- Call to Worship – Psalm 112:1-9
Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His offspring will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn is exalted in honor.- Hymn # 406 I Hear Thy Welcome Voice
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly . . . God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
God's Will for our Lives – James 5:7-20
Hymn # 460 Love Diving, all Loves Excelling
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
And I, when I came to you, brothers,] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”--
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.d]">[d]
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Sermon: Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
SERMON NOTES
We want people to know the Lord. But we often try to make this more appealing. Trying to change the worship service or focusing on things that other than the gospel is itself.
The gospel is sufficient. We don't need to do that things like that. People will always want to be entertained. But we aren't here to entertain but to show Christ.
The Corinthians had the ispian games and many entertainers. The Corinthian Christians thought they needed to entertain the people. So this is not a new way to think.
But we need to show God's greatness not our prowess.
When Paul came he didn't come like the Greeks with fine words and speech. He came with the wisdom of God. Hr came in weakness with fear and trembling. He was honest about who he was. He struggled with his health.
Paul came only in the strength of God. He came in the fear of what he did. But also because of the message he bore. He didn't come as a public speaker with a message to be admired. He came in weakness with a word from the Lord. He didn't work to make himself look better.
It is so easy to fall into the trap of putting on a show, of depending on what you are presenting more than on God.
It is easy to fall into this s trap though
- Young people don't want to hear the gospel preached
- What if I don't know the answer?
- I can't speak well
If we say such things who are we depending upon?
People can't truly understand the things of God if the spirit of God does not show them.
Paul says I bring Christ and him crucified. He brought nothing more. Paul focused only on the testimony of Christ.
Paul showed who God is. He did all he could to communicate the truth of Christ. That was his sole aim in life. We must hold to Christ. We need to speak of whom Jesus is in our lives.
Jesus did what we could not....living a perfect life for God. This is what we hold to. Paul spoke the words depending on God to work through them. Paul relied on this power.
God is the only one who can change hearts opening them up to him.
God continues to do this today. God takes people and transforms them. We need merely to speak and then trust God to work through them. But why do we do this? To show that our faith rests not in man's wisdom but in God's.
What is more Important.....us or God? Therefore what should we depend on? God and him alone.
Why?
We want to keep people's hope on God, not on people.
Let us then speak of Christ and him crucified.
- Hymn # 437 Christ, of all my Hopes the Ground
- Hymn # 317 Almighty God, Thy Word Is Cast
- Hymn # 89–4 To the Great One in Three