1 and 2 Corinthians

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1 and 2 Corinthians
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• Corinth a byword for sensuality To
  Corinthianize
• The Paris of antiquity (Barnes)

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Poseidon
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Aphrodite
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Temple of Apollo
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• Now, concerning what you wrote about food
  offered to idols (1 Corinthians 81 GN)

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• By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I
  appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in
  what you say, so that there will be no divisions
  among you. Be completely united, with only one
  thought and one purpose. For some people from
  Chloe's family have told me quite plainly, my
  friends, that there are quarrels among you. Let
  me put it this way each one of you says
  something different. One says, "I follow Paul"
  another, "I follow Apollos" another, "I follow
  Peter" and another, "I follow Christ." Christ
  has been divided into groups! Was it Paul who
  died on the cross for you? Were you baptized as
  Paul's disciples? I thank God that I did not
  baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. No
  one can say, then, that you were baptized as my
  disciples. (Oh yes, I also baptized Stephanas and
  his family but I can't remember whether I
  baptized anyone else.) (1 Corinthians 110-16
  GN)

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• But for right now, friends, Im completely
  frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each
  other and with God. Youre acting like infants in
  relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more
  than nursing at the breast. Well, then, Ill
  nurse you since you dont seem capable of
  anything more. As long as you grab for what makes
  you feel good or makes you look important, are
  you really much different than a babe at the
  breast, content only when everythings going your
  way? When one of you says, Im on Pauls side,
  and another says, Im for Apollos, arent you
  being totally infantile? (1 Corinthians 31-4
  The Message)

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• I know there are some among you who are so full
  of themselves they never listen to anyone, let
  alone me. They dont think Ill ever show up in
  person. But Ill be there sooner than you think,
  God willing, and then well see if theyre full
  of anything but hot air. Gods Way is not a
  matter of mere talk its an empowered life. So
  how should I prepare to come to you? As a severe
  disciplinarian who makes you toe the mark? Or as
  a good friend and counselor who wants to share
  heart-to-heart with you? You decide.
• I also received a report of scandalous sex within
  your church family, a kind that wouldnt be
  tolerated even outside the church One of your
  men is sleeping with his stepmother. And youre
  so above it all that it doesnt even faze you!
  Shouldnt this break your hearts? Shouldnt it
  bring you to your knees in tears? Shouldnt this
  person and his conduct be confronted and dealt
  with? (1 Corinthians 418 52 The Message)

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• And now a personal but most urgent matter I
  write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I
  hear that Im being painted as cringing and
  wishy-washy when Im with you, but harsh and
  demanding when at a safe distance writing
  letters. Please dont force me to take a hard
  line when Im present with you. Dont think that
  Ill hesitate a single minute to stand up to
  those who say Im an unprincipled opportunist.
  Then theyll have to eat their wordsAnd whats
  this talk about me bullying you with my letters?
  His letters are brawny and potent, but in person
  hes a weakling and mumbles when he talks. Such
  talk wont survive scrutiny. What we write when
  away, we do when present. Were the exact same
  people, absent or present, in letter or in
  person. (2 Corinthians 101,2,9,10 The Message)

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• So then, my dear friends, keep away from the
  worship of idols. (1 Corinthians 1014 GN)
• You know that while you were still heathen, you
  were led astray in many ways to the worship of
  lifeless idols. (1 Corinthians 122 GN)

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• Regarding this next item, Im not at all
  pleased. I am getting the picture that when you
  meet together it brings out your worst side
  instead of your best! First, I get this report on
  your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing
  each other. Im reluctant to believe it, but
  there it is. The best that can be said for it is
  that the testing process will bring truth into
  the open and confirm it. And then I find that
  you bring your divisions to worshipyou come
  together, and instead of eating the Lords
  Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the
  outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are
  left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be
  carried out, too drunk to walk. I cant believe
  it! Dont you have your own homes to eat and
  drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating
  Gods church? Why would you actually shame Gods
  poor? I never would have believed you would stoop
  to this. And Im not going to stand by and say
  nothing. (1 Corinthians 1117 22 The
  Message)

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• Now, what about those people who are baptized
  for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If
  it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not
  raised to life, why are those people being
  baptized for the dead?...Do not be fooled. Bad
  companions ruin good character. Come back to
  your right senses and stop your sinful ways. I
  declare to your shame that some of you do not
  know God. (1 Corinthians 1529-34 GN)

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• For even if that letter of mine made you sad, I
  am not sorry I wrote it. I could have been sorry
  when I saw that it made you sad for a while. But
  now I am happy---not because I made you sad, but
  because your sadness made you change your ways.
  That sadness was used by God, and so we caused
  you no harm. For the sadness that is used by God
  brings a change of heart that leads to
  salvation---and there is no regret in that! (2
  Corinthians 78-10 GN)

