So, 1 Corinthians, the book is written to a church that has some problems, right?
And so as we go through it, you'll see the problems that they have.
But the thing is, the problems are being corrected.
So the Apostle Paul is writing this book to help them and come alongside them
and give them milk to drink so that they can correct these problems that they're having.
So there is some meaty stuff in here, but a lot of it is just really basic doctrine.
And you'll see the difference between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians is very different.
Two totally different.
I mean, they're written to the same church, but you can see that they've grown since,
when you go into the book of 2 Corinthians.
It's a lot more meaty, a lot more hard to understand.
So this is a messed up church, and Paul is trying to help them.
He's trying to fix their issues, and their issues are many.
And you can be a pretty messed up church and still be a legitimate church in God's eyes.
If you think about Jezebel, who was teaching at one of the churches talked about in the book of Revelation,
and God still considered that a church.
Even though it was a woman teaching, and she was also preaching, it was okay to fornicate.
So that's how it messed up.
That was a messed up church, too.
But so the Corinthians, they have some problems, but this book is written to the church at Corinth,
but it's also written to us because it's helpful to us to learn doctrine also, obviously.
So yeah, that's the basic premise.
That's what I would basically say is that it's a messed up church that's being corrected with sound doctrine.
So let's look at verse number one.
It says in verse number one, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God,
and Sosthenes, our brother.
And I want to take just a few minutes.
I know I've explained this before, but what I believe about the apostle Paul,
that he was the last apostle, and that he was actually chosen by God, as opposed to Matthias,
who was legitimately an apostle.
The men chose him out of, you know, they'd cast lots to see which one would be the pick.
But sometimes God has a different way to go.
He has a different person in mind than we do, and so Paul is saying here that he's an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God, not through the will of man.
It's through the will of God, isn't it?
And so this, you know, the will of God versus the will of man could be very different sometimes.
And Paul is a great example of that in my mind.
So in Acts chapter nine, if you want to turn to Acts chapter nine, verse 12,
I'll just try to go through this really quickly, but like I said,
I've already preached about this before, but I just kind of want to go over it again really quickly,
how that Paul is chosen of Christ personally to be an apostle.
So look at Acts chapter nine, verse 12, and it talks about the apostle Paul here.
It says, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming,
this is talking about the apostle Paul, and putting his hand on him
that he might receive his sight.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done
to the saints at Jerusalem.
So God's talking to Ananias, he's like, hey, go to this guy named Saul who got saved,
and it's like, I know who he is.
He's the guy that's going around killing everybody, right?
It says, and so it says, And here he hath authority from the chief priest
to bind all that call upon thy name.
So he knows who Saul is.
He knows that he's, from what he knows, he's a bad guy.
He's a persecutor of people that would call upon the name of the Lord,
which is anybody that's a saved person, right?
So isn't that funny how, you know, we say you have to call upon the name of the Lord,
and obviously he might not be necessarily talking about the act of being saved,
but anybody that calls upon the name of the Lord, those people are saved people, right?
Isn't that funny?
So anyway, it says, But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way,
for he is a chosen vessel unto me.
He's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings
and the children of Israel.
For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
So Saul had to, the Apostle Paul, who was also called Saul,
had to suffer very many harsh things as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ as an apostle.
I mean, we know all the beatings he went through and just all the things he did.
He did suffer a lot, and he made people suffer, though.
So, you know, you reap what you sow, obviously, and you can't,
sometimes you've reaped something that you, you can't always fix what you've messed up.
But the Apostle Paul had to be shown by the Lord how he must suffer great things,
and, you know, but he also was very blessed.
He is the greatest of all the apostles.
He worked harder than all the apostles.
Why was he a chosen vessel?
Because God knew what he was going to do.
God knew that he was going to turn the world upside down.
God knew that he was going to make sure everybody heard the Gospel,
and so not all the apostles did that.
So a lot of them had to be dragged, kicking, and screaming to go to other places,
and Saul wasn't that way.
Saul would be like, hey, I'm going to come and preach here, and then, like,
he'd be like, well, you found yourself unworthy of the kingdom of God,
so I'm just going to go someplace else.
And so Saul had a great ministry, and he was chosen to be an apostle by the will of God.
Look at Galatians chapter 1, verse 1.
Galatians chapter 1, verse number 1.
Galatians 1, 1 says, Paul, an apostle, and look at what he says, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.
So he makes it very clear, he was not picked by man.
Because, you know, a lot of times you'll see in the scriptures where even in the book
of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, he's having to, like,
defend himself, like, you know, his apostleship.
He's having to defend, the fact, he's the one that got these people saved and, like,
really got them, you know, formed that church there.
And then they're, later on, they're like, is he really an apostle?
It's like, come on.
You know, so he, I think the apostle Paul has to say this in his doctrinal, you know,
when he writes letters to churches, he's like, he wants to make it very clear
that he was not an apostle picked by men.
He didn't just jump in, you know, and call himself an apostle.
Christ picked him.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9.
2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9.
See, God's will is different than ours.
A lot of people wouldn't even get saved if it wasn't for someone coming
and preaching them the gospel.
I mean, everybody gets saved by getting the gospel preached to them.
But what I'm saying is, like, we don't really generally seek
after God the way that we need to.
And so, you know, obviously some people get to the point where they do seek God,
but it's already after someone's probably already, you know,
exposed them to something biblical, something in the Bible.
