiving to God. Four things. First, it is

didactic. That is, it is a teacher. It is a teaching.

It reminds the people of the teaching that they

have received and that the source of that teaching

is God. The source of everything that they are

experiencing of God's grace is God himself. Secondly,

this prayer is an exhortation. It's a type of

writing that gives guidance and encouragement

and admonition to good behavior. It is pastoral.

We see here that in this prayer, he is showing

love and care for the church, even as he gives

thanks to God. And finally, this prayer also

lays the foundation for the counsel that is forthcoming

by introducing the themes of the letter. In it

all, Paul is thankful for them. He is thankful

for what God has done and what God is doing and

what God will do in them and for them. This prayer

is very God -centered. In it, Paul thanks God

for the very things that they are not using rightly.

Think of that. He is thanking God for the gifts

that he gave to them, the gifts that they're

not doing right. The particular things that are

causing them problems, their focus on utterances

and on knowledge and the spiritual and the miraculous

gifts that God gave them. Well, let's take this

prayer apart a little bit and see what we can

learn from it for ourselves. First of all, as

he says, I thank my God concerning you. I thank

my God for you, concerning you or for you. This

teaches us that even though a church has problems,

even of a very significant nature as were the

problems that we will see, yet a minister of

God, even an apostle of God as Paul was, can

be very thankful for the congregation to whom

he is writing or to whom he is ministering. This

teaches against the doctrine that everything

must be perfectly and completely pure in order

to bless the people and consider them worthy

of praise. There is no 100 % pure church. And

where there is impurity, we should seek to labor

to expose that impurity and to bring it to light

and to pray earnestly for them. But we can still

be thankful for all of the wonderful works of

God that are there. There can be commendation

and praise for the good that is there in spite

of the problems. Now we who are overseers, do

we give God thanks for the people he brings to

us? We who are parents, do we thank God for the

children he has given us? Or for the wife he

has given us? Or for the husband he has given

us? Even though they are imperfect people, of

course they are. For we all are. And yet we can

give thanks to God for the blessings of the congregation,

or of the people, or of our children, or our

husbands, our wives, our brothers and our sisters

in Christ. or even our natural siblings. We can

so easily find fault, nitpick, criticize, downplay,

disregard, and be discontent with the people

that God puts in our lives. Oh, we can do this

so easily. But it is rather that God has placed

them there, and Paul exhorts us in this prayer

by example. He says, I thank God for you. Think

of Paul. as he later speaks to them. But I'm

going to give this summary in my own paraphrase.

Now just think of this, and this is kind of an

overview of the book put together. You rowdy,

worldly -minded saints who are immature, you're

carnal, and you're babes in Christ when you should

be mature. You still even have envy and strife

and factions among you, and you can't get along

with each other. Your Lord's Supper observances

are a mess. Some of you get drunk, others go

hungry, and you don't wait for one another. The

women are disorderly and are out of place, acting

in a shameful manner. And when you get together

for worship, it sounds like a babble or a rabble,

a confused garbling of some speaking in tongues,

others trying to give a word of knowledge, and

all speaking at the same time. Y 'all are taking

each other to civil courts of the unbelievers

with lawsuits against one another. And through

your liberty, you are making weaker Christians

stumble. Even worse, some of you are still involved

in immorality and partaking in a type of idol

worship. And still worse, one of you is having

sex with his father's wife and he's boasting

about it. Even the Gentiles don't do it. And

you are puffed up and arrogant about it rather

than dealing with this sin. Talk about a royal,

carnal, confused mess. And to these people, at

the beginning of this letter, Paul says, I give

God thanks always for you. I am undone by this.

Really. This just breaks my own heart to just

think how often. We rise up in pride. Things

shouldn't be this way. No, they shouldn't be

this way. But they're our people. And we need

to love them. Because God has his hand on them.