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• Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts
  from the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the
  truth about them, my friends. You know that while
  you were still heathen, you were led astray in
  many ways to the worship of lifeless idols. (1
  Corinthians 121-2 GN)

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• Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of
  you is a part of it. And in the church God has
  appointed first of all apostles, second prophets,
  third teachers, then workers of miracles, also
  those having gifts of healing, those able to help
  others, those with gifts of administration, and
  those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
  teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts
  of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all
  interpret? (1 Corinthians 1227-30 NIV)
• other languages

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• Set your hearts, then, on the more important
  gifts. Best of all, however, is the following
  way. I may be able to speak the languages of
  human beings and even of angels, but if I have no
  love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a
  clanging bell. (1 Corinthians 1231, 131 GN)

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• Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but
  especially the gift of speaking what God has
  revealed. When a person speaks in another
  language, he doesn't speak to people but to God.
  No one understands him. His spirit is speaking
  mysteries. But when a person speaks what God has
  revealed, he speaks to people to help them grow,
  to encourage them, and to comfort them. When a
  person speaks in another language, he helps
  himself grow. But when a person speaks what God
  has revealed, he helps the church grow.

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• I wish that all of you could speak in other
  languages, but especially that you could speak
  what God has revealed. The person who speaks what
  God has revealed is more important than the
  person who speaks in other languages. This is
  true unless he can interpret what he says to help
  the church grow. Brothers and sisters, it
  wouldn't do you any good if I came to you
  speaking in other languages, unless I explained
  revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or doctrine to
  you. (1 Corinthians 141-6 GODS WORD)

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• In the same way, since you're eager to have
  spiritual gifts, try to excel in them so that you
  help the church grow. So the person who speaks in
  another language should pray for an
  interpretation of what he says. If I pray in
  another language, my spirit prays, but my mind is
  not productive. So what does this mean? It means
  that I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray
  with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit,
  and I will sing psalms with my mind. Otherwise,
  if you praise God only with your spirit, how can
  outsiders say "Amen!" to your prayer of
  thanksgiving? They don't know what you're saying.
  Your prayer of thanksgiving may be very good, but
  it doesn't help other people grow. I thank God
  that I speak in other languages more than any of
  you. Yet, in order to teach others in church, I
  would rather say five words that can be
  understood than ten thousand words in another
  language. (1 Corinthians 1412-19 GODS WORD)

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• If, then, the whole church meets together and
  everyone starts speaking in strange tongues---and
  if some ordinary people or unbelievers come in,
  won't they say that you are all crazy? But if
  everyone is proclaiming God's message when some
  unbelievers or ordinary people come in, they will
  be convinced of their sin by what they hear. They
  will be judged by all they hear, their secret
  thoughts will be brought into the open, and they
  will bow down and worship God, confessing, Truly
  God is here among you! (1 Corinthians 1423-25
  GN)

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• If someone is going to speak in strange tongues,
  two or three at the most should speak, one after
  the other, and someone else must explain what is
  being said. But if no one is there who can
  explain, then the one who speaks in strange
  tongues must be quiet and speak only to himself
  and to God.The gift of proclaiming God's message
  should be under the speaker's control, because
  God does not want us to be in disorder but in
  harmony and peace.So then, my friends, set your
  heart on proclaiming God's message, but do not
  forbid the speaking in strange tongues.
  Everything must be done in a proper and orderly
  way. (1 Corinthians 1427-40 GN)

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• But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace,
  patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
  humility, and self-control. (Galatians 522-23)
• The LORD says, Here is my servant, whom I
  strengthen--- the one I have chosen, with whom I
  am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit
  (Isaiah 421 GN)

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• If I speak with the eloquence of men and of
  angels, but have no love, I become no more than
  blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the
  gift of foretelling the future and hold in my
  mind not only all human knowledge but the very
  secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute
  faith which can move mountains, but have no love,
  I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all
  that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body
  to be burned, but have no love, I achieve
  precisely nothing. This love of which I speak is
  slow to lose patience - it looks for a way of
  being constructive. It is not possessive it is
  neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish
  inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has
  good manners and does not pursue selfish
  advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep
  account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of
  other people. On the contrary, it is glad with
  all good men when truth prevails. Love knows no
  limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no
  fading of its hope it can outlast anything.

