Praise the Lord, we can pray, and then pray for each other, and even pray for people we don't know who we're praying for, but the confidence in the fact that God is fully aware, and that helps us. We know He's able, we know He's aware, and He's active. Yeah, so then that puts us in an affirmative asking Him to do what we can't do. ourselves do, nor can the people on that side that we pray and call. All right, anybody have anything you want to share? Well, second chapter, verses six through 10. The second chapter, he's dealing with the reality of his desire to preach the gospel and the wisdom of God. Yes, that's right, that's what we see there. So chapter number two, and you're referring to six through 10 itself. He makes reference in here, for example, look in verse one, and I, brethren, I came to you, did not come with the excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined, not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All right, so this is the wisdom that he's gonna highlight that has been kept but has always been there of what God was going to do. Remember, God used Jesus. He's the reconciler of everyone that is ever or ever will be saved, that has ever been saved. And that's been a mystery because He didn't unveil that specifically even from day one when He began to teach us. For an example, in Genesis, we know that the Word that created everything superseded chapter one of the book of Genesis. The Son of God has always been. And He's the wisdom of God. He tells us that. Look in chapter number one of Corinthians. Look in verse number 26. I'll start there. If you remember this phrase, God doesn't work through heroes. He works through zeros. And we'll see that in this right here. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, that would be those who have attained a skill of being able to put things together to see things in certain ways in this world. that those who are skillful in this, the word wisdom means to know how to do a thing, to know how to have a skill in doing something, knowing how to take the next step. He told us already up in chapter one, notice what verse number 19 says. I will destroy the wisdom of who? The wise, now he's not talking about those who are wise in the Lord. He's talking about those who are worldly wise, those who are gifted and skillful and intellectuals in this world who make common sense or make sense in a world, but they do it without God. That's the idea of this kind of wisdom. They function without the Lord. And God says, I am gonna annihilate, I'm gonna destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. That would be those who act on the knowledge that they have and the wisdom that they've gained in this world. He says in verse 20, where is the wise, where's the scribe, where's the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. So God's saying you cannot know him by the ways of this world. No matter what you know about that moon, no matter that they can tell you that it's the closest it will be in this year, therefore it's the largest view of the moon tonight, and they can tell you that it's the brightest the moon will reflect on this night. None of that information, you can have all that insight and all that skillset to tell you where everything is in the solar system and none of that will tell you anything about God. Meaning you can't know God through that. Now it will reveal there's a creator but that still won't put you in position to know who the creator is. So he's saying God has made it that a way that no matter how wise a person can be in this life, they can know everything there is to know about life. Everything from humanity standpoint, biologically, scientifically, God has made it such you'll never know him through those ways. The only way you can come to know him is through the foolishness of preaching. And why does he say the foolishness of preaching? Because that world and everyone in the world says that's a foolish way to come to know who God is, is through the means of preaching. But that's what he's chose to use. You cannot know him outside of the Word of God being proclaimed to you. That's the only way to come to know him. And he has, in our eyes, destroyed all that other wisdom, that it doesn't amount to the wisdom that we find in Christ. And no matter how foolish the world's think we are for believing that, we know that God's wisdom is superior to any other wisdom. You can't compete with it. Matter of fact, there's no wisdom against his wisdom that can challenge his wisdom. And he's made it so. So he says in verse number 22, the Jews request power, a sign, something supernatural to happen for them to believe. And the rest of the world, the Greeks would represent the rest of the known world. The Greeks seek after what? I need you to give me facts. I need you to give me scientific data. I need you to prove this scientifically with a skill to prove it. But we, on the other hand, preach Christ crucified. That's the message we preach. That's the foolishness of this message to the Jews. who seek a sign that we say Jesus is their Messiah because he's our Messiah, they stumble over that. They have a problem with that. They said, no, he couldn't be God. He can't be God. There's no way he was God. And they stumble all over that. And the rest of the world says that's foolishness. That's foolishness to believe in that message that God would take upon flesh and live on this earth and then die in our place. That's foolishness. Give me Zeus and give me Aphrodite. Give me all these other gods or demigods and all this and I'll believe that, but you telling me God came and dwelt among men and lived the life of sinless perfection and then became a substitute for man as a sacrifice for God? Yeah, that's what we're telling you. Why? Because God judged sin and humanity at the cross and either you could accept his judgment in Jesus and receive his righteousness or you have to pay for your own judgment when you stand before him, but that judgment won't change who you are. The only way you can ever be changed is through