And God is dealing with them. Now, of course,

this does not stop Paul from going on and ministering

to this people who are in this state. But how

he begins. This just, this crushes me. It just

really, it challenges me. Secondly, he goes on

and he says, I thank my God for the grace of

God, which was given you by Christ Jesus. So

he gives thanks for them as a church, but he

also gives thanks to God for the grace that they

have. God is the source of this grace, of all

of these things. The grace, the enrichment, the

gifts, the confirmation to the end, and the faithfulness

in this. He points ahead to chapter 4, verse

7, which says, For who makes you differ from

one another? And what do you have that you did

not receive? Now, if you did receive it, why

do you boast as if you had not received it? All

are gifts. are from god and in this he shows

them he teaches them in this prayer that the

source of all of their gifts is god himself and

this should humble them and bring them to abasement

and humility they were in fact endowed by god

with wonderful things and though they were boasting

wrongly about it it was nevertheless a gift from

god but this reminds us that we are tempted to

do the same things, are we not? We have great,

great gifts. We have much abundance. We have

incredible tools and resources by which we can

serve God and make His name known in the world

and glorify Him. We have abilities beyond measure

with opportunities galore. And yet, how often

the words of our mouths give us away. I, me,

my, our abilities, my gifts and resources. Oh

God, strip us of our boastfulness and our pride

because these are God's gifts to us. The word

grace here. can certainly refer to the gift of

salvation. That is the glorious gift of salvation

that God gave to them in rescuing them from paganism

and from idolatry and save them from their sins.

For they nor we are worthy. of any of these gifts.

We are not worthy. We all deserve the wrath of

God. And yet in Christ, both they and we are

called to be saints and are sanctified in Christ

Jesus. So the word grace here could refer to

that unmerited favor of God. But the grace that

is bestowed upon them also has another meaning.

And that is, it can refer to the graces or to

the grace gifts. That God gives to them. And

there's some discussion among commentators. As

to which of these Paul is referring to. But it

seems from the context of this verse. That Paul

when he speaks of grace. Is referring to the

grace gifts. God had abundantly poured out upon

the Corinthian church. Grace gifts. So much so

that Paul says. They come behind in nothing.

They have. gifts amazing and wonderful gifts

and God has given them to God has given them

God has given these great gifts to these grace

gifts to them an abundance of them now the word

for this the word gifts is the word charisma

from which we get our word charismatic So these

grace gifts that were given to them include two

kinds of gifts. There were miraculous gifts with

extraordinary powers, and there were gifts of

ministry or gifts of service to others. Miraculous

gifts are listed in chapter 12, verses 8 through

10 of this book. It's Paul deals with them about

some of these things. Some of the examples of

these miraculous gifts were gifts of healings,

working of miracles, prophecies, which I believe

there he's referring to foretelling the future,

or also of God's word being revealed to them.

Remember, the scripture was not finished yet.

Also discerning of spirits, different kinds of

tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These

were all miraculous gifts that God had given

to them. Grace gifts of ministry and service

are then also listed in Romans chapter 12. Having

Romans 12 · chapter mention

then gifts differing according to the grace that

is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy,

let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Probably

referring there to preaching. Or ministry, let

us use it in our ministry. He who teaches in

teaching. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who

gives with liberality. He who leads with diligence.

He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. These are

gifts of ministry, of service to others. And

God gives us all gifts in one way or another

to bless other people. God has gifted every one

of you with some type of gifts of ministry to

others. And some of this I can observe even in

the church or afterward in the fellowship meal.

I can observe some of these gifts at work because

God has blessed us. He has endowed us with these

grace gifts. God pours out upon his church these

wonderful gifts. And while we believe that some

of these gifts, the miraculous ones, are no longer

given by God in the same way after the scripture

canon was closed, and we'll get into that later

in this book, the fact is that they were in existence

at this time in the church, and they were wonderful

gifts from God. The canon of the scripture was

not yet closed. So God was speaking through the

apostles and through the prophets, and he was

speaking to the church through miraculous gifts.

speech. God was attesting to the validity of

Jesus and to the truth through these various

miracles. Our study of 1 Corinthians will include

looking at all of these. The gifts of ministry

and service though are those that God continues

to pour out upon his people today and we are

to cultivate these gifts to ask God for them

and to promote their use within the congregation.