Look at 2 Peter 3, 9, it says,
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, and this promise is the promise
of his coming, is what it's talking about, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
He's not willing.
The Lord is not willing that any should perish.
But you know what, people perish every single day.
People die and go and split hell wide open every single day.
Millions of people die every single day, and you know what,
a lot of those people die and go to hell.
Is God willing that they go to hell?
No. He sent the Savior for them.
He sent someone that can save them from their sins, but this world, you know,
bogs people down, and then Christians, of course, don't do their job
and witness like they're supposed to.
And, you know, the world is, you know, on a bobsled to hell right now
because people aren't preaching the gospel,
just because people reject God outright.
A lot of people just reject God outright.
Someone shared a meme on Facebook, and I stole it, of course.
It was about, and it had Pharaoh, and it said people are afraid.
They're afraid of the plagues, but they're not afraid of God.
And it's just like, it's so true, because many people walk,
and they take their last breath not being afraid of God,
but being afraid of everything else, being afraid of dying,
being afraid of not being able to control what situation's happening,
and people are literally wearing masks out hiking.
I mean, what?
Like, we're out hiking, and people are literally just like walking
around with masks on out there.
I'm like, you need to get some fresh air.
That's what, you just take that off for a second, breathe in some oxygen.
Right? So weird.
They're so afraid of everything, they're just not afraid of God, unfortunately.
But see, God is not willing that they should perish.
God wants them to be saved.
His will is for them to be saved.
Look at John 1.12, a very famous verse that we go to out soul-winding a lot.
John chapter 1, verse 12.
Many of you could probably quote this.
John 1.12, the Bible says, but as many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
So God gives us this power.
He gives us the power to become the sons of God.
But you know what you have to do to get that power?
You have to believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ.
And this is something interesting, what it says in verse 13.
It says, which were born not of blood, you know, it's not a bloodline
that you're part of, nor of the will of the flesh.
Your flesh is never going to be able to work its way to heaven.
It's never going to want to do the things it would take for you to be saved.
It's not the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
It's not even the will of man.
The will of man is not where that power comes from, but of God.
God is the one that gives us the power to be saved through our faith.
And that's the only way you can be saved, of God.
So we lead people to the Lord, but God is the one that saves them.
You know, and obviously, you know, you get into that, well, we helped save them.
Because if we didn't talk to them, they wouldn't get saved.
Just a fact.
People are like, how dare you say that?
Only Jesus saves.
Yeah, I know that Jesus saves.
He gave the power.
He's the one that died on the cross.
He was buried.
He rose again the third day.
I understand that.
But he left us here as ambassadors to go and preach the gospel so that people would be
saved, period.
And we're ambassadors of heaven, actually, if you think about it, because where's our
Lord at?
He's in a far country.
It's really far away.
It's called heaven.
And so we're ambassadors of heaven, if you think about it, and we're going around and
trying to get all these people saved, and we're ambassadors of Christ, and nobody's
going to be reached unless the ambassadors go out and do their job.
Second Peter chapter one, verse 21.
I'm just trying to show you that, you know, when it's the will of God, it changes things
a little bit.
We have our own will sometimes.
Our will is not always to come to church.
Our will is not always to go soul winning.
Our will is not always to do the things that God has called for us to do, but God's will
is for people to be saved.
So we have to get on God's program.
We have to get on God's...Paul got on God's program, did he not?
Because Paul still had a choice.
God's not a Calvinist.
God doesn't force people to believe.
Paul still had a choice to be saved.
He still had to listen to instructions.
He still had to go to Ananias, and he still had to receive the gospel from Ananias.
And Paul, even though he had that experience, a lot of people have experiences.
A lot of people think they have experiences.
A lot of people are like, I was in heaven for three days.
No, you weren't.
But more like you were in hell for three days, but you can't escape there either.
People just have all these weird experiences they want to tell you.
People tell you they saw Jesus, don't believe them.
Because Paul was the last one to see Jesus, and we're not going to see him again until
he comes back.
Look at what 2 Peter 1, verse 21 says,
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So the will of man had nothing to do with the Bible being written and kept and stored.
It was the will of God that preserves and protects the scriptures.
So yeah, men still had to do what God wanted them to do, but it says the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man.
The Bible was not written by men as people would try to say that it is.
It was written by people that were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost is the one that moved man to write the Bible.
And so people don't understand that.
They have a hard time understanding that, and that's why they don't understand that
there's only one Bible that you can really trust in the English language.
So I'll get to that here in just a minute.
Let's look at verse number 2.
I've kind of spent a long time on that first verse, but let's go back to verse number 2.
It says,
Under 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.
There's a lot in that.
There's a lot packed in that verse there.
But the church of God, which is at Corinth.
There's one thing to think about, because people have this doctrinal belief of the universal
church.
That's what Catholic means, universal.
And so the Catholics think that everybody really is just Catholic.
You know, they just have kind of fallen by the wayside, but they're really deep down
they're still Catholic.
They'll still be saved.
And then if anybody is saved, they're saved because they're Catholic.
But the Bible is saying here the church which is at Corinth.
So there's different congregations of the church.
And it's not just some big universal church.
Any hen is not part of the church.
Just because he's on television slapping people with his coat doesn't mean that he is part
of the church.
See, to be a real church, you do have to believe the things of the Bible.
