you The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it. Welcome to another program with Truths to Live By, a ministry of Harriman Baptist Tabernacle in Harriman, Tennessee. You're listening to Brother Benjamin Cooley. I pray we would be a blessing to you today. O sinner, bow down with the Lord of sin, come to the cross, come to the cross. In Christ's redemption new life within, come and be justified. With our Bibles open to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we want to begin looking at the epistle of Paul to the Corinthian saints, and through this study I believe that we will see much truth concerning the local church. I believe in these days we need a church that is worshipping together, working together, waiting for the coming of our Lord together. That is, a local church in one mind and one accord that is welded together. And so we come to the first epistle, to the Corinthians, chapter number 1, and we will begin our reading with verse number 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful." by whom you were called under the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now notice verse 10. It actually begins the next passage in the chapter. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing. and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. So let's look at this subject, a church perfectly joined together. Would you go to the Lord in prayer with me at this time? Father, we love you and we thank you for Calvary, for the grace of God that was displayed there in the humiliation of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who became sin, was made sin by God Almighty, and drank down the very wrath of God to the full, and took the place of every sinner, shed his precious blood, and bought the atonement for our souls and for our sins, and is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having been raised by the Spirit of holiness, according to the power of God. Lord, in Jesus' name, we bless you and we thank you and we ask you to make us a blessing to all who listen and come our way on this program. To God be the glory, in Jesus' name, amen and amen. And so we come to this epistle. We notice within the first few chapters that the church at Corinth is out of focus. they do not see clearly, therefore they do not behave properly. As we step back, consider the epistle in its entirety, we must understand that the Apostle Paul is writing in response to this church and showing them God's will for the local church in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And in every generation, God's people are called upon to come out from among the world and be separated unto the Lord, the desire expressed for the Corinthian saints. To be a church perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment is God's will for every local church. The picture behind this phrase, perfectly joined together, is that of a surgeon who carefully mends a joint to close up a surgical wound. There is great care, there is great compassion, there is great skill needed for such a procedure to close the wound after surgery. The saints at Corinth, the local church of God there, needed to get back on track. They needed to get back to their focus. That is, they were to put Christ Jesus the Lord back upon the throne of their individual hearts, and back into the pulpit of the church of God at Corinth. Then the church would be one that was forwarding the faith, a church going onward to the prize, a church going downward on their knees in prayer, a church lifting their hands upward in praise to the Lord, a church going outward in proclamation of the gospel, a church only ever going Godward in its passion. the Church of God needed to return to their first love. Notice the words of the Apostle. In the first three verses, we find words that should command the attention of God's people before Him. First of all, in verse 1, the will of God. and in verse 2, the church of God, and then in verse number 3, the favor of God, taking the words in the verse and their corresponding meanings. Look now to verse number 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. Here stands a commissioner of Christ, Paul, one of the master's messengers, an ambassador of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Corinthians should give him their full attention. For he brings the very words of God, as God himself breathes the living word, and the apostle and his scribe take them down. and then Sosthenes is a brother in the will of God. What a blessing to know that he who was recorded in Acts 18, 17 as a chief ruler of the synagogue in Corinth is now a brother in the Lord. Verse number 2, unto the church of God which is at Corinth. Here is the specific assembly. It is a mighty difficult thing to prove your love for the Church of God if you do not have a specific assembly of saints to which you belong. By that I mean this. You go through the scriptures. Recall the churches of Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Acts chapter 9. The Churches in Syria and Cilicia, Acts Chapter 15. The Churches of the Gentiles, Romans Chapter 16. The Churches of Galatia, 1 Corinthians 16.1. The Churches of Asia, 1 Corinthians 16.19. The Churches of Macedonia, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1, here, the Church of God which is at Corinth. A local church. Where is your specific assembly? Do you have a local, Bible-believing, New Testament, independent church to which you belong? If not, your life is not as greatly concerned with the church, for you are disconnected from the church, your life is not concentrated on the church, and you, my friend, are out of fellowship with Christ Jesus, the Lord. He is the head of the church. And if there is not a local assembly adhering to New Testament doctrine, faith, and practice, then you are out of the will of God. Therefore may God bring us to an assembly that is a church perfectly joined together. We thank you for making this ministry a part of your day. And in closing, we want to point you to the words of our Lord in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4. He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And truly, it is written. God's word, every word, presents us with truths to live by. You've been listening to Brother Benjamin Cooley. Please send all correspondence to Truths to Live By, P.O. Box 575, Harriman, Tennessee, 37748. Or you can email us at bmarkcooley at gmail.com. And finally, brethren, pray for us. you