Now in receiving the gifts that God gave to them,

Paul says they did not come short. That is, in

my paraphrase, they didn't come short in the

gift department. They were enriched by Christ,

he says, in everything by him, in utterance and

in knowledge. These people had great knowledge.

They were able to speak great and lofty things.

They had the miraculous gift of utterance and

of tongues that were among them. So much so that

Paul says you come short in no gift in verse

6. Now these gifts were not an end in themselves,

but the congregation even promoted and exalted

the Lord Jesus Christ through those gifts. Paul

continues in verse 6. He says, even as the testimony

of Christ was confirmed in you. So they're using

these gifts. Now, there was some improper use.

We know that. But they were using these gifts

and the testimony of Jesus was confirmed among

them. It was clear and plain in this congregation

through the use of these gifts. It was a wonderful

thing to see. But of course, as is so often the

case in the lives of his people, Satan also sees

that and he begins to attack the congregation.

And we will see, we will look at the first of

these attacks, which many times happens from

within the congregation. We'll see that next

Sunday. As we consider the divisions between

Christian believers in the congregation that

happened. Satan loves to attack from within.

There are also attacks from without. Many times

there can be a quick united response to the attacks

from without. But when the attacks come from

within, it's a lot more difficult. Paul told

the Ephesian elders. when he met with them, when

what he thought was going to be the last time,

when they met on the seaside and they knelt down

and prayed together on the shore, he told them,

some of you are going to be led astray by these

false teachers of doctrine. Now these grace gifts

must not puff up. They must not fill us with

knowledge in order to be proud or boastful. With

knowledge must come wisdom. It must come a good

and practical application to the knowledge that

comes. We know that one of the things, and we'll

see this in chapter 13, is that knowledge can

puff up. It can make us proud. And that was one

of the problems that the Corinthian church had.

They were proud of their gifts. And they were

puffed up from the knowledge. But the knowledge

wasn't wrong. It's just that they weren't humble

in it. This grace will teach them how to say

no to immorality, to idolatry, and to pride,

and yes to purity of life and worship. They needed

to be taught this, reminding them that everything

they have comes from God, as is so evident in

this whole passage. Number three, they were eagerly

awaiting the coming of the Lord. eagerly waiting

for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is in the latter part of verse 7. They were

looking forward to when Jesus would return and

call his people to himself. Now one of the great

truths of the Christian faith is that all Christians

believe is that Jesus Christ will return again.

That he will be revealed. This is confessed in

all of the creeds. And it's something that we

have in common even with the various understandings

of prophecy and of the end times. Premillennials,

amillennials, and postmillennials, we are all

in agreement that Jesus will return again in

bodily form and he will raise up the dead. He

will raise both the unbelievers unto destruction

and he will raise the dead believers and he will

lift up the believers who are alive at that time.

We take great comfort in this wonderful doctrine

and we confess it right alongside our brethren

in the faith. Even though we disagree on the

timing and the state of the world when this happens,

we have this in common. And the Corinthians were

very good on this. They were eagerly looking

for the revelation of Christ. Eagerly, you know,

with zeal, with great anticipation. The manifestation

and the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not the Greek word parousia, which refers

to our going to him. It is referring to Christ

being revealed. The revelation, the manifestation

of Christ when he comes to gather his saints

home. Paul frequently speaks of this in his introductions

about this time. He writes that we eagerly wait

for it with perseverance in Romans 8, verse 25.