You can be messed up, but not that messed up.
You can't be Todd White.
Todd White is not part of the church.
He's the weirdest looking dude, predator looking dude ever, but he's not part of the church.
And his miracles are fake.
So yeah, I said it.
People get mad about that.
Skillet is not the church.
Just to tell you.
People really hate that video about skillet, man.
That's really taking off.
But I'll just tell you this.
People are like, well, what are you talking about?
Skillet is so, they're great.
They've won way more people in the Lord than you have.
Yeah, touring with Metallica and Iron Maiden and Pantera and all these wicked satanic bands.
And they said that when he was asked that video, people said, you spliced that video
together.
Yeah, it's called a clip.
We don't have to show every video in its entirety.
But in that clip, they said, what's your biggest accomplishment?
And he says, touring with Iron Maiden and all these different bands.
That's your greatest accomplishment?
I am saved.
But if I was on the 700 Club, which I wouldn't be, but if I was on there and I got a chance
to say, what is your greatest accomplishment, well, it would be to get other people saved.
To be a voice for Christ.
But that's not what they're doing.
They're taking this wicked genre of music and trying to apply it and make it fit into
a box that it doesn't fit into.
Christian rock.
It's a crock, right?
So just like Christian rap, it's crap, right?
I got to figure out one for country, but anyway.
But look, there's different churches.
This is a church in Vancouver.
There might be even more than one church in Vancouver, which I believe that there is more
than one legit church here, but you know, we're not a universal church.
I'm not going to kiss the Pope's big toe anytime soon, okay?
How about never?
But it says, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.
Now the Catholic Church would also have you believe that only certain people are saints.
You have to do all these great things before you're a saint.
And that's just not true.
Someone had to do something great for you for you to become a saint.
Christ had to do something great for you so that you could become a saint.
A saint is just someone that believes.
And it says, in every place that call upon the name of the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, both theirs and ours.
So you know, people, I kind of mentioned this before, because it was said in the book of
Acts, like, Ananias was saying, hey, all that call upon your name, well, it even says it
here, call upon the name of the Lord.
All those that call upon the name of the Lord, you know, are the people that he's talking
to.
But the thing about this, calling upon the name of the Lord isn't always just for salvation.
So I think that sometimes people get confused about that.
Like in the Bible, it talks a lot about calling upon the name of the Lord.
But calling upon the name of the Lord also is just talking to the Lord in prayer, asking
God for prayer.
In Genesis, we've been going through it, and it talks about Abraham calling upon the name
of the Lord.
It's like, well, when did he get saved?
Well, a lot of people have a lot of different beliefs about that.
But he didn't get saved every single time he called upon the name of the Lord.
He was just calling upon the name of the Lord, because we only believe he gets saved
once, right?
Anyway, so look at verse 3, it says, Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father
and 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 you're enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even
as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.
So you notice also in Paul's letters that he always has like a salutation.
And so a lot of times, I think that Paul was smart, and I think there's probably counterfeit
and corruptions of God's word going around.
I think that they did kind of have some system of how he would write letters.
He would say, hey, this is the apostle Paul, called to be an apostle, and he would say
little salutations before he would start.
That was just how he would sign off on the end of his letters.
I think he did that so people would know, this is the real deal, this is Paul.
And they'd probably greet the brothers that come to you, and they kind of have like maybe
a little secret, not a secret handshake, but I think they just want people to know this
person's legit when they would say, hey, these people are going to be coming to the church,
just make sure you receive them, things like that.
So salutation is a greeting used in a letter or other written or non-written communication.
Salutations can be formal or informal.
The most common form of salutation in an English letter is dear, followed by the recipients
given name or title.
So usually it's just, you know, and so this is basically part of Paul's salutation.
And you can find his salutation in many of his books, Romans 1, verse 1-7, 2 Corinthians
chapter 1, Galatians chapter 1, Ephesians 1, et cetera, all the books of Paul, except
with the exception I believe that Hebrews is written by Paul, and that's the only one
that doesn't really have that kind of a salutation.
But I think that it's possible the reason why he did that is because it's the letter
to the Hebrews.
And the Hebrews weren't exactly big fans of Paul, so maybe he didn't want to just say,
hey, this is the Apostle Paul, just letting you know you're wrong again.
This is the changes in the law.
I don't know.
But like when you read the book of Hebrews, you can kind of tell that it was written by
Paul just by the way he writes.
So here's verse number 7.
It says, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I wanted to address this also while I'm here.
The Bible talks a lot about Jesus coming back again, the second coming of Christ.
And these people that are pre-trib rapture believers, they always say, well, in Matthew
chapter 24, it's talking about the second coming of Jesus.
And I'm like, yeah, man, I agree with you.
But the second coming of Jesus is the rapture.
And so people, they just get all twisted up about this, but let's look at Matthew chapter
24.
Matthew chapter 24, and we're going to go, and I'm just going to show you a few things
here.
I'm not going to go into, this is kind of one of those sermons where I'm just trying
to hit on a bunch of different subjects and kind of move on.
But anyway, Matthew chapter 24, verse 3, it says, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be and what
shall be the sign of thy coming?
You see that?
And of the end of the world.
So they ask him a specific question.
What is the time of thy coming?
What are they asking him here?
They're asking him, when are you coming back again?
Anybody that reads plain English or whatever language you read the Bible in, they're asking
him when he's coming back again.