the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way the enemy can be kicked out of your life is that you gotta trust Jesus with your life. And he goes on to say, verse 24, but to those who are called, that would be us, both Jews and the rest of the world, Christ is the power. We don't need a sign. Christ is the power of God, and we don't need wisdom from this world. He is God's wisdom unto us. Why? Because the foolishness, as the Greek would look at it, of God is wiser than men and the weakness, where the Jew wants a sign, of God is stronger than men. You see, they see it as a weakness and folly. But it doesn't matter how they see it. This is how God's appointed it. And that's why we get involved in it. Amen. So he then goes on to say, look, God's not in the hero calling business. He's in the zero calling business that he's not going to give credit to anybody, anybody that puts their confidence in the Lord as the crucified Lord on their behalf. Uh, they see themselves as Paul told us in chapter three, remember what he said, me and Apollos are nothing. We're nothing's we're zero. God's not working with heroes. He's working with zeros. And I'm a zero in the kingdom. Why? Because it's not, that's what Paul is saying in chapter two. I didn't want people to put confidence in me. I'm a zero. I wanted them to put confidence in Jesus. He's the hero of my story, amen. So verse 26, for you see your calling, brother, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty and not many noble. Now it doesn't say any because he's called those that were in those positions, but when he did, they became a zero. Verse number 27, but God has chosen what? The foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame that which is mighty. And the base things, the lowborn, common things of the world, and the things that are despised by the world, God has chosen. And these things which are not, they're zeros. to bring to nothing the things that are what? That are in the world that you live in. The world has its standards and God has his. And they don't match up, amen? They don't match up. Verse 29, why that no flesh should glory where? In his presence. And you encounter the presence of God at the cross of Calvary. You encounter God when you come to Jesus. Jesus is God and you cannot glory in his presence. You become empty of who you are and he fills you up with himself. That's the work of the cross. You cast all this other stuff that the world teaches out the window. You throw all that away. Why? Because you found him. And He found you, amen. He found you. Verse 30, but of Him, Jesus, you are, excuse me, of Him, of God, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us, what? We're at this wisdom here. This wisdom that's been hidden. This wisdom, that's a mystery. Jesus is our wisdom from God and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And that's why Paul goes in to say, when I came to you, brethren, I came to you not with eloquence, not with a gift of communication that would make you think more of me. I came you in the simplicity of the crucified Savior. that you wouldn't put your confidence in what I said or how I said it but your confidence would be in Jesus and that confidence would set you free because if you put faith in me you would be no better off than you were when you were still putting your confidence in the wisdom of this world. I didn't want you, I didn't come in that way. I brought Jesus to you. And that's all I wanted you to see, was Jesus. And Paul was with him for about 18 months. So he taught him Jesus. He taught him Jesus. Now when he left, about anywhere from three to five years later, now he's writing this letter back. Why? He's been getting reports. What's the reports? These people are no better off Matter of fact, they're worse than when you left. And he tells us, look over in chapter three in verse number one, you'll see how he says this. Paul is helping us with the fact that he's still burdened for this congregation or these congregations that gathered in Corinth. Corinth was a major city. It was the peak of economic, of Greece, Corinth was it. And they had all kind of stuff there. Aphrodite was there and they had thousand prostitutes that were set aside for her service. That is, it was like, it would be, if you think of some of the worst cities in America with the pollution of sin, that was going on in Corinth. And that had an effect on the people, but God was delivering them out. But notice what he says in verse one of chapter three. Well there's a good chance yes yes there's a good chance he had not met some of these yeah people that have come in. Now you got to keep in mind and we may I'll mention this in a moment Paul started out the letter and closed the letter on the positive note that God is faithful. and that God started this work, and God's gonna complete this work. Now, in between, he's gotta deal with the mess they created. But he started out, said, y'all started out on the right note, with the right God, doing the right work, and he's faithful. And he closed the letter with that same idea. But it was in between, not only does he address issues going on, but he also addressed questions they had for him. But in chapter three, verse one, he says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to what? Carnal as to babes in Christ. Now, something I wanna point out in here, Paul used that word carnal. When he did, it was always in relationship to a believer. who was doing things that pertain to the flesh. He used the word in carnal there like an adjective, like we would tack on. He uses the ending of a tack on something like somebody who's political. When you say they're political, what are you saying? That what they do is related to politics. So the word carnal is that it is related to the flesh. It's pertaining to the flesh. And it's only used for a believer who's been given new life in Christ, but they're functioning in things that pertain to the flesh. Two-natured man still got a flesh nature, but he also has A new nature, a newness of life, but he's yielding to that which pertains to the flesh