Romans 8:25

And in Galatians 5, 5, we through the Spirit,

we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness

by faith, considering that the sufferings of

this present time. are not worthy to be compared

with the glory which shall be revealed in us

for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly

waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans

Romans 8:18

8 verse 18 and 19. And the Corinthians come short

in no gift eagerly waiting for the revelation

of the Lord Jesus. And so even though they were

enamored with the gifts, they were proud, they

had these other things, yet they eagerly waited

for the revelation of Christ. Number four, we

now look at the faithfulness of God and the preservation.

Of the saints. He says here. You become behind

in no gift. Eagerly waiting for the revelation.

Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who will also confirm

you to the end. That you may be blameless. In

the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful.

By whom you were called. Into the fellowship.

Of his son. Jesus Christ. our Lord. At the end

of this prayer of thanksgiving to God for the

Corinthian church, the apostle concludes with

these two great assertions. Number one, our Lord

Jesus Christ will confirm you to the end that

you may be blameless in that day of Christ. He

will confirm you to the end. And then secondly,

God is faithful. He is the one. who called you

into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ

our Lord. So here's what is astounding. To the

Corinthian church, yes. to this church in Corinth

with all of its problems. He says, Paul says,

the apostle with apostolic authority says, Jesus

will confirm you. He will confirm you to the

end so that you will be blameless before him.

What an incredible statement. How can this be?

Well, it's because Jesus will confirm you. He

will make you firm. He will make sure that this

will happen, that you will be blameless in that

day. This is because God has called and summoned

them and God is faithful. God can do it. Jesus

will do it. And God is faithful. Sampa and Rosner

say of this, to be blameless on that day and

to wait for it calmly and joyfully is a wonderful

thing. It forms a fitting climax to this Thanksgiving.

Paul is at pains to stress. to the Corinthians

that their pardon will be due to God's grace

alone. He will confirm you. There will be no

room for Corinthian boasting on that day except

in God. End quote. Now this is the doctrine of

the preservation of the saints. The preservation

of the saints. This is a wonderful truth. God

will bring his people through. Jesus said to

the father about the apostles in John 17, verse

John 17:12

12, as he was praying, he said, while I was with

them in the world, I kept them in your name.

those whom you gave me I have kept and none of

them is lost except the son of perdition that

the scripture might be fulfilled the son of perdition

is Judas he's the one who betrayed Jesus and

that betrayal led to our salvation on the cross

Jesus developed this further not only of the

apostles but to all the ones of whom Paul told

the Thessalonians that God has from the beginning

chosen you for salvation through sanctification

by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Jesus

said in this great promise in John chapter 6,

John 6:37–39

verse 37 to 39, He says, All that the Father

has given will come to me. All that the Father

gives me. Will come to me. And the one who comes

to me. I will by no means cast out. For I have

come down from heaven. Not to do my own will.

But the will of him who sent me. This is the

will of the father who sent me. That of all he

has given me. Jesus says. I should lose nothing.

But should raise it up at the last day. Jesus

will hold us fast. He keeps us to the end. It

is he, Jude says in verse 24, is able to keep

you from stumbling and from falling and to present

you faultless before the presence of his glory

with exceeding joy. It is he who will maintain

us and strengthen us. Paul told the Philippians

in chapter 1 verse 6, being confident of this

very thing, that he who has begun a good work

in you. will complete it until the day of Jesus

Christ. With the teaching of the preservation

of the saints, we are also taught the perseverance

of the saints in the scriptures. Because of this

great truth, therefore, brethren, Peter says

in 2 Peter 1, verse 10, therefore, brethren,

2 Peter 1:10

be even more diligent. to make your call and

election sure. For if you do these things, you

will never stumble. For so an entrance will be

supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting

kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

While God preserves us, as is so clearly stated

in our text, the scriptures teach that true believers

will actively persevere in faith, in holiness,

and in good works, not to earn or maintain salvation,

but as the inevitable fruit of God's preserving

grace. God preserves us and we persevere because

of that preservation. True faith endures trials.