They're not saying, we're not talking about the secret rapture.
We're talking about a different time, you know, coming 2.3 or whatever.
But these secret rapture people are trying to so rightly divide things that they're wrong.
And so what's the context of Matthew 24 is that when is he coming back, when's the end
of the world?
And Jesus really goes into great detail.
This is the greatest chapter in the whole Bible about when the rapture's going to happen
and all the signs of his coming, right?
Look at verse 4.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you.
Where have you heard that before?
Second Thessalonians, right?
So Jesus, it's funny how they ask him that question, what's the first thing that he says
out of his mouth?
Take heed that no man deceive you.
Don't let someone deceive you.
Don't be a sucker.
Don't listen to any weird, you know, any weird things.
Don't believe people when they say it's going to be different than what I'm telling you
right here.
So now skip down to where he talks about the question they specifically asked him.
What did they ask him?
When?
What shall be the sign of thy coming?
Now look at verse 29 of Matthew 24.
It says, immediately after the tribulation of those days.
That's why we believe at this church that it's after the tribulation.
You know why?
Because that's the clear verse of Jesus saying that he's coming back after the tribulation.
Baptists lose their minds when you preach this doctrine.
But you know what?
The Bible says it.
And don't give me this garbage about rightly dividing.
The context is Jesus coming back again.
Isn't that what I read to you?
Now look, it says, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and
the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers
of the heavens shall be shaken.
But you can correlate this to Revelation chapter 6 and it says when this happens.
That's after the tribulation.
And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven.
And then shall all the tribes of the earth born.
And they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory.
What is the sign of thy coming?
Well, you're going to see all these signs happen in the heavens.
You're going to see the sun and moon darken.
And you're going to see the son of man coming in the clouds.
What is he answering their question?
Yes he is.
He's not talking about the time when he comes and lands on the and comes on to the Mount
of Olives.
He's talking about the time when he comes back in the clouds and receives those that
are saved unto himself.
And how do I know that?
Well because it says in verse 31, and he shall send his angels with the great sound
of a trumpet.
And they shall gather together, what does that mean?
He's going to collect them all, right?
His elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to the other.
So basically what is he saying?
The whole earth.
He's going to gather the whole earth together.
What is happening right here?
The rapture is happening.
It's not talking about, well it is talking about the second coming, but see, they like
to confuse terms.
They think that this is coming, I don't know what coming this is to them.
I mean they say it's the second coming, and it is, but they believe it's really what we
would consider like a third coming, when Christ comes back with all the saints and destroys
the antichrist army in Revelation chapter 19, right?
Now turn your Bible, and just keep your finger here in Matthew chapter 24, and turn your
Bible to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1.
Because Paul is talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's talking about
coming back the next time, right?
There's already been one coming of Jesus Christ, and then he went up to heaven, and he's going
to come back again.
They're asking him about that one in Matthew chapter 24, but look at what Paul says here
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1, it says,
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the what?
The coming.
The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.
Now isn't that what it's talking about in Matthew chapter 24, gather together his elect?
And our gathering together unto him, he's talking about the same exact thing.
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter,
as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
What's he saying?
Don't let people fool you with anything.
Even if we sent you a letter, even if a spirit comes, if an angel comes and tells you anything,
if any word or letter comes from us, let no man deceive you by any means.
Verse 3.
Let no man, isn't that what Jesus said?
Take heed that no man deceive you?
What's it saying here?
Let no man deceive you by any means?
By any means!
Haven't you heard that term?
By any means necessary.
We're going to do this by any means necessary.
That's what he's saying.
Don't let it happen by any way, shape, or form.
For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
So these things have to happen first.
And last time I checked, the Antichrist comes before Jesus comes back, you know, after the
sun and moon are darkened.
That happens after the Antichrist is revealed.
So what does this do?
It matches perfectly with Matthew chapter 24.
What coming is Paul talking about here in verse number 7 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1?
The same one it's talking about in Matthew chapter 24, the same one it's talking about
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1 through 3, period.
So you want to talk about rightly dividing, how about you just use some context?
How about you just use this thing called context to figure out what coming is it talking
about?
Well, it's only talking about the second coming, the second coming of Jesus, which is when
he comes back in the clouds and gathers together his elect.
He gathers the saints together.
It's very basic stuff, but you would think that, you know, we're a minority in believing
that.
But just because you are the minority in believing something doesn't mean it's not true.
There's a lot of people that think that you should get a, you know, a coronavirus vaccination
too.
Do you think that they're right?
Absolutely not.
So let's look back at our chapter in 1 Corinthians, verse number 8, it says,
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ?
So now he's talking about another doctrine, but it's still the same day.
That's what's interesting here, and he also says, God is faithful, whom you were called
unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
You know, there's a lot of people that aren't faithful, but you know who is?
God is.
God is always going to be faithful.
God will never leave us nor forsake us, but you know, man will fail us every time.
So if you put your confidence in men, that's like sinking sand.
The only person you can put your confidence in is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's faithful.
God is faithful.
Look at verse 10, it says, Now it beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you,
but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
So what's he saying?
He's talking about unity, unity in the church.
Not everybody should believe a bunch of different things about every subject in the Bible.
We should have the same mind, the same judgment about things.
Hey, what's the Bible say?
That's the judgment of it.
That's what it should be.
We should have different opinions about it.
You know, and what is our baseline for that?