and what pertains to the flesh is being manifested in his lifestyle, not the things of God. so he makes a distinction here when he says the word spiritual and the word carnal the word spiritual is used in the same ending like political but it also has the word pneuma in it meaning things that pertain to the spirit that's the spiritual person That's a person who's a new creature in Christ and they walk in or functioning in things that pertain to the spirit. That the spirit is leading. But a carnal person is somebody who's walking and pertaining things to the sarcas, which is the flesh. the carnal side of the man. He never uses the word carnal to describe an unbeliever. Carnal is always described, if you are in the flesh, perishing in your sin, that's how we would describe it, saurics, in the flesh. But when he used the believer functioning in the flesh, he tied in, they're walking with things pertaining to the flesh, meaning they shouldn't be, but they are. They're walking with things pertaining to the spirit, And he's thankful for those. Those are the ones who are mature, he says, that he could speak wisdom to because they're functioning in things that are related to the Spirit of God and not the things to the flesh. And that's what he's saying. When I came to you, he says, Um, I could not at that time, it was impossible for me to speak to you things pertaining to the spirit. Why? Because you were brand new in the faith and you were still functioning in things that pertain to the flesh. So verse two, I fed you at that time because you were a babe. I fed you with milk and not with solid food. For until now you were not able to receive it and even now you're not what? So he's saying this group of people, from the testimonies that he heard, because there's division among them, they are walking in things pertaining to the flesh. You got divisions that there. One says, I'm part of this, and one says, I'm doing this, and one says, I'm part of this group, and I like this preacher, and I like that preacher, and they were, saying that I like him over him and if you want to walk with me you got to like him like I like him and I won't be with you and that's how they were doing and Paul saying if you're in that position you are functioning in things pertaining to the flesh. That's why he said in chapter 1 was Paul crucified for you? Who was crucified for him? Christ. Paul said that because they were trying to group themselves with each other, so Paul is basically saying that I can't talk to you as mature people who are functioning in things pertaining to the Spirit. I still gotta talk to you like you a babe in Christ, which you should not be at this point in the game. You should be further along. I recognize you belong to the Lord, but you're not acting like it. You're doing things like any other person could do. And you look like the idea of a natural man, you're pertaining things that are natural to men and not things that are supernatural in the spirit. And we don't wanna find ourself there. That's why he said in 1 10, I want you to be what of the same voice, of the same vision, in the same verdict. Now he didn't say those V words, I did, because they helped me remember. He said, I want you to be of the same, speak the same things, be of the same mind, and be of the same judgment. And those idea of judgment, mind, and speaking is you be of one voice, You be of one mind, one vision from the Lord, and then one verdict. You stand on the judgment of God. That is, what God says, that's what you stand on. What God does, that's what you do. What God says, that's what you speak. As a congregation, you be all together. You be all together. You're standing on the same ground. You see, but if you don't stand on the same ground, you're going to be divided. And division automatically reveals you're operating like any natural man would, and you're leaning toward the natural pertaining to it, but not the supernatural, the spiritual. He wanted to give them more, but he says they weren't able to handle it. He would have to feed them like a baby, you know, you'd have to say come on now Let me give you a little bit more and you do the airplane, you know And you give them a little bit and they start growing on it. He said but I've got to give you milk That is reprocessed nutrition, but you can't survive off milk immaturity in adulthood you got to move to solid food and then meat and But if all you ever get is what somebody else is processing, you'll stay at a carnal level. And you're not living as a person pertaining to the Spirit. I don't know if that helps or not in your thinking, but anytime you see the word carnal, it's always in relationship to a believer. who is leaning toward the natural, not the supernatural, not the Spirit of God. And I've got notes I could send y'all on some of these things that break some of these words down. And that's what he says in verse three. That's how you recognize it. How do you recognize it? You are still fleshly, for where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like what? Just men, mere men. Anybody could do what you're doing. We could go get people off the street and bring them in here and they wouldn't look no different than you. You shouldn't be looking like that. You should be leaning to things pertaining to the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God should be guiding your affairs. And when He guides your affairs, you don't mind if people mistreat you. You don't mind if they say things against you. if they take things from you. And he's gonna tell them that in chapter five and chapter six. He's gonna say, why don't you just let them cheat you? Yeah, don't worry about it. Whose are you? You belong to Christ. You got everything you need and whatever they take, he can give whatever he wants to give. Matter of fact, you may not need it. And he just let them take it from you because it was a problem for you. You just give that over to him. And he tells them that. He says, just let them walk all over you. It's okay. Because what were they doing? They were taking each other to court. They were suing one another. And man, that was a bad testimony, wasn't it? He says, you look just like the people of the world out there. When they don't get their way, they throw a lawsuit on somebody. Don't do that, he's saying. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. And the whole point is they wasn't representing Christ well. Why? Because they wasn't walking in things pertaining to the spirit. They was just doing things that pertain to the world. And then he gets in verse number five, when he says this, remember heroes and zeros. He's not working in heroes. He's working in zeros who make him the hero. Amen. Look, verse five, who then is Paul and who is Apollos? simply ministers, servants, through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one. So the Lord had to be involved in this. He gave you a servant who brought a message, and God did the work. They were just vessels that God was working in. Verse six, I planted a pile of water, but who gave the increase? Man, God gave the seed and God gave the increase. He just used his servants to plant the seed and water the seed, amen? So notice what Paul says in verse number seven. So then neither he who plants the seed is anything, nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives what? The increase. You see how that look? In our social media concept world today, everybody wants a hero for their preacher or pastor. They want you to draw a big old crowd and they want heroes or Bible teachers who are heroes or musicians who are heroes. I'm just telling you, look, let God be the hero and you be a zero, let him work in you, amen? Don't worry about all that other stuff. You just be concerned with making yourself available to the Lord. And that he was trying to help them, why? Because people had came in and told them that Paul and these others were nothing. They didn't know what they were talking about. They had better stuff to give them. They were more profiled. That's why you get in the chapter four. He says, I see that you got everything and you know everything and we don't know nothing and all that. He said, you may have 10,000 instructors, but you only got one father. Meaning the picture of God used us to bring you into the kingdom. And therefore, we warning you, be careful with all these other fools out there that are trying to dupe you and following them. They got you all messed up is the point he's making. They got you all messed up. You are now doing things pertaining to the flesh because that preacher said, if you sow this seed, you'll reap a hundredfold harvest and you'll get wealthy if you send it to my ministry. You gotta plant it in my ministry though. If you plant it in my ministry, you'll get a thousandfold for it. And you'll get to drive in a Rolls-Royce one day. Or you may have a jet that you can fly around the world in, but you gotta put it in my ministry, you know. They make it about who? They're the hero. They're the fertile soil, where here's the apostles and here's Apollos, those who everybody was wanting to join on whatever side, and he says, brother, we're zeros. We're servants. who came to serve you. God gave you what you have. God gave the increase in this. He's the hero here. Yield yourself to him. Amen. What a difference, amen. And that's what he's helping us with is just what are we putting our sights on? And so you go back to where brother Shannon said that he was looking at this in verse six of chapter two. He says, we speak wisdom among those who are what, who are mature, who are complete, who are growing yet not the wisdom of this age. That's not what we use nor of the rulers of this age. They are coming to what? They don't think they are nothing, but they're coming to nothing. They think they're the coup de grace, right? But they come into nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God had ordained before the ages for our glory, for our rejoicing, for our celebration, which none of the rulers of this age knew. They can't know it. For had they known it even in the slightest bit, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. If they had one hint of this wisdom, they would have left Jesus alone. They would have followed Jesus. They would die for Jesus. But they're in the dark on it. Can't see it. So a person that can't see the value of Jesus, what value are they to you with knowing how to walk with Jesus? None, none. Now, Paul would later write to Timothy, who he's gonna send to Corinth. You notice that in chapter four, I'm sending you Timothy. But when he wrote to Timothy as a pastor in Ephesus, he told him to pray for those rulers who were in authority. Why? Because God's got a purpose. and He's using us to accomplish that purpose. He would rather us accomplish it in peace. We're not going to cause trouble, but we do our work whether there's trouble or no trouble, but He would rather us be able to do it in peace. So you pray for those who are in charge. You just don't let those in charge dictate how you live and how you preach Jesus. Why? Because they can't see Jesus. If they see Him, they're gonna love Him, amen? If they see him, they're gonna love him. And Paul closes the book out with that word. Look in 1 Corinthians 16. This is one of these that we wanna always remember. 