It repents of sin and it grows in godliness,

though imperfectly, yes, and with very real struggles

as seen in biblical examples like David and Peter.

And so these truths... which are really two sides

of a coin. They're really brought together. These

truths avoid legalism, which is salvation by

our works, and antinomianism, which is license

to sin because of security. It brings everything

together. Preservation and perseverance together.

This stops us from thinking that we will be saved

by our works or that we can sin. Because we have

grace. Therefore, the doctrine of the preservation

and perseverance of the saints is not a once

saved, always saved in a cheap grace sense that

says, I trusted in Christ, so now it doesn't

matter how I live. No, the scripture is diametrically

opposed to that kind of teaching. True conversion

changes and transforms the person. producing

a life that increasingly hates sin and pursues

godliness. Nor does it depend on human willpower

alone. Our confidence rests in God's unbreakable

promises and not in our personal performance.

God is faithful. He demonstrates that faithfulness

to the Corinthians by promising that they will

be blameless in the day of Christ. And he is

the one who called them. He is the one who has

called us who believe and who trust in him. Therefore,

we also can rely on his faithfulness to us. We

can trust in him. We can hang on to him even

when troubles mount and difficulties come and

when our faith wavers. We run to him. We cast

our cares upon him. He will maintain us. He will

keep us. Hebrews 10 verse 23. Let us hold fast

Hebrews 10:23

the confession of our hope without wavering.

Why? For he who promised is faithful. And again

in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. No temptation

has overtaken you. Except such as is common to

man. But God is faithful. Who will not allow

you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But

with the temptation will also make the way of

escape. That you are able to bear it. Number

five. This call. The call that is given here

in verse 9 to the Corinthians is to the fellowship

of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful

by whom you were called into the fellowship of

His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In chapter 6

of Corinthians, Paul reminds them, Do you not

know that the unrighteous will not inherit the

kingdom of God? Do not, do you not, I apologize,

I jumped ahead of myself. This fellowship is

union with Christ. We are called into the fellowship

of God's Son. It is union with Christ. It is

communion. It is partnership. It is participation

with Him. So that we glory in Him and not in

ourselves. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus,

who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness,

and sanctification, and redemption. That as it

is written, He who glories, let him glory in

the Lord. This we find later in chapter 1, verse

30. When we stand before God, the dread judge

of all, on that great judgment day, and all our

works are manifest before him, those who are

in Christ will be declared righteous, redeemed

by the Father, and sanctified by the Spirit.

And we will not be proud, boasting in our great

deeds, our prowess, our perfection, or in any

way of ourselves, but rather, Boasting of him

who loved us and washed us from our sins in his

own blood. And has made us kings and priests

to his God and to his father. And to him be glory

and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation

Revelation 1:5

chapter 1 verse 5 and 6. Now we'll see a little

bit later in the book of Corinthians. Paul does

write about how that every man's work will be

revealed. And any works that are wood, hay and

stubble will be burned up. Yeah, they will be

burned up. But the gold, the silver will remain.

So our works are manifest. The bad ones, the

ones that are filled, that are empty, that are

straw, they're burned up. But yet God retains

us and Jesus retains us by his spirit. We are

his. We'll get into that deeper when we get to

chapter three. Now in chapter six of Corinthians,

Paul reminds them, Do you not know that the unrighteous

will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be

deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,

nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,

nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor

revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom

of God. And then he says this. And such were

some of you. Such were some of you. But you were

washed. But you were sanctified, but you were

justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by

the Spirit of our God. They were brought into

the fellowship of Christ. This fellowship simply

means that He loves us. And we love Him. We are

one with Him. We are united together with Christ.

Dear believer, as you have trusted in Christ

and He has washed you clean, you are united together

with Christ. He is your God. You are his people.

God is faithful who has called us and has chosen

us to be in Christ. In the letter, in a letter

in which Paul declared, verse 2, says, For I

determined not to know anything among you except

Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul then references

Jesus over and over again. Paul referenced Jesus.