The Bible.
Look, it says in verse 11, For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
So Paul is saying, hey, somebody told me, someone in the house of Chloe said that there's
contentions among you.
There's fighting going on.
That's what contentions are.
And contentions aren't always bad, but when you're fighting about doctrine, when you're
fighting about who's of who and things like this, it's not good.
So again, this isn't prison, folks.
If someone's coming to you with some weird stuff, come to me, and you should come to
the person that can correct what's going on.
You don't go around and tail-bear everything that's going on.
Go to the person that can help with the situation.
I don't have a problem.
It's not snitching someone.
It's not ratting someone out.
We're not in South Boston.
We're not in Chicago.
This isn't the prison system.
This is the church.
And so if someone's doing something wrong that's something that you can't fix, you don't
go around to everybody else to try to fix it.
Go to the person that can.
So because the person from the house of Chloe, who did they go to?
They went to Paul, didn't they?
And so Paul is addressing the church now, and he's saying, hey, I heard that there's
contentions among you.
This shouldn't be happening.
It wasn't like Chloe's BFF telling so-and-so and so-and-so telling so-and-so.
It's just straight up the leader is telling them what's going on here.
So again, this isn't prison.
If there's something that needs to be brought to the leadership, you should bring it to
the leadership.
Amen?
And so what was the contention?
So there's a lot of contentions in this church, but this specific one that the Apostle Paul
is thinking of and going to talk about here is this hero bragging.
Hero bragging.
And there's nothing wrong with looking up to a man of God.
There's nothing wrong with looking up to other Christians and being influenced in a good
way by them.
But some people do take it too far.
Jack Hyles has a statue outside of the Bible college there, and that thing needs to be
hacked into pieces and stamped down and smashed and people need to drink that.
Because it's wicked.
We shouldn't have statues of men standing in front.
God's the one that built that church.
God's the one that made everything possible for everything to happen in that place.
Not Jack Hyles.
Jack Hyles was a great man of God and he was a mighty man and mighty in deed and works
and a great preacher, but he was still just a man.
He still had error.
We should never have a statue made of ourselves.
He didn't do that.
Somebody else did that.
But it still stands there today.
Someone needs to just take a sledgehammer and bash its head off and just make an example
of it.
So if anybody's listening from Hammond, Indiana, just go destroy that piece of garbage.
Hey, we need some Antifa people to get over there and take care of that statue.
It represents paganism, doesn't it?
We're not supposed to make graven images.
What is a statue?
It's a graven image.
Hello?
Anyway, so now look what Paul says.
Verse 12.
Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ.
So what are they doing?
They're bragging about who got them saved, who got them baptized, and what's Paul's advice
to them?
Well, what's he saying in verse 13?
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
I mean, that's a ridiculous way to have a thing to have divisions about.
And so our church should be all in solidarity with one mind and not having divisions, and
obviously people can have their preference in who, what man of God that they look up
to or whatever.
But when he starts saying, well, I'm of Pastor Anderson, or I'm of Pastor Jimenez, or I'm
of Pastor Mejia, I'm of Pastor Burson, I was baptized by Pastor Anderson.
I was baptized by Pastor Jimenez.
That's weird.
And it's weird for people to seek that out as if that's some kind of badge of honor to
them that they got baptized by.
You know, there's nothing wrong with getting baptized.
Obviously they're all pastors.
They're going to baptize people.
They're going to get people saved.
Their videos got people saved.
Yeah, that's great.
I'm not trying to throw shade on them at all, but of course I love all these guys.
But you can take it too far, and people do take it too far.
Believe me, I've met some people that take it too far, and then they always end up being
disillusioned because that man didn't meet up to the standard that they wanted them to
meet up to.
Well, I can't believe that that man would do this.
Well, he's a man.
So men make mistakes.
And so if your confidence is in man, we're not supposed to put our confidence in man.
The Bible actually says don't put your confidence in man.
We're supposed to put our confidence in the Lord.
Again there's nothing wrong with looking up to these guys and liking their preaching or
anybody that you like listening to preach, but Christ is not divided.
And so Paul, Pastor Jimenez, wasn't crucified for you.
Pastor Anderson didn't die on the cross for you.
It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have to keep that in perspective and realize that we shouldn't be comparing other preachers
like that.
You know, obviously, again, you have your favorites.
Some people preach better than others.
Some people reach you better than other people do.
Some people's backgrounds reach other people more than others.
It's just the way it is.
Some people, the way they talk preaches to them better.
And so everybody has their preferences, but when you go over the top and just be like,
they're the best thing ever since sliced bread and I'm living and dying on everything.
Instead of going to the Bible for my answers, I'm just going to go to them for everything.
Instead of looking up a Bible verse for yourself and showing it to someone that's asking a
question you go, here's this video.
Which that's a lazy way to do it.
Sometimes it's the fact that there's nothing wrong with maybe you can't explain it as good
as they could, but people don't take it that way sometimes.
People take it like you're just propping up your man on everything.
But the Bible also says, Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.
So there's nothing wrong with following a man as long as they're following Christ.
But to put them on a pedestal, they're going to fail you every time.
Any man will fail you at some point.
This is funny.
I've heard how this works for preachers and the only reason I know this is because I am
one.
But when people are like, yeah, I agree with you, I agree with you, I agree with you, everything,
yeah, yeah, he's done everything right.