16, 22, as he's wrapping it up. Man, he just drops this bomb. No matter where you are, No matter who you're among, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be what he is. What is he? Anathema. He's accursed. Oh Lord come, Maranatha. That is saying that if a person does not value Jesus, The word love there is that word brotherly love. That word phileo love. And a phileo love is that kind of love you just like somebody. You like them. You got a brotherly love. You just like the person. You like things about them. You don't have to know everything about them, but what you do know you like that makes them interesting to you so that you want to know more about them. You know people that you've met just in the the throes of life and you didn't know much about them, but you said, man, I like that person. I'd like to know a little bit more about them. And you asked somebody else, what about old Joe Smuckatelli down there? I met him the other day and boy, I think he's a pretty interesting fella. I'd like to know more about him. Is he a pretty good guy? And they said, yeah, he is. You know, he's like all of us. He's got this and that. And he's really good at what he does. And he ain't always the best with everybody. And you thinking, man, I think I might call that guy and we might go hunting or fishing or something like that. I'd like to meet him for lunch, get to talk to him a little bit because something drew me to him. And I wanted to know more about him. So Paul says in the close, and all that he's gonna say, he says, look, if somebody doesn't like Jesus enough to find out more about him, that person is still condemned in their sins, their curse. Don't leave him there. Meaning you, now you got somebody to be interceding for. You recognize this person is not a believer who's doing carnal things. This person is still in the flesh in the sense that they've never been made a new creature in Christ because they can't see the value of Jesus enough to want to know more about Jesus. And that person will die in their sins and will perish. And because they're a curse. So he's not saying let him alone. He's saying let him be what he is. What is he? He's still under the wrath of God. He's still separated from God. He hadn't been reconciled unto the Lord. Hadn't been delivered. So now that person you know needs somebody interceding for him. because they'll perish without the Lord. And that's the message that we wanna take there. So it's just important to look when we're dealing with people in life, you come across people, whether it be in the church or wherever they be, and man, there's no interest in Jesus whatsoever. They just don't have it. They can't see. There's nothing about him that attracts them, draws them, that they wanna know and learn more about him. Paul says that person is still under condemnation. They are cursed. He used the word anathema in the King James Bible, but it's the idea they're still cursed in their sins and they need a redeemer. They need Jesus. They just don't know they need Jesus. They can't see Jesus. It's like the rulers couldn't see Jesus. So what did they do? They put him in open shame and crucified him. Well, this person does the same thing with him simply by turning their nose up to the fact that Jesus is the best there is, amen. He's the way, the truth, and he's God's only answer. And when you know people that don't see Jesus as their only answer in life, that person is still condemned in their sin. They can still lean toward the flesh and not always lean toward the spirit, but one thing's for sure, they're gonna see Jesus differently than a world without him. Why? Because of being made a new creature in Christ Jesus. He does that. Will God be chasing in you? What was he chasing in them? Oh, of course, when they were leaning toward the flesh, yes. When we lean in toward the spirit, what is he doing? He's still growing us. He's still disciplining us. He's still delivering us to death so that the life of Christ can be manifested out of our mortal flesh. This church is going to repent. with the things that Paul gives them warning on. And that's where 2 Corinthians comes in. And if you notice, we're going to get into 2 Corinthians this month, but you're going to see a shift in how he speaks. You know what he's going to start talking about? He's going to talk about the value of suffering for Jesus. Why the church got right with him. When you get right with Him in this old world, and you go live rightly in this world, now you're gonna have to deal with the heat of this world, and they're not always gonna treat you like you thought they was gonna treat you. And now you gotta know, hey, this suffering is a gift from God. He's blessing you. Why? The glory of God is upon your life. Why? Because you've repented, and you're doing what? You are doing things pertaining to the Spirit now. And now the world that you used to get along with now sees you as a problem. But that's okay. Why? Because God's gonna disciple you right through it, and He's gonna use you to reach them, and He's gonna use that to grow you, in the kingdom, amen? So man, you'll see the transition when we get in there to it. But man, this is some great stuff. These things we're reading about with the issues they face in there in Corinth, it's things we see every day in the world we live in. It's so applicable to right where we are and what we do. So I ask God to continue to help you lean toward the Spirit, things toward the Spirit, and let Him use you and speak, continue to speak life into you. And always be ready. Always be ready to give the reason for your hope that you have in Jesus. Because this world's going to perish without Him. Those friends and coworkers and acquaintances that don't love Jesus, don't even like him, don't have any kind of attraction toward him, man, they're perishing. They need somebody talking to Jesus on their behalf, amen? Remember how we read that in Proverbs 15, 15, eight and nine, where he says the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord? They don't have an ear with God. Their sacrifices, what they do in life, they're an abomination to the Lord. Matter of fact, he says their thinking is an abomination. That's all in Proverbs 15. But you and I, when we walk in rightly with God, he hears our prayers. He accepts us as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him, to go out and prove what is His good and acceptable and perfect will. And He is what? He's changing how we think. Proverbs 16, three, you're committing yourself as a living sacrifice, God's promised to establish your thoughts, right? So He's changing our thinking, changing our lives, changing our praying, and we start praying for those who we know have no ear with God. Amen, that's a difference for them, amen. You ought to use us in that work. So to him be the praise, to him be the praise. Good, good word that we're walking through, amen.