Ten times in these nine verses. He loves Christ.

And he knows the Corinthians love Christ. And

that Jesus loves them. He speaks of the forgiveness

of sins. Being blameless in the day of Christ.

And then goes to their union and fellowship with

Christ in the present. Forgiveness of sins in

the past. Union and fellowship with Christ now.

And they have this. They have this. Let's give

a few applications here as we bring this to a

close. First of all, how can we read this and

not understand that God is long -suffering and

patient? God is long -suffering and patient.

Not only was he with the church in Corinth, but

he is also with us and with. our fellow believers.

Sometimes we do really stupid stuff. Sometimes

we fall into sin and God needs to smack us hard

because of it. And yet we are in Christ and God

is long -suffering and patient with us. So brothers

and sisters, let us not be too quick to judge

one another harshly, but to be patient and long

-suffering as well. And in all of our dealings,

Let love for God and our fellow man characterize

our relationships, even with those with whom

we have disagreements. Let us receive those who

are in Christ and be long -suffering and patient

with them. Second, watch out for those who speak

of many things, of many ills perhaps in society

or problems. Men who make a business of pontificating

and opining, always stirring something up, exposing

some issue or problem, fighting against others

who don't believe rightly. But watch out for

them. Do they have a fervent love of Jesus and

a love of the saints, the communion of believers?

If Paul could say these things to the Corinthian

church, how much more we, as we look around us

and we see our brothers and sisters, who sometimes

are in egregious error or in problems. And I'm

not saying that we just wash all that away. No,

we understand that. And sometimes it takes exhortation.

But we also ought to be long -suffering. And

the biggest thing is, we must be characterized

by our love of Jesus and our love of the brethren.

So even when we bring things to light, let it

be out of a heart filled with love and a fellowship

with God and His people. Let that be characteristic

of us. Not that we're always shooting from the

hip at other people. Trying to bring other people

down. Or continually lifting ourselves up in

a prideful way. I will say, this can very easily

happen with podcasting. And I'm not against listening

to podcasts. I do it myself. I'm just saying,

it can easily happen. You're not there face to

face, working together. And it's so often to

just... Use a scatter shot. It happens a lot.

So I would just say there, watch out for those

who do not show and demonstrate a fervent love

for Jesus and a union and communion with him

and a love for God's people, some of whom have

great shortcomings. If we have fellowship with

him, then we also love the brethren, those who

are united with Christ in this glorious fellowship

that we have been called to. Number three. We

also have been given many gifts. We have been

given great gifts. We have been given great tools

to use. We have the ability to publish things

or to promote things or to reach people in ways

that the apostles and the early church and for

many centuries thereafter could only dream of.

We have all of these gifts. We have great gifts

among us in our abilities, sharp minds, Good

voices. Ways of coming alongside and of loving

and caring one another. Of being hospitable.

Of being able to speak the word of God. Or even

just loving our children and raising them. God

has given us so many wonderful gifts. Let us

use them for his glory. Do not be ashamed of

them. Use the gifts that God has given to you.

But do not hide them. Do not be ashamed of them.

But give God the glory for them. Give God the

glory. And do not be proud. Lift up ourselves.

Let us use our gifts well for his sake. In the

name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this

wonderful prayer. For this exhortation that Paul

gives in this prayer of thanking you, oh God.

For these people. And Lord we look at them. And

we realize. All of the challenges they face.

And we look at. The church in America. Those

who profess your name Lord. And we see so many

similar things. Oh God I pray. Purify your church.

Use the word of God to cleanse us. And to purify

us. But Lord above all. Give us a fervent love

for you. And a love for your people. and a love

for the truth. Lord, I pray that you would convict

us when we sin, that you would draw us to you,

and that you would use this word, Lord, for your

honor and for your glory. We ask this in Jesus'

name. And now we open it up for public prayer.