Everything I agree, I agree, I agree.
And then all of a sudden there's something you don't agree with me about.
And then people are just like, well, I can't follow that person anymore because they were
wrong about this or they were wrong about that.
It's just like, that's a big scrutiny that you hold people up to because you're not right
about everything either.
And so people think that they're right about everything, and as long as the pastor is right
about everything that I agree with, then I'll follow him.
But as soon as they make a mistake, as soon as they say something I don't like, as soon
as they make a judgment I don't like, then they're like, wow, they get disillusioned
and they fall away.
And that's weird.
That's because you're putting your confidence in a man instead of God.
That's your problem.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12.
And the Bible says we're not supposed to compare ourselves, and it's probably not wise
to compare other preachers.
Maybe you have somebody like, hey, these are my top ones I listen to.
Everybody has that.
I have that.
I listen to other preachers too.
But to go around and compare them among other preachers, amongst ourselves like that, that's
not right.
And it's not wise because it causes what?
Contention.
It causes division.
Well, I believe him about this and I believe him about that.
Hey, just, you know, if you believe that, that's cool.
But our church should be one voice, one mind, not dividing, not having division.
So look at what it says in verse 12.
For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend
themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among
themselves are what?
Not wise.
It's not wise.
It means it's not smart.
It's not a smart thing to do.
It's not wisdom to do those things.
Don't compare yourself among those that commend themselves.
See there's people out there that commend themselves.
Oh, look at all the stuff I'm doing and then you start comparing yourself with them.
That's not wise.
Because first of all, you shouldn't be commending yourself.
It's pretty weird.
You shouldn't be comparing yourself with a person that does do that because it's not
wise.
It's not because you start comparing yourself and then you realize how bad you fall short
in a certain particular thing.
Maybe your gift is different than that person and you want that gift that you don't have
and you're never going to be good at that.
No matter how hard you try, you're never going to be as good as that person in that area.
So why compare yourself amongst them?
Just do good at the things you do good at.
Quit trying to be something you're not.
Be who you are.
Use the gifts that you have.
Everybody starts to realize hopefully at some point what your gift is or what gifts you
possess from the Spirit because the Spirit gives liberally to everybody certain gifts.
So find out what your gift is and be good at that.
And then obviously you want to be well-rounded where you are good at a lot of different things
but not everybody is.
Using MMA as a comparison, I do this a lot but I haven't done it in a while, but they
talk about being a well-rounded fighter.
So there's all these different martial arts practices.
There's jiu-jitsu and wrestling and boxing and kickboxing and muay thai and karate, tae
kwon do, judo and they say to be a great fighter you should be well-rounded in all these areas
so that you can be the best person you can be.
But what really happens in reality is each person really has something that they're really,
really good at.
Guys that have wrestled since they were peewees and wrestled up through college, what is going
to be their strength in MMA?
Wrestling.
So don't start becoming Muhammad Ali when you get into the MMA fight because you're
going to get knocked out.
Maybe you've got some good hands because you've been training on them for a while, but you're
never going to be as good as the person that's boxed their whole life.
So if you think about the gifts that people have, a lot of people, they're talented at
certain things, but don't try to be, like I've watched MMA fighters and they're like
yeah they think their hands are pretty good now and they go and try to fight some person
that that's their thing.
They just love to have people come at them and they drop them.
They run up with their face.
You just go back into laziness.
You go back when you're tired, you're going to fall back into what you know best.
But the point I'm trying to make is that your spiritual gift, if you know what your spiritual
gift is, focus on that and yeah be good at other stuff, but don't try to be something
that you're not.
And it's the same thing that goes for preaching.
Don't try to be a preacher that you're not.
If you get up here and you act exactly like Pastor Shelley, people are going to see it
and they're going to think you're weird.
So there's only one Pastor Shelley, there's only one Pastor Anderson, there's only one
Pastor and every Pastor that I know that I'm friends with, they have their own style.
And so I have my own style, they have their own styles, and I'm not trying to be something
I'm not.
So anyway, that's the way you should be.
David, he didn't try to be Saul, he didn't try to rock his armor, did he?
He's like, I can't, I haven't proved this stuff.
He goes and takes the things that he knows best, some five smooth stones and a sling.
And then he takes on Goliath and beats him, right?
So anyway, we shouldn't be hero bragging and all this weird stuff.
And it's not wise to compare ourselves amongst ourselves.
Look at verse 14 in our text, it says,
And I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say
that I had baptized in my own name.
And when I read into this, I think the Apostle Paul probably had people attacking him about
stuff all the time.
And that's why he says it like this, he's like, I thank God that I didn't baptize any
of you except for Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own
name.
See, the Apostle Paul is being attacked a lot.
Just know this, if you ever want to be in the ministry, if you ever want to be a pastor,
if you ever want to be in leadership, you're going to get attacked, period.
And Paul seems like he's pretty well versed in it now, he's just like making little comments
and I'm glad because if I had, then people are going to say I was baptized into my own
name.
It says, And I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I
baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
This chapter has got a lot, this book is a great book, but he says flat out that he didn't
get sent to baptize.
And there's a lot of churches that teach that baptism is part of salvation.
But if that's true, then Paul was only getting people half-saved because he wasn't baptizing
people.
He was sent to preach the gospel.
And the gospel is what saves.
It's not baptism.
The Bible never says baptism saves you in a way that, you know, it doesn't save you.
