1 Corinthians Highlights

I just finished 1 Corinthians this morning and while it is fresh on my mind, I wanted to share a few highlights that I studied in this book.  There were lots to choose from!!

1.  Move from milk to meat!!  (1 Corinthians 3:2)  There is so much to learn...don't stay a babe in Christ.
     Age is no factor. 

2.  There will be a judgement for believers where each man's work will become evident and the fire itself
     will test the quality of each man's work.  (3:13-15)  I wonder which things here on earth I spend my
     time on thinking they are good things but in the end will be burned up.

3.  Every married man's favorite verses...1 Corinthians 7:5,  "Stop depriving one another, except by  
     agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that
     Satan will not tempt you because you lack self-control."  This weekend at Deeper Still, this topic was
     discussed, and Kay Arthur said that she has NEVER refused her husband!  Can you believe that??  I
     think all the women about fell in the floor!  There was one security man that stood up and cheered. 
     In all seriousness, though, I wonder how many affairs would not happen if we applied this scripture
     to our marriages.  (sorry, no visual for this one:)

4.  We aren't to cause others to stumble.  "For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the 
     brother for whose sake Christ died.  And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their
     conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ."  1 Corinthians 8:11-12.  This applies to every area,
     which is a huge responsiblity.  I have heard some say, "They are supposed to be a Christian, look how
     they are acting.  They are no better than a non-believer."  We are to strive to lead others to Christ in
     every aspect of our lives and not cause others to stumble.

I though this picture was rather amusing.  For those who don't know me, I have a twised sense of humor toward people falling.  Disclaimer...if you fall in my presence, I will more than likely laugh at you.

5.  This one needs to be plastered all over my kitchen..."Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever
     you do, do all to the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31. 

6.  We are all gifted with a spiritual gift by the Spirit.  Let us not get envious of someone else's gift
     thinking ours is insignificant.  We are all members of the body adn cannot all be the same or we
     will not function completely.  "If they were all one member, where would the body be?  But now
     there are many members, but one body." (12:19-20)

7.  If we have not love, we are nothing.  "Faith, hope, love, abide these three, but the greatest is

     LOVE." (13:13)  "If we have not love, we become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  We can

     give all our possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but have not

     love, it profits me nothing." (13:1,3)

 8.  Without the resurrection, our faith is in vain.  "That He was buried, and that He was raised on the

      third day, according to the Scriptures...and if Christ had not been raised your faith is worthless and

      you are still in your sins."  (15:4, 17) 

9.   My last one...and one of my favorites!  "Death is swallowed up in victory...O death, where is your

      sting?" (15:54-55). 

      "Christ's ultimate enemy is Death.  It's the biggest foe that entered the world through the fall of

       Adam and Eve in the garden.  Every time you stand at a casket and mourn the death of a friend

       or a loved one, know in your heart that Christ hates death, too.  At the end of all time, He will

       cast the devil into the eternal lake of burning sulfur, pass final judgement at the Great White

       Throne, then turn His holy heels to face his most hated foe.  Death will stand before the righteous

       Judge as in an animated perona and receive its eternal sentence with the final blow of God's gavel."    

                      Beth Moore, Here and Now, There and Then

      "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire."  Revelation 20:14  And anyone's

        name not found in the book of life will join them there.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord"  1 Corinthians 15:58