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• It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands
  when all else has fallen. For if there are
  prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with,
  if there are tongues the need for them will
  disappear, if there is knowledge it will be
  swallowed up in truth. For our knowledge is
  always incomplete and our prophecy is always
  incomplete, and when the complete comes, that is
  the end of the incomplete. When I was a little
  child I talked and felt and thought like a little
  child. Now that I am a man my childish speech and
  feeling and thought have no further significance
  for me. At present we are men looking at puzzling
  reflections in a mirror. The time will come when
  we shall see reality whole and face to face! At
  present all I know is a little fraction of the
  truth, but the time will come when I shall know
  it as fully as God now knows me! In this life we
  have three great lasting qualities - faith, hope
  and love. But the greatest of them is love. (1
  Corinthians 131-13, JB Phillips)

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• God is love
• (1 John 48 GN)

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• God is patient
• God is kind
• God does not sing his own praises
• God is not touchy
• God is not rude
• God is not selfish God is not self seeking
• God does not keep track of wrongs God does not
  store up grievances
• God never insists on having his own way God
  doesnt force himself on others
• God never stops being patient
• God knows no limits to his endurance
• God takes pleasure in the flowering of truth
• God is the one thing that stands when all else
  has fallen

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• A man dishonors Christ if he covers his head
  while praying or prophesying. But a woman
  dishonors her husband if she prays or prophesies
  without a covering on her head, for this is the
  same as shaving her head. Yes, if she refuses to
  wear a head covering, she should cut off all her
  hair. And since it is shameful for a woman to
  have her hair cut or her head shaved, then she
  should wear a covering. (1 Corinthians 114-6
  NLT)
• But if anyone wants to argue about it, all I
  have to say is that neither we nor the churches
  of God have any other custom in worship. (1
  Corinthians 1116 GN)

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• God does not want us to be in disorder but in
  harmony and peace. As in all the churches of
  Gods people, the women should keep quiet in the
  meetings. They are not allowed to speak as the
  Jewish Law says, they must not be in charge. If
  they want to find out about something, they
  should ask their husbands at home. It is a
  disgraceful thing for a woman to speak in a
  church meeting. (1 Corinthians 1433-35 GN)

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• It is good for a man not to marry. (1
  Corinthians 71 NIV)
• I don't know of anything else the Lord said
  about marriage. All I can do is to give you my
  own advice. (1 Corinthians 712 CEV)
• I don't know of anything that the Lord said
  about people who have never been married. But I
  will tell you what I think. (1 Corinthians 725
  CEV)
• That is my opinion, and I think that I too have
  Gods Spirit. (1 Corinthians 740 GN)

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• What I mean, my friends, is this there is not
  much time left, and from now on married people
  should live as though they were not married
  those who weep, as though they were not sad
  those who laugh, as though they were not happy
  those who buy, as though they did not own what
  they bought those who deal in material goods, as
  though they were not fully occupied with them.
  For this world, as it is now, will not last much
  longer. (1 Corinthians 729-31 GN)

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• You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an
  eye, and a tooth for a tooth(Matthew 538
  GN)
• Whoever questions your authority or disobeys any
  of your orders will be put to death. (Joshua
  118 GN)
• I did his, because they had rejected my
  commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath,
  and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had
  served. Then I gave them laws that are not good
  and commands that do not bring life. (Ezekiel
  2024,25 GN)

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• The Bible is the book that reveals the
  character of God (ST, March 3, 1898)

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• But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ
  we are always led by God as prisoners in Christs
  victory procession. God uses us to make the
  knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a
  sweet fragrance. For we are like a sweet-smelling
  incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads
  among those who are being saved and those who are
  being lost. For those who are being lost, it is a
  deadly stench that kills but for those who are
  being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life.
  (2 Corinthians 214-16 GN)

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• But the peoples minds were hardened, and even
  to this day whenever the old covenant is being
  read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot
  understand the truth. And this veil can be
  removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even
  today when they read Moses writings, their
  hearts are covered with that veil, and they do
  not understand. But whenever anyone turns to the
  Lord, then the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord
  is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the
  Lord is, he gives freedom. And all of us have had
  that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that
  brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as
  the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become
  more and more like him and reflect his glory even
  more. (2 Corinthians 314-18 NLT)

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(No Transcript)
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• For if the gospel we preach is hidden, it is
  hidden only from those who are being lost. They
  do not believe, because their minds have been
  kept in the dark by the evil god of this world.
  He keeps them from seeing the light shining on
  them, the light that comes from the Good News
  about the glory of Christ, who is the exact
  likeness of God. For it is not ourselves that we
  preach we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and
  ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. The
  God who said, Out of darkness the light shall
  shine! is the same God who made his light shine
  in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of Gods
  glory shining in the face of Christ. (2
  Corinthians 42-6 GN)

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• In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many
  different times and in many different ways
  through the prophets. In these last days he has
  spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son
  responsible for everything. His Son is the one
  through whom God made the universe. His Son is
  the reflection of God's glory and the exact
  likeness of God's being. He holds everything
  together through his powerful words. (Hebrews
  11-3 GODS WORD)

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• And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for
  perfection listen to my appeals agree with one
  another live in peace. (2 Corinthians 1311
  GN)
• Aim for perfection (NIV)
• Become complete (NKJV)
• Make sure that you improve. (GODS WORD)
• Do better and pay attention to what I have
  said. (CEV)
• Change your ways (NLT)