Because if it did, then he would get people saved and, you know, he would preach the gospel
and baptize them.
Which also tells you that baptism is not part of the gospel, right?
Not with wisdom of words.
So Paul didn't use wisdom of words.
And I think of apologetic people.
These apologetics are like, oh, Ravi Zacharias was the greatest apologetic of our time.
Why?
Because he used his own wisdom to try to convince people of the Bible.
And they're like, he got so many people saved, he didn't get his soul saved because he's
roasted in hell because he's a false prophet.
But anyway, baptism does not save and your wisdom of your words doesn't get people saved.
You know what gets people saved?
The gospel.
And that's why that's what Paul preached.
So it proves that baptism is not part of the gospel.
It has no saving effect.
If it did, then Paul only got the people saved that he mentioned above in these scriptures.
And so there's lots of churches that teach this.
There's Pentecostals that teach the full gospel.
And part of that is baptism.
The Mormons believe.
What is the first thing that they do?
They take you in and baptize you.
And then they dig up your relatives and baptize them too, or whatever.
But Mark chapter 16, verse 16 says this, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
And they'll take that verse and they'll run with it.
But what's it say?
In the second half, there's still part of the sentence left, but he that believeth not
shall be damned.
So it doesn't say he that believeth not and is not baptized, it just says he that believeth
not.
The Bible is very clear about how you're saved and baptism is not being saved.
Look at verse 18 back in our text.
It says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God.
So it's not baptism that saves, it's the preaching of the cross, and that's why it's very important
that when we're preaching the Bible, when we're getting people saved, that you do have
to preach the cross with it.
Because that is offensive to people, but that is how we're saved by preaching the gospel,
which is preaching the cross to them.
And it says, When we preach the cross to them that perish, it is foolishness to them,
but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
And this verse is attacked in the New King James Version.
So I just want to wrap, I'm not going to be able to finish tonight, but what I am going
to finish is I'm going to finish talking about the New King James.
Because the New King James is a garbage translation, it takes out the blood like 23 times, it takes
out repentance several times, and I didn't look at all the different mentions of repentance
because this is in a full-blown sermon against the New King James.
But I would venture to say that when it takes out the words repent, it's talking about when
God repented.
I'm just guessing.
I don't want people to call me out and email me and say something in the comments.
So that's what I'm guessing.
If anybody can verify that with me, then I'd appreciate it, but I'm just mentioning that.
But the New King James does something with this verse here that's wicked, okay?
And what does it say in the New King James?
Well, it says, let's see, does somebody have a, can someone look it up with their smartphone
real quick?
I have mine on, I thought I posted it in here, but maybe I didn't.
Let's see.
Can someone look up the New King James 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 and tell me what it says?
Right so basically they change it, so this guy posted a video in some Facebook group
or whatever and he was saying that it means the same thing.
So the King James says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing.
Wait, no, that is the, well that's the, okay, I did put it in here, I should, okay, my bad.
So I did put it in here, but, so yeah, so the New King James says that those that are,
it's foolishness to those that are perishing.
But to us that are being saved, it's the power of God.
We're not being saved, we are saved.
Once you believe, you are saved.
It's not a process, and people say, well, you know, it still basically means the same
thing.
No, it doesn't.
It doesn't mean the same thing.
And the Bible says that them that perish, it's foolishness.
The people that are going to hell, it's foolishness to them.
And so it's funny how they use this language to unto us which are, what we would say is,
what the King James says unto us which are saved, it's the power of God, but what the
New King James says to those that are being saved, as if it's a process that we have to
go through.
It's not a process.
It's not seven steps of salvation.
It's not anything like that.
Once you believe, you have everlasting life.
You are born again at that point.
So and it's foolishness to men to this whole King James only thing.
They think that it's foolish that we're King James only.
And they're like, well, there's lots of different, you know, what version did you use before
you used the King James?
Well, we used the other six that weren't quite perfect, but they were still pretty good.
And that's how people got saved.
But look, the English language hasn't even been around that long as it's in this written
form.
This was the zenith of the English language 400 years ago.
Now people say you for everything.
And that's the thing is that the New King James makes all kinds of changes.
You know, the King James translation was 54 translators.
The New King James was nine.
Okay.
And they moved away from the TR on lots of different verses.
And do you think that they didn't do this on purpose?
I'm going to show you that they did do it on purpose.
Look at verse number, let's see, verse number 24 in the King James.
And then someone look it up in the New King James for me too.
Okay, I already have it here.
So verse 24 in the King James says this.
It says, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God.
Now listen to what it says in the New King James.
It says, but to those which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God.
It sounds like they got that right.
Well, how come they can't get it right in verse number 18 then?
How come they can't get it right in verse number 18?
Why do they say to us which are being saved instead of us which are saved?
You know what I'm saying?
So look at verse 24, but to those which are called.
Why don't they say to us which are being called?
Why are they going away from the way they translated verse 18?
You know why?
Because they're stinking liars, that's why.
And because they're trying to teach a process salvation, that's why.
Because if they're going to go with the way they translated verse 18, then they should
translate it to us which are being called, right?
So but they don't do that.
You know why?
Because they're liars.
Now turn to Titus chapter 3 verse 10.
Titus chapter 3 verse 10.
Now the Bible is very clear about this heretic subject, but the New King James changes something
to make it seem like we should reject Christ.
You're like, that's crazy Pastor Thompson.
How could you say that?
Well in Titus 3.10 it says what?
Someone read Titus 3.10 from the King James.
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject.
A heretic.
That means someone that's an unsaved person that they're preaching lies, right?
But listen to what it says in the New King James.
Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition.
And someone had the gall to tell me that that's the same thing.
But here's the thing.
Jesus Christ divides, doesn't he?
So when you take that verse and you think about it and you say reject a divisive man,
that could be, divisive means someone that causes division.
So turn to Luke chapter 12 verse 51.
Luke chapter 12 verse number 51.
And let's see what the Bible says.
I've actually got to turn there myself.
Luke chapter 12 verse number 51.
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you, nay, but rather what?
Division.
From henceforth there shall be five in one house, what?
Divided.
Three against two, two against three.
The Father shall be divided against the Son.
And the Son against the Father.
And mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother.
So what is this talking about?
Jesus Christ, when he saves people, it causes division.
And your family can be divided because of that.
But if you go with the rendering of the New King James, it's telling people to reject
a divisive man.
So who are they telling you to reject?
If Christ divides, then who are they telling you to reject?
See it's subtlety.
The Satan works in subtle ways.
People will be like, well, it's not really that big of a deal.
Yeah, it is a big deal.
There's a difference between being saved and you are saved.
There's a big difference.
Turn to Matthew 7, verse 14.
Matthew 7, verse 14.
See we're supposed to reject a heretic.
Jehovah's Witnesses is telling us that Jesus isn't really God.
You try to get him to agree with the truth twice and then you walk away.
But obviously not all of us do that.
Sometimes we get in the flesh, right?
Sometimes we want to just, you know, it's like the end of the soul and it's like the
last thorn.
Well, let's give this guy the business, you know.
But listen to what else the new king...
So somebody look up the new King James in Matthew chapter 7, verse 14.
Matthew 7, verse 14.
Justin, read it real loud when you get there.
See what it says.
Matthew 7, verse 14.
So narrow is the way and difficult.
So they're saying that it's difficult to be saved.
It's difficult to get to heaven.
Is it difficult to get to heaven or is it easy?
See but anybody that reads the new King James, they're going to be like, man, it's really
hard to get to heaven.
Well, what do I got to do?
You got to repent.
And all this other garbage.
But what does the King James say?
The perfect word of God.
What's it say?
It says, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way.
There's only one way to get there is basically what it's saying, which leadeth unto life
and few there be that find it.
It's not that it's hard to get saved.
It's just that hardly anybody will get saved because narrow is the way.
It's not difficult.
But the new King James says it's difficult, which is making salvation hard.
No, salvation is not hard.
salvation is very easy.
It's just not a lot of people choose to go that narrow way.
Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life.
There's only one way to get to heaven.
Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
There's not many ways to heaven.
There's not many different gods you can believe in.
You only believe in one God, right?
But the new King James is making it seem like, well, it's really hard to get to heaven.
You know, hope you make it.
Bye.
You know, it's a process.
No, it's not a process.
See, people want to say that the new King James is a good translation, but you know
what?
It's really not a good translation.
It's deceptive because they're saying, well, all we did is updated the words to it.
It's just, it's fine.
But you know what?
If you're saying, if you're speaking, you know, they take the thes and thes out, but
the thes and thes help you understand the context of what's going on in the verse.
So if someone says thee, they're talking to a singular person.
Thee, thine, and thou are singular terms in the Bible, ye, you, and yours are plural terms.
And you know what the new King James does?
It takes those out.
So how could it be right if they don't even get the pronouns right?
How can it be right?
See, to say that God's word is perfect, which I believe, God's word is without error, God's
word is preserved from this generation and forever, then how can you say that if they
don't even have the pronouns right?
How can you say that if they say that salvation is a hard process?
It's not a hard process.
And the King James is right because it says narrow is the way.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
That's what the Bible says.
Doesn't say it's hard, hard repentism.
You know, they want to take the, they want to take the repent of God out of there because
you know what?
They want you to believe that it takes repenting of your sins to be saved, which is a lie straight
out of the pit of hell.
Anybody that believes that is going to go to hell.
And I don't want people to go to hell, like I don't want people to go to hell, but anybody
that's preaching a false gospel like that, they deserve to go to hell.
God's going to send them there.
And so the new King, I just wanted to finish on that note, and I guess I'll have to finish
the next chapter next week, but I wanted to get that off my chest because I'm sick of
people saying that the new King James is even close to the King James.
It's not true, it's a false Bible version just like the NIV, it's just more subtle because
they say that they're trying to keep the timeless King James, but they just updated some of
the words.
Well, you know what, when they make salvation hard, or they make salvation a process, that's
not updating the words, that's updating the doctrine, and the doctrine doesn't need to
change.
The doctrine needs to stay the same.
If you have a new King James version, then throw it out the window, burn it, get rid
of it.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this book and for the fact that salvation is an easy thing
to do.
We just have to choose the right way to get there, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that people
would reject this wicked new King James version, and Lord, there's many other corrupt Bible
versions, but Lord, the King James is faithful, Lord, and we can trust the translation of
it.
I just thank you for it, Lord, because there's a lot of people that don't have the Bible
in their language, and I just thank you for a perfect translation that we can get people
saved with, Lord, and that we got saved with and